This Monday, Gov. Ned Lamont and the General Assembly are expected to vote during a special legislative session on whether to extend the 25-cents per gallon gas tax holiday, which expires Dec. 1. Waived last […]
If you’ve renewed your vehicle registration lately you may have noticed two separate fees on your bill: The Clean Air Act fee and the Greenhouse Gas Reduction fee. Together, they add an additional $15 to […]
The forthcoming Hallmark movie, “Christmas in Harlem,” may have wrapped up filming on Capitol Avenue in Hartford, but some of the biggest beneficiaries of Connecticut’s film tax credits may be a few blocks north. Connecticut […]
A member of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association’s Board of Directors says he is trying to use his position to steer the state’s largest business association toward supporting the Transportation and Climate Initiative. Kevin […]
Proponents for the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) plan to use a special legislative session in September to implement the program in Connecticut, according to a key supporter. Legislative leaders haven’t yet announced formal plans […]
Connecticut’s economic troubles since the 2008 recession are well known. The state has experienced some of the lowest job growth and personal income growth in the country during a time when the national economy surged. […]
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY By Ken Girardin with Daniel Gressel, Ph.D. Connecticut missed out on much of a decade-long national economic expansion. The state added essentially zero private-sector jobs between 2017 and 2019, its population was essentially […]
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a lawsuit filed by New Hampshire against Massachusetts over the taxing of workers forced to work from home during the pandemic. New Hampshire, which does not have […]
During a press conference at a Stratford train station announcing his $10 billion plan to speed up the New Haven Line, Gov. Ned Lamont was asked by a reporter about the highway use tax – […]
Language that would have given state department commissioners the ability to contract with other states was removed from the budget implementer by a voice vote in the House of Representatives. Section 221 of the implementer […]
The Connecticut State Legislature will begin its 2023 session on January 4th and will adjourn on June 7th. The “long session,” as non-election years are called in Hartford, will be centered around the biennial budget. The Office of the State Comptroller reports that state government found a way to spend $47.11 billion in 2022 and, if trends continue, we can expect that number to grow even more going forward. Concerns over energy prices, inflation, and general cost of living continue to dominate the headlines and the threat of a recession hovers over economic forecasts.
What will our elected officials be working on to improve policy outcomes for Connecticut residents? What tax reform proposals will there be? What can be done to lower home heating bills? How will state and local budgets be affected by fewer federal resources? How will schools be implementing to curriculum requirements?
While we wait to see the thousands of individual and committee bills that while dominate the myriad policy debates this year, Yankee Institute is hard at work promoting free-market solutions to the problems we face from Stamford to Putnam and Mystic to Salisbury. To that end, we have produced a new edition of our Charter for Change. The Charter provides commonsense reforms to make Connecticut’s government work for its residents.
Though the list of reforms may be exhausting to review, it is far from exhaustive! And that’s why we want to work with you to build a broad-based coalition to encourage sound policy reforms to enable Connecticut residents to forge a better future for themselves and their families.
It’s also imperative that we do so. As we noted in a report and CT Mirror op-ed last year, the debate over whether we’re in a national recession really misses the point for Connecticut residents. We had more people employed in the private sector in 2007 than we do today. Our economy has grown at one of the slowest rates in the nation for the past decade, and we are getting outpaced year after year. We’re not attracting innovation and industry. We’re losing some of our best and brightest as they seek other parts of the country where it’s easier to make a living.
But together, we can reverse this trend.
At Yankee Institute, we know Connecticut is a state with boundless opportunity, and we intend to help make our state more than a place where people are just able to make ends meet! Connecticut should be a place where everyone can thrive – and with your help, it will be.