Priority #1: Economic Growth
By State Senator Dan Debicella

Economic growth is the engine that drives all our priorities as a society—high standards of living, quality education for our children, and excellent health care for all.  From the local mom and pop store owner all the way to workers at Fortune 500 companies, hard-working men and women are the true backbone of our economy.  Creating good jobs in Connecticut has to be our number one priority, but state government all too often gets in the way.  Over-taxation and over-regulation are causing businesses to leave Connecticut or shut their doors, and I believe we need to change Connecticut into a “business-friendly” state.

As Ranking Senator on the General Assembly’s Commerce Committee, I have created a comprehensive three-point plan for creating jobs.  My Senate Republican colleagues have endorsed all three of these proposals which target three key areas:  creating new jobs in existing Connecticut businesses, attracting new businesses to Connecticut, and reducing burdensome regulation.

1) Creating New Jobs at Existing Businesses.  The first proposal is to give tax credits to Connecticut companies who create jobs.  Any company who creates a net new job will get a tax credit equal to 25% of that worker’s Connecticut withholding tax.  Governor Rell got off to an excellent start in this area last year by providing this credit to any corporation who moves into the state and creates over 50 net jobs.  But why limit it just to new companies and large corporations?  I believe we should also help small, existing businesses in Connecticut by making the tax credit open to any business and any single net new job that is created.

For many small businesses, the availability of this tax credit could be the deciding factor in whether they hire three, rather than two, people next year.  With thousands of businesses receiving this credit, we can hopefully create tens of thousands of jobs.  Not only will this create new jobs, but it will reduce the tax burden on the rest of us.  While this proposal will cost the state a few millions of dollars in the first year, it will create new taxpayers who will bring in tens of millions in revenue for the state.  We need to create new taxpayers, not raise taxes.

2) Reducing Burdensome Regulations.  OK, so everyone I know starts falling asleep when the conversation turns to regulation.  While there are few topics as boring, there are none more important to making Connecticut a pro-business and pro-job growth state.  Businesses in Connecticut suffer “death by a thousand cuts” when it comes to regulation. Complying with excessive government regulation is expensive and when we require entrepreneurs to obtain a dozen permits to start up and force existing companies’ to needlessly endure long delays in implementing their plans and projects, Connecticut is in effect discouraging job creation and job retention. While every regulation was passed with the best of intentions, no one is looking at the societal costs and benefits of each regulation. 

 Our proposal would require a comprehensive cost/benefit analysis for every regulation in Connecticut.  Rob Simmons, former Congressman and our new Business Advocate, would be charged with a five-year project to systematically go through each regulation and have his office calculate the costs and benefits of each regulation.  In any case where the cost outweighed the benefit, the regulation would be automatically repealed unless the General Assembly voted to keep it.

When people say we should “run government like a business” they do not mean that government should try to turn a profit – they mean that government should carefully analyze the costs and benefits of each regulation to make it easier for businesses to turn a profit, and thus create and retain jobs. Creating a systematic and automatic review of all regulations will shine a bright light on the rules that can make Connecticut an unfriendly place in which to do business.

3) Attracting “Next Generation” Industries.  We also need to attract new businesses into the state, and our focus should be the “next generation” industries that will create jobs for our children well into mid-century.  Industries like fuel cells, biotech, and nanotechnology are just starting to find homes.  New industries like this tend to “cluster” around a geographic center—think computers and Silicon Valley, insurance and Hartford, or hedge funds in Greenwich.  Why not encourage more next generation industries to make their home in Connecticut?

Our plan calls for providing massive tax incentives to jump start these industries around our urban centers.  We can simultaneously bring economic development back to our urban areas while we bring next-generation jobs to Connecticut.  Under our plan, specific urban areas would be tied to specific clusters (e.g., Greater Bridgeport, including Stratford and Shelton, might be included in the “fuel cell cluster”).  Businesses in those “next generation industries” in those designated areas would then be exempt from income tax, sales tax, and property taxes for three years, provided they commit to staying in the area for seven years.  The State would reimburse the municipalities for any lost property tax revenue, so it is a win-win situation for both municipalities and businesses.  Thus we can provide the “spark” to start a virtuous cycle of these next generation industries moving in and revitalizing our greater urban areas.

Connecticut government needs to promote job creation through tax incentives and less regulation. We simply cannot continue to impose excessive government regulation and punitive taxes that hamper economic growth. Our three-point plan to provide tax incentives for job creation, reduce ineffective regulations, and invest in next generation industries would go along way towards making Connecticut a business-friendly state once again. 

Dan Debicella is the State Senator representing Stratford, Shelton, Monroe, and Seymour.  If you have feedback for him or want to talk about the issues, he can be reached toll-free at (800) 842-1421 or by e-mail at dan.debicella@cga.ct.gov.