Tolls can be user fees, depending on how they are conceived and implemented. As proposed in Connecticut, however, they will not be user fees, but rather a massive wealth transfer: in short, another giant tax increase. Politicians trying to hide a huge tax increase under another – any other – label is depressing, but not surprising. What is ...
Analysis: Preview of the budget battle ahead Democrats are gearing up for an intra-party squabble about how to close the $3.7 billion two-year budget deficit. This year’s budget battle won’t be Democrats vs. Republicans, but rather progressive Democrats vs. moderate Democrats. Unfortunately, the disagreement isn’t over whether to raise taxes ...
We would all like to be able to take up to 12 weeks of paid time off every year if something bad happens to us, or to a family member, or if we are blessed with a child, or face any number of other stressful circumstances. In fact, that’s exactly the ...
How can the state reduce education spending (save money on education) while continuing to support high – and improving – educational achievement? The answer likely includes some specific instances of gradual school consolidation and school-service centralization. A long train of experiences in other states, studied again and again by a ...
Gov. Ned Lamont’s state of the state address this week hit many of the right notes – Connecticut’s people need a bit of cheerfulness and optimism after eight years of the opposite. But… (You knew that was coming, didn’t you?) After listening closely to his State of the State address, ...
The counter-intuitive fact is that Connecticut’s estate tax hurts everyone – and mostly hurts those who depend on state payments, not those who pay the most in taxes. We need to abandon it. Proponents of estate taxes make a number of arguments in its defense. The primary claim made for ...