EAST HARTFORD – The Yankee Institute for Public Policy purchased a full page advertisement (PDF) in four Connecticut newspapers today to highlight the disgraceful list of lasts Connecticut has compiled in recent years. “We aren’t just doing worse than average,” said Fergus Cullen, the Yankee Institute’s Executive Director. “We are doing the worst.”
Connecticut’s List of Lasts
- Barron’s rated Connecticut’s debt situation as the worst in the country in 2012 (Bary, Andrew. “State of the States” Barron’s. August 27, 2012)
- TopRetirements.com ranked Connecticut as the 2012 worst state for retirement (Murphy, Eamon. “The 10 Worst States to Retire In: They’re Frosty and Costly” January 13, 2012. TopRetirements.com)
- The Institute for Truth in Accounting ranked Connecticut’s financial status as the worst in the nation with a debt burden of $49,000 per taxpayer (The Institute for Truth in Accounting, “The Financial State of the States”)
- Connecticut’s credit quality was ranked 50th in the nation by Conning Inc’s State of the States Municipal Credit Research Report in 2012 (Sturdevant, M. “Connecticut Ranks Last Among 50 States in Credit Analysis by Conning” Courant Blogs. November 27, 2012.)
- Connecticut’s Tax Freedom Day of May 5, 2012 was the latest in the nation according to the Tax Foundation (Tax Foundation Tax Freedom Day Study 2012)
- Connecticut’s Achievement Gap is the worst in the nation according to the Connecticut Council for Education Reform
- The Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors by the Cato Institute gave Gov. Dan Malloy an “F” (Edwards, Chris. “Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors” October 9, 2012.)
Cullen continued, “On the first day of the Legislative Session, we are calling on the General Assembly to address the state’s financial challenges by reducing spending and adopting pro-growth tax policies to move Connecticut from last to first.”
The full page advertisement appears in the Hartford Courant, the Stamford Advocate, the Danbury News-Times, and the Greenwich Time.
