HARTFORD – With the poor economy continuing to be a burden on Connecticut’s citizens, the Yankee Institute’s Policy Director, Heath W. Fahle, called the budget proposal announced this morning by Democratic legislators a “death sentence” for our state.
“Retroactive tax hikes and a 30 percent tax hike on businesses is a death sentence for Connecticut’s economy at a time when it is already in trouble,” said Fahle. “This is a poor excuse for public policy.”
The Democratic Chairs of the Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee, Sen. Eileen Daily and Rep. Cameron Staples, along with the Chairs of the Appropriations Committee, Sen. Toni Harp and Rep. John Geragosian, proposed huge tax hikes in order to close the state’s budget deficit for Fiscal Years 2010 & 2011. Their proposal, retroactive to January 1, will raise taxes by approximately $1.1 billion, and impose a 30 percent surcharge on businesses in Connecticut, as well as implementing a version of the Internet Sales Tax – the so-called “Amazon tax”.
In addition, keeping with the path they began earlier in the week, Legislative Democrats rolled back many of the Governor’s suggested spending reductions – adding money back into the budget for the Office of Child Advocate, Healthcare Advocate, Consumer Counsel, and a host of other items. On Monday of this week, on a series of party line votes, the Government Administration and Elections Committee refused to consider six of the Governor’s bills that would have streamlined many state services.
Fahle concluded: “In tough economic times, we should leave money in the job-creating private sector instead of extracting more than $1 billion from taxpayers and small businesses to fund more government.”
