| By Senator Rob Kane
Two months into this fiscal year, I
wish I could have voted in favor of the long-awaited
biennial state budget that came about as the end result
of countless hours of hard work by Governor M. Jodi
Rell, legislators, state budget officials and other
state employees too numerous to name.
But, like every other Republican legislator
and a handful of Democrats, I could not in good conscience
vote for a budget that I believe will harm our state
by costing us more jobs and, consequently, driving both
businesses and families out of Connecticut. I, and many
other Republican legislators, believe the General Assembly
will be back at the State Capitol in a matter of months
to repair the $37.6 billion biennial state budget that
gained final legislative approval in the very early
hours of September 1st.
While I appreciate Governor Rell’s
efforts to mitigate the impact by using her authority
to veto $8 million in budget line items, this tax and
spend plan is not right for Connecticut.
The problem is that Connecticut citizens
simply cannot afford this budget. They cannot afford
to pay the higher fees for various state licenses –
and they certainly cannot afford the consequences of
the new 10% tax surcharge on larger businesses. Raising
taxes on these employers in this economy – even
temporarily as is called for by this budget –
will increase the cost of goods and services purchased
by their customers and, in some cases, result in layoffs.
Supporters of the budget point to
plans to drop the sales tax from six percent to 5.5
percent on January 1st. But, state residents counting
on this relief will be sorely disappointed if revenue
collections fall too far below expectations; in that
case, the budget calls for repealing this sales tax
reduction.
Undoubtedly, there are some people
reading this column who are not too upset about the
fact that this budget calls for increasing taxes on
Connecticut’s “millionaires” –
that is, those with taxable incomes of $1 million for
joint filers, $500,000 for single filers and $800,000
for heads of household. But everyone should be concerned.
First, there are far fewer people in this tax bracket
living in Connecticut than you might believe, and some
of them provide much-needed jobs for state residents.
I doubt that raising the threshold for the estate tax
– commonly known as a death tax - from $2 million
to $3.5 million will be viewed as a good trade-off.
So, it makes sense to assume that some of these “millionaires”
will pack their bags and leave. When they do, Connecticut
will permanently lose the considerable taxes these people
already pay. And when all of those revenues dry up,
Democrats likely will choose to impose additional tax
increases on the middle class.
As I have frequently said, Connecticut needs a state
budget that provides necessary government programs and
services at a cost that we can afford. As someone who
runs a small business and helps to support a family,
I know first-hand that we cannot afford this state budget.
Connecticut’s families and business owners have
learned how to do more with less during this recession
and had every right to expect their General Assembly
to pass a state budget that does the same.
I encourage anyone who has any questions or would like
to further discuss the just adopted state budget to
contact my legislative office in Hartford at 1-800-842-1421,
or to e-mail me at Rob.Kane@cga.ct.gov.
I always look forward to hearing from you.
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