The legislative session ends on June 3rd, and until then, there are still a handful of inescapable issues on the table.
As some of you may already know, the majority party – who controls the legislature’s committees on Finance and Appropriations – has produced a budget proposal that would expand the state’s sales tax and increase income taxes in a way that would significantly hamper middle class families and employers. I voted against it. The plan also relies upon an unprecedented interpretation of the constitutional spending cap.
To put this into perspective: personal income in CT only grew 3.7 percent between 2013 and 2014. New York’s growth was 4.0 percent, and the numbers for Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Pennsylvania were even higher. This put CT at the bottom of the spectrum in terms of recession recovery in the Northeast, as well as behind the federal growth rate of 4.5 percent.
Jobs were lost in the sectors that are usually strongest in the state: financial services, manufacturing, and insurance. Not only are industries in these sectors relocating outside the state to places that are more business-friendly, but residents are moving out as well. With fewer benefits and growing burdens on our aging population, retirees are relocating; and with fewer opportunities, young people are either moving out of, or avoiding moving into, Connecticut in favor of locations with brighter employment prospects.
If trends like this continue, Connecticut’s housing market (whose prices already fell 0.9 percent last year, on top of the fact that new-home construction is seriously lagging in the state) could also continue to suffer.
In addition, according to the Tax Foundation, Connecticut started 2015 as one of the ten worst states in this year’s State Business Tax Climate Index. Overall, our tax-friendliness dropped one rank from 41 in 2014 to 42 this year. Slowly, but surely, our tax-happy climate is tanking businesses.
Among my concerns about this proposed tax plan is that residents haven’t gotten the chance to offer their valued comments. We want to know how these proposed tax increases would impact you, your business, or your employer.
For information on the Republican budget proposal, “Blueprint for Prosperity,” which is balanced under the spending cap, preserves the safety net for the state’s neediest residents, and institutes major government reforms to save hundreds of millions in the coming years – all without raising taxes – please visit http://cthousegop.com/blueprint/. Even though I may not agree with every element of this plan, it is far more responsible, and better for the future of Connecticut.
Another issue still up for consideration is the implementation of tolls on state highways.
H.B. 6818, An Act Concerning the Establishment of Electronic Tolls at the State’s Borders, requires the Commissioner of Transportation and the DOT to submit a program outlining all costs, revenues, schedules, congestion and diversion prediction, and the impact on in-state and out-of-state vehicles by January 1, 2016 for consideration of the legislature.
I am strongly opposed to this proposal, and look forward to working with my local legislative colleagues, on both sides of the aisle, to defeat this bill. As I have stated before, any toll placed in our area would be devastating to our regional economy.
We need to do more to make our state business-friendly for our employers and workers, and for all of our citizens. We must find a way to relieve Connecticut residents of the burdensome taxes they are currently facing. I am a staunch advocate for these remedies in my work at the Capitol.