Connecticut budget – Spend more, tax more … maybe some cuts

The State of Connecticut’s leaders feel it is appropriate to spend even more money during the next couple of years. No cuts at all. The budget Gov. Dannel Malloy (D) proposed increased spending almost 2 percent and 2.4 percent over the next two years. Sure, they are going to try to get state employees to give $2 billion up …

It’s disturbing the governor wants to increase the budget during the next two years, but Connecticut voters get what they vote for. Sure, you’ll hear about the supposed $2 billion in give-backs the governor is demanding and that will make big news, but the real news is government is getting bigger and spending more in Connecticut … even if the governor gets all $2 billion in cuts he’s asking for.

By the way … those $2 billion in give-backs? They don’t exist … it’s vapor-cuts, totally undefined. Why the detailed tax increases but not one detail on cuts?

The budget increase – more spending than last year – is clear. Almost 2 percent next year. The proposed tax increases are clear too. From the Yankee Institute, who have listed out the expanded list of tax increases proposed for Connecticut.

Exit question: Which tax listed below will help improve the economic situation in Connecticut? It’s been proven that local, state and federal governments will spend every single dime they raise in taxes, plus millions, billions or yes even trillions more.

  1. Income tax: Increases income taxes on individuals making more than $50,000 a year and couples making more than $100,000 a year; increases the highest income tax rate from 6.5 to 6.7 percent; eliminates the 3% bracket on an individual’s first $10,000 in earnings and a couple’s first $20,000 for those making more than $56,500 and $100,500, respectively; expands the number of brackets from 3 to 8.
  2. Sales tax increase: Increases the state sales tax from 6 percent to 6.25 percent and to 6.35 percent at retail locations.
  3. Sales tax expansion: Applies the sales tax to now-exempt items such as hair cuts, car washes, and clothing and footwear that costs less than $50.
  4. Eliminates Sales Tax Free Week
  5. Property tax credit elimination: Eliminates the existing $500 property tax credit for the middle class.
  6. Cigarette tax: Raises taxes on cigarettes by 40 cents a pack, from $3.00 to $3.40; increase tax on snuff from 40 cents to $1 per ounce; increases tax on other tobacco products from 20% to 50% of wholesale price
  7. Alcohol tax: Raises taxes on alcohol by 20 percent (tax on distilled spirits goes from $4.50 a gallon to $5.40; tax on beer goes from 20 cents a gallon to 24 cents; tax on wine goes from 60 cents a gallon to 72 cents)
  8. Gas tax: Increases the state gas tax from 25 cents a gallon to 28 cents a gallon; and diesel fuel from 26 to 28 cents a gallon.
  9. Earned Income Tax Credit: Increases state spending by more than $100 million though a new, negative income tax of up to $1,700 for low income households that earn less than about $21,500 a year from their jobs.
  10. Death Tax: Lowers the estate tax exemption from $3.5 million to $2 million, making more of an estate subject to the estate tax, which starts at 7.2% and rises to 12%, over and above the federal death tax.
  11. Hotel tax: Increases the sales tax on hotel stays from 12 percent to 15 percent.
  12. Corporate tax: Extends a 10 percent corporate profits tax surcharge on large businesses for two more years (beware those “temporary” tax increases…); establishes “throw back” rule expanding their income subject to state taxation.
  13. Luxury sales tax: Applies an additional luxury sales tax of 3 percent on clothing over $1,000, jewelry over $5,000, vehicles over $50,000, and boats over $100,000.
  14. Driver’s license: Increases the driver’s license tax from $66 to $72, good for 6 years ($1 a year increase).
  15. Car registration tax: Rises from $75 to $80 biennially.
  16. Care rental tax: Rises from 8 percent to 9 percent.
  17. Insurance premiums tax: Increases the insurance premium tax from 1.75% to 1.95%.
  18. Health facilities: Raises taxes on hospitals, nursing homes, and intermediate care facilities for the mentally retarded, in an effort designed to trigger federal reimbursements.
  19. Energy tax: Establishes a new tax of 2/10ths of a cent per kilowatt on electricity generated in Connecticut, with a special interest exemption for favored “green” energy producers. (Editor’s note: A reason to oppose the creation of new taxes of any kind is that they are often increased or expanded in future years. Example: state income tax.)
  20. Real estate conveyance tax: Makes permanent a .25% real estate tax and expands an optional conveyance tax.
  21. Cabaret tax: Creates a new cabaret tax of 3%.
  22. Admissions & Dues Tax: Eliminates exemptions from the 10% tax on admissions to certain places of “amusement, entertainment, or recreation” (eg, New Britain Rock Cats home games, events at the Hartford Civic Center).
  23. Boat tax: Taxes boats at a statewide rate of 20 mills.
  24. Airplane tax: Taxes airplanes at a statewide rate of 20 mills.
  25. Film Tax Credit: Decreases tax credit transferability to 50%, then 25%, against the corporate tax.

Sales Tax Exemptions Eliminated…

  1. Pet grooming services
  2. Automotive storage
  3. Boat services (docking, storage, cleaning, repair, tow)
  4. Packing & crating
  5. Car washes
  6. Automobile road and towing services
  7. Limousine services (with driver)
  8. Labor charges -repair of small aircraft
  9. Clothing and footwear under $50
  10. Non-prescription drugs
  11. Manicure and pedicure services
  12. Eliminate trade-ins exemption for auto vehicles
  13. Eliminate exemption for coupons, discounts, trade-ins
  14. Airport valet parking services
  15. Cosmetic surgery
  16. Haircuts
  17. Yoga Studios
  18. Cloth and fabric purchase for non-commercial sewing
  19. Hazardous waste removal
  20. Eliminate exemption for solid waste to energy facilities
Posted in ,

Steve McGough

Steve's a part-time conservative blogger. Steve grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Washington, D.C. and the Bahamas. He resides in Connecticut, where he’s comfortable six months of the year.

17 Comments

  1. Shared Sacrifice on February 22, 2011 at 10:14 pm

    I think the tea party events need to get more rowdy…? Sympathy would grow if we’re seen opposite police dogs and fire hoses; and the news media might actually show up!? But, alas, the only tea party event listings I find are for 2010!



  2. SoundOffSister on February 22, 2011 at 10:19 pm

    Bottom line, Steve, all of the above tax increases have been proposed for only one reason.? Even with the budget cuts proposed by Governor Malloy, Connecticut can’t afford to pay for the cost of it’s public union contracts.? And, when the union contracts call for their next increase in salary and benefits, the state can afford it even less.
    To pharaphrase, the unions (and the Governor) seem to be saying “damn the children, and the sick, and the needy, full speed ahead” as long as our union contracts are met.?
    This approach is more than sad.



  3. TomL on February 22, 2011 at 10:39 pm

    I thought we were suppose to get business friendly. Last one to leave Corrupticut turn out the light.



  4. AMD-Torr on February 23, 2011 at 7:27 am

    Steve, ?This was a great post.
    As for myself and my family, we are choosing to vote with our feet now. ?TN is looking better by the day. ?Especially after SOS’s post on the State Employees and the exemption there. ?I need to get a state job. ?LOL
    and TomL, you’re going to have to beat us out on the light!
    ?
    ?



  5. winnie888 on February 23, 2011 at 7:49 am

    I’m extremely glad that CT isn’t an island.? Doesn’t Malloy realize that people will find an excuse to shop anywhere BUT Connecticut now, not to mention seek out services elsewhere?? Mass and RI are going to make out very, very well with Malloy’s tax increases.? We may not be able to get around the income tax increase, but New Englanders are thrifty folk.? Will Malloy next set up customs stations at our three borders?



  6. RoBrDona on February 23, 2011 at 9:08 am

    I see a little ray of light in all of this. The fact that Danny Boy came out with a budget like this, with tax increases in?a depression indicates that the home team is truly desperate to protect its power centers (read union voters).?This is backfiring elsewhere, and eventually even the most?slack-jawed drooling?progressive socialists will have to poke their heads up out of their cesspool and recognise they are killing Connecticut to save a way of life that is extinct. ???



  7. rjan on February 23, 2011 at 10:00 am

    Governor Malloy is the only honest one here. All the problems in Ct. were caused by the previous governors and legislators who hid behind the republican gimmicks on budgeting. The governors are the leaders so why didn’t they just veto the waste but instead help push the fraud along the path of destruction. The people in Ct. seem to be very happy with Malloy because with all the taxes that are comming there was no big republican victory. With the democracts you know where you stand, with the republicans it is where can we?make our money in Ct.today and hide it from the tax man the next day. Pay up all you rich cowards that run from your obligations because soon there will be no?place to hide.?



  8. winnie888 on February 23, 2011 at 10:12 am

    @rjan:? being a republican governor in this state means nothing with a democrat legislature.? A republican governor vetoeing democrat spending is pointless.? The only party interested in making “revenue” off the backs of the taxpayers is the democrat party.? Dan Malloy’s tax increases only serve to prove that.?



  9. andy@american on February 23, 2011 at 10:50 am

    Is anyone confident the revenue taken in from the new taxes will be used to pay down the debt instead of being used for further spending?? The state income tax then the casino revenue were going to be the goose that laid the golden eggs, right?? The only thing new revenue does is bring more spending.



  10. rjan on February 23, 2011 at 11:39 am

    The republicans ARE COWARDS because if they vetoed the previous budgets it would show where they stand. The dems do a great job at that and this is why they win in Ct.and soon in the rest of the USA.The republicans should act like rebulicans?what are they scared of ? The excuse of the majority of state legislators are democracts should not be an excuse to be cowards. Continuing on this path will make them losers nationwide.



  11. RoBrDona on February 23, 2011 at 12:17 pm

    I generally don’t bother with trolls but in this case Ryan you amuse me like a little wind-up toy. Let me spell it out for you: the CT Democrats OWN the current economy because they have?had a VETO-PROOF majority for years. Republicans are cowards? You have to be a cretin to equate?being in the minority with cowardice. Malloy, while nice enough I suppose, just reinforces the idiocy of Democratic rule, which is tax and tax again to buy votes, and?let later politicians deal with the aftermath. This is fine for the rank and file Dems who collectively have the intellect of a rabid squirrel, but thinking people who create?jobs and?pay the bulk of the taxes in the state are just going to leave, letting you wallow in your own regurgitated vomit.???



  12. Dimsdale on February 23, 2011 at 7:02 pm

    “With the democracts you know where you stand,…”

    ?
    I couldn’t have put it better myself.? LOL!
    ?

    “The people in Ct. seem to be very happy with Malloy because with all the taxes that are comming there was no big republican victory.”

    ?
    Does anyone even know what that sentence means?
    ?
    Ever wonder why Democrat controlled “utopias” like CT are such a mess, i.e. so deeply in debt and full of poverty?
    ?
    I don’t.?? As stated above, the Democrats OWN the mess they created in CT.? Were it not for the Republican governors, it would be in a bigger mess.



  13. crystal4 on February 23, 2011 at 7:13 pm

    The special elections were the citizens’ referendum on Malloy’s budget proposals-7 wins out of 9. Tired of “kicking th can down the road” and borrowing to meet obligations ala Rell.



  14. sammy22 on February 23, 2011 at 8:28 pm

    Gov. Rell did not veto any budget passed by the Democrat majorities. The excuse that a veto would be overturned is just a BIG cop-out. It’s plain and simple she did not veto anything, period! Now the new darling is Gov. Christie who has displaced Sarah and governs somewhere else.



  15. Jim Vicevich on February 23, 2011 at 9:57 pm

    Sammy et al.

    Google “Governor Rell vetoes budget” and you will find more than 16,000 entries. What we ended up getting in Connecticut was far less than what the free spending Democrats wanted, eventually using line item vetoes. Rell signed them even though I think she should have forced the showdown on the entire budget. Why, you can only ask her. But to say the Democrats didn’t push us here would be factually inaccurate. To say she never vetoed a spending bill is laughable.



  16. doublechinsteve on February 24, 2011 at 6:30 am

    Jim-

    You’re talking to democrats and/or democrat sympathizers……the truth doesn’t matter….sammy22 et al. will some day wake up and say, why are the taxes the way they are?? We’ve had democrats fighting for the middle class and the working people of CT.?I just hope for sammy’s sake he works for the government!



  17. Dimsdale on February 24, 2011 at 6:55 am

    "Laughable" being the operating word here…



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