Posted on 03/07/2017 8:24:26 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Government finance is now the greatest source of controversy in Connecticut, owing to billion-dollar deficits and an epic debt load that ensures high taxes for many years to come. In national politics, Connecticut is deep blue: Its entire congressional delegation is Democratic, and it hasnt voted for a Republican presidential candidate in 28 years. But the GOP has recently notched strong gains in the state legislature. Though its far from clear which party will prevail, the fight for control of state government will depend on who can better respond to broad public recognition that Connecticut needs a new fiscal model.
Many Connecticut conservatives cite the adoption of an income tax in 1991 as the beginning of the states woes. Up to that point, the Land of Steady Habits had an inspired run, poaching businesses and residents from overtaxed New York. Connecticut governor Lowell Weicker, a former Republican who served as an independent, worked out a deal with lawmakers: Government would impose a spending cap in exchange for the tax hike. But the state never fully implemented the former.
No one seriously believes that the state can grow its way out of its fiscal troubles. In four of the last six years, the Connecticut economy has ranked among the five slowest-growing of all American states. Wounds are still raw from General Electrics announcement in January 2016 that it would relocate its corporate headquarters from Fairfield, Conn., to Boston. State officials are anxious that Aetna, a large insurance company thats been based in Hartford for over 150 years, might decamp as well. In 2016, the state registered a net decline in population for the third year in a row. Families and corporations are right to speculate over what Connecticuts fiscal future means for them. Ever-escalating pension liabilities and a structural budget deficit make it seem like only a matter of time before even New York looks like a bargain compared with Connecticut.
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When Malloy in early February released his budget proposal for fiscal year 2018, he technically made good on promises, which he had been making for months, of no new major tax hikes. But by cutting state aid to most towns and proposing that all localities start paying one-third of their teachers pension costs, which are currently a state expense, the budget will certainly lead to steep local property-tax increases if it becomes law.
Not all localities would lose out under the Malloy budget. Connecticuts major cities stand to benefit handsomely from more school aid and other forms of financial assistance. That is the practical consequence of a redistributionary philosophy espoused by the governor: not only that wealthy households should fund safety-net programs for the low-income, but that affluent towns should send general-treasury support to their poorer urban peers. Malloy says that this is the right thing to do and that a brighter future for Connecticut requires that its cities be stronger.
The erosion of Connecticuts suburban tax base is a more dire prospect than the continued weakness of its cities.
His urbanist vision is deeply flawed. Small-town Connecticuts quality of life the high-performing public schools, the classic housing stock, the opportunities for authentic local self-government stacks up with that offered by any other American jurisdiction. Up to a point, its worth the price of tax bills that are higher than in most other states. At the same time, the suggestion that just one more investment would give Bridgeport, Waterbury, or Hartford the vibrancy of Boston or Houston is implausible. The erosion of Connecticuts suburban tax base is a more dire prospect than the continued weakness of its cities.
What does this all mean politically? Since 2009, the Democrats advantage in the lower house of Connecticuts general assembly has declined from 77 seats to seven. In this past election cycle, Republicans tied the Democrats in the state senate. Nationwide, Republicans claim 25 trifectas control of a states governorship and both legislative houses. Within the next couple of years, Connecticut has a shot at becoming the 26th. A change in leadership will be necessary if Connecticut voters are serious about avoiding further decline.
Stephen Eide is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
2018 is coming. Gov. Daniel P. Malloy is done.
Then, having bled the place dry, the bloodsuckers try to come South and “educate” us on “how we do it”— and seem surprised when told to go- themselves. Or, if they get a toehold, like they have in “halfway” houses/towns like raleigh, or Savannah— they screw great people out of their property. And the taxes never come down. Typical.
Lowell Weicker and Lieberman are gonna get married in wherever they will be or have gone. Mush mouths and frauds.
And Blumenthal— what a g-d piece of work. Him and fauxahontas.
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