FEMA’s new flood insurance program kicks in Friday, but how the new system actually works is murky.
Pew Charitable Trusts
Posted inEconomic Development
Connecticut ranks last in personal income growth over past year
A new report from Pew Charitable Trusts ranks Connecticut dead last in personal income growth over the past year.
Posted inMoney
CT’s jobless rate is on the rise, but is it real?
A new analysis says Connecticut’s unemployment is worsening, but a state labor economist counters that’s due to a statistically oddity.
Posted inEconomic Development
Pew: CT leads most states in ensuring good return on business incentives
Between grants, low-interest loans and tax breaks, Connecticut provides hundreds of millions of dollars annually in incentives to help businesses survive — and sometimes to expand — in a high-cost state. And while these incentives remain a perpetual source of debate, a national think-tank says Connecticut at least does better than most other states at ensuring it gets a good return on its investments.
Posted inMoney
New report shows recreational marijuana revenue volatile in many states
While Connecticut opted not to legalize and tax recreational marijuana sales this year, many lawmakers saw the pot market as a revenue source that could rake in tens of millions of dollars annually for the state’s coffers. But a new analysis by Pew Charitable Trusts found that states with legalized pot sales are struggling to predict how much they can haul in on an annual basis.
Posted inMoney
CT’s tax receipts rebound faster than those in most states
A new analysis from the Pew Charitable Trusts shows Connecticut’s tax receipts have rebounded faster than those in most other states since the last recession.
Posted inMoney
Report: ‘Sin’ taxes pose fiscal — not health — risks for states
Connecticut and most other states need to be cautious about their rapidly increasing reliance on cigarette and other volatile “sin” taxes, according to a new report from Pew Charitable Trusts.
Posted inMoney
Report: State pension costs still could reach ‘unaffordable’ levels
Despite numerous reforms in recent years, state government’s pension costs still could reach “unaffordable” levels in the early 2030s, according to a new “stress test” analysis prepared for the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Posted inMoney, News, Politics
CT among highest states in Pentagon per-capita spending
WASHINGTON – Pentagon spending on contracts in 2015 was $2,504 for every man, woman and child in Connecticut, more per person than in any other place except Virginia and the District of Columbia, according to a recently released report by the Pew Charitable Trusts. But a key lawmaker warned Thursday that lean years are coming for the Pentagon’s budget.
Posted inMoney
Report: Personal income in CT, long lagging, fell last fiscal year
A recent analysis by The Pew Charitable Trusts shows Connecticut has been lagging the nation in personal income growth since the last recession. And most recently that meager growth has been slowing down.
Posted inMoney
Many states, like CT, have low budget reserves, income growth
While Connecticut is one of just two states still lacking a budget, it has plenty of company involving two of the key factors that complicate its fiscal challenges. But it ranks close to the bottom in both: the health of its rainy day fund and income growth.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Above the waves, Connecticut fishermen struggle to hang on
Shifting fish species have Connecticut fishermen in an emotional dispute over how the U.S. fishing system operates. They’re calling, if not downright begging, for immediate changes to fish allocations to save the state’s fishing industry from what many believe is its inevitable ruin. But others in the scientific and environmental communities are saying – maybe not so fast.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Pew report: Half the states trying to promote retirement savings
Connecticut is not alone in developing new options to assist private-sector workers who lack a retirement plan, according to a recent report from the Pew Charitable Trusts. At least 24 other states have introduced legislation, studied state-sponsored retirement savings programs, or enacted programs to reduce poverty among retirees.
Posted inMoney
Pew report: CT deep in debt, even considering its high income
Even weighed against Connecticut’s high per capita income, the state’s bonded debt and unfunded retirement benefits outrank most other states’, according to a new analysis by The Pew Charitable Trusts.
Posted inJustice
Pew tracks sharp rise in ‘punishment rate’ in CT
As the General Assembly considers reforms intended to divert younger defendants from prison, a national study concludes that Connecticut moved farther than nearly every state in embracing harsher punishment over a 30-year period marked by soaring U.S. incarceration rates.