The steady drip of information and budget ideas from the governor’s office over the past two weeks finally culminated with Gov. Ned Lamont’s first budget proposal, which will be sure to please practically no one. The governor’s plan calls for an expansion of the state sales tax, shifting a portion ...
Connecticut ranked 49th in the country in a new analysis of state fiscal health by Truth in Accounting, due to its massive taxpayer burden of $53,400 per person and, once again, earned the organization’s label of a “sinkhole state.”
This year we’ve tried to shine a light on Connecticut’s bonded debt, as well as our pension and retiree healthcare liabilities. When all of this debt is combined, Connecticut is one of the most indebted states in the nation. A new report by J.P. Morgan’s Michael Cembalest provides additional clarity.
Governor Malloy is spending this week in Puerto Rico at the annual Democratic Governors Association meeting and then taking some time off with his family. Puerto Rico is facing bankruptcy and looking for a federal bailout. Years of poor fiscal policies, government cronyism, overreach and interference in the free market has left the island-state with high unemployment and crippling debt. Hopefully the policy lessons of Puerto Rico’s struggles will not be lost on the governor. The island may be pretty but the economic challenges it faces - like Connecticut’s - are pretty ugly.