While the saying ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ is true, so is the opposite – if something isn’t working, then fix it. From watching sports, we know the rules of a game can […]
The Working Class Tax: A Review of ‘Jobs With Justice’ Study By Mark Gius, PhDProfessor of Economics, Quinnipiac University For footnotes and sources, please download the .pdf file above. Summary In this review, Professor Mark […]
An audit of the State Comptroller’s Office reveals that Connecticut has not been using Generally Accepted Accounting Practice as required by law. By applying GAAP standards, the audit found that Connecticut’s net position is negative […]
Connecticut officials are set to approve $78 million of borrowing Friday to pay for new and improved affordable housing with unit prices reaching as high as $249,000 for apartments in Norfolk. Gov. Dannel Malloy announced […]
The number of people working or looking for work in Connecticut, known as the labor force, decreased by about 3,000 people, according to the latest jobs numbered released Monday by the state Department of Labor. […]
A Better Place to Die: Reforming Connecticut’s Estate TaxBy Suzanne Bates, Policy DirectorFor footnotes and sources, please download the .pdf file above.Summary Connecticut is one of only 14 states that has an estate tax. It […]
With the news that General Electric is leaving Fairfield for Boston fresh in the mind of lawmakers, 2016 can be a year of opportunity for Connecticut. It can be, that is, if lawmakers make it […]
General Electric announced this week it would move its headquarters from Connecticut to Boston, Mass., highlighting the need for policies focused on increasing opportunity for all Connecticut residents. While many officials tried to cast blame […]
Before lawmakers even consider raising the gas tax to fund transportation, they need to reassess how they spend existing transportation funds. Many of the state’s new projects offer little return on investment and represent a […]
Connecticut spent $119 million on state employee overtime during the first six months of fiscal year 2016, but that number does not include overtime for employees in the Departments of Transportation or Motor Vehicles. Citing […]
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.