The Connecticut motor vehicle property tax has existed since 1908, coinciding with the rollout of the first Ford Model-T. Fast forward more than a century, state car owners pay property taxes that are “99.1% higher […]
Since it was founded in 1920, the National Football League (NFL) has played fewer than 25 games in Connecticut with only one true professional team: the Hartford Blues. The Blues’ inaugural and only NFL season […]
As absentee ballot shenanigans in Bridgeport occupy the front page, the AFL-CIO — one of the state’s largest labor unions — is quietly interviewing candidates who endorse a range of social justice initiatives and benefits […]
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Wednesday (Aug. 10) that the country’s public colleges have “been spending money like there is no tomorrow” paid in part by students and their loans. WSJ took a deep dive into financial […]
Nipocalypse! The State Continues Its War on Those Menacing Little Nips General Assembly members are debating whether to allow towns to ban the sale of alcohol nips — mini alcohol bottles (50 or 100 ml) […]
Housing Advocates Rebuffed by Bob Duff At the beginning of the 2023 legislative session, several initiatives were introduced to address the state’s housing shortage by further consolidating state control over housing and zoning policies. The National […]
Like bad medicine, no amount of honey can hide the bad taste. Connecticut legislators are poised to pass several laws that will raise the cost of doing business and living in Connecticut. Two pernicious bills, […]
Paying Extra to Avoid the Burden of in Person Voting Both the House and Senate approved to change the state Constitution to allow early voting in Connecticut, complying with 60.2 percent of voters who favored […]
Let’s Add Some Salt to That Wound As Income Tax Day — or as the government calls it Christmas — approaches a new study reveals that in 2022, Connecticut had the third highest effective property […]
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.