Courtney Bourns

This is a good time to challenge both candidates for governor to support an incremental increase in the Connecticut income tax rate for themselves, their wealthy neighbors and over 10,000 Connecticut families who earn in excess of $1 million a year.

Keith Phaneuf’s Sept. 6 article, citing a new report from CT’s United Way, describes the rise in the number of working poor in Connecticut.  That should concern us deeply, along with the fact that our state’s income inequality — one of the highest in the country — continues to skew along racial lines.

Last week, Gov. Ned Lamont floated the idea of applying sales taxes to groceries as he seeks to bring our state out of its fiscal crisis. I suggest, as others did, that this is not the way forward. Taxing groceries strikes working families where it hurts the most. Families living at or near the poverty line spend most of their money on food, transportation, and housing. Raising the cost of living for those already struggling to get by simply does not make sense.