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 […]
The Connecticut Department of Revenue Services paid more than $12 million in interest for tax refunds totaling nearly $5 billion because they withheld some refunds for upwards of seven years, according to a new audit. […]
Acting commissioner of the Department of Revenue Services John Biello was at the center of a complaint to the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities and a lawsuit alleging discrimination, which eventually ended with a […]
Democrats in the House of Representatives and the Senate may have been surprised when Republicans held a press conference on September 12 lambasting a budget provision that would tax certain grocery items, but Gov. Ned […]
Democrats in the state legislature have been on defense since a Republican press conference last Thursday that announced some grocery items will now be subject to a 7.35 percent sales tax. The budget included a […]
Early in the legislative session, word spread that the Gov. Ned Lamont administration was considering a possible sales tax for grocery items. The subsequent outcry from groups across the political divide buried the idea, seemingly […]
On Friday, June 1 Department of Revenue Services Deputy Commissioner Joseph Mooney quietly informed human resources he will retire from service, effective July 1, according to DRS spokesman James Carson.
“It’s a lot of personality at work, basically who’s in and who’s not in at DRS,” Kaufman said. “Once you fall out of favor, then you see things happen very quickly, things change in your position and status at the agency.”
The few hundred wealthy families who pay an outsized share of Connecticut's tax burden are having a big effect on Connecticut's budget deficit.
According to projections by the Office of Fiscal Analysis, the state's take from top taxpayers is going down, although the causes of the decrease remain uncertain.
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.