Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism
CT VIEWPOINTS -- opinions from around Connecticut

CT special session should strengthen,
not weaken, progressive budget

  • CT Viewpoints
  • by Alex Taubes
  • June 17, 2015
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

After talking with some lobbyists, Gov. Dannel Malloy is calling for the General Assembly to roll back more than $200 million in corporate tax increases in this year’s budget.

General Electric and other major corporations have demanded these changes while threatening to leave our state. But the General Assembly shouldn’t do GE’s bidding. They should build on this year’s progress instead.

Gigantic companies like GE have a long tradition of avoiding taxes. Most small and medium-sized businesses, however, cannot afford to hire the “the world’s best tax law firm,” let alone create one in-house. So instead of letting GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt, on the way to becoming a billionaire, decide Connecticut’s tax policy, the General Assembly should do right by the people —the vast majority of people— who play by the rules instead of gaming them.

To help everyone, including GE (despite what they say), the General Assembly should continue with property tax reform.

To make Connecticut more business-friendly, Speaker Brendan Sharkey and Senate President Martin Looney should build on their signature initiative: property tax relief. Property taxes are Connecticut’s most regressive and burdensome levy.

How is Bridgeport, our state’s largest city, ever going to bounce back from outsourcing when it has one of the highest property tax rates in the country? How is it fair that the same Toyota Camry gets taxed almost ten times higher in struggling Hartford than in wealthy Greenwich?

It’s property taxes that have our state stuck in second gear. As Speaker Sharkey says, even GE probably pays more in property taxes to Fairfield each year than it does in corporate taxes to the State of Connecticut.

This budget makes progress with car tax reform, but the same inequities apply to houses. Instead of cutting back the property tax credit, the General Assembly should transform the credit into a full-blown property tax “circuit breaker.”

Enacted in many states, circuit breakers ensure that property taxes never exceed a certain percentage of a taxpayer’s income. In places like Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven, and for seniors in every town, a circuit breaker will provide tax relief and make our state more competitive.

To pay for this, the Assembly should pass the low-wage employer fee. The fee would level the playing field between Connecticut Main Street small businesses, who pay fair wages, and the big box stores that cannibalize on Connecticut’s social services budget with their unethical business models.

Big businesses won’t have to pay the fee, after all, if they pay their workers more. UConn economists estimate the fee will create jobs, add revenue, and boost GDP. If that’s too risky for the legislators, another UConn economist says fixing the state hospital tax could save hundreds of millions too.

Jeffrey Immelt

Jeffrey Immelt

While they’re at it, though, the Assembly should consider a new idea: a statewide levy on multimillion-dollar homes like Jeffrey Immelt’s $5.25 million mansion. The near-billion-dollar CEO can threaten to move his employees’ jobs, but if he wants to sell his mansion, someone else will have to buy it.

Whoever lives in that six-bedroom, 10-bathroom structure can probably afford to pay more: after all, New Canaan’s mill rate is less than half the rate in Bridgeport. How is that fair again?

This year’s budget was a compromise. It included millions of dollars in cuts to social services, important new investments in transportation infrastructure, property tax relief for Connecticut’s struggling cities, and yes, a slight increase in taxes for corporations and some of our most fortunate individuals.

No one is happy, because nobody got everything they want. Giving GE everything it wants, though, means someone else will have to pay for it —children with developmental disabilities, veterans, middle class property taxpayers, commuters stuck in traffic, children attending struggling schools, or parents seeking a new spot for their children in a magnet or charter school.

Instead of asking the middle class to foot GE’s bill, legislative leaders should stand firm in the special session, find the courage of their convictions, and continue on the path of progress they have started.

The General Assembly should use the special session to reform Connecticut’s property tax system once and for all.

Alex Taubes is the executive director of American Dream Clean.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
How do we show that we value teachers? By listening to them.
by Sana Shaikh

When I was graduating college, my friends’ futures were brimming with impressive labels: Google, Facebook, McKinsey, Bain, PhD, MD, Fulbrights – the list of professional excellence was seemingly never-ending. When I said that I was becoming a teacher, I got puzzled looks – “Why would you be a teacher?” “If you can’t do, teach,” I heard. The nonchalance about my professional trajectory was unsettling. What’s more? Nothing has changed in the last ten years.

Sports betting in Connecticut: Can’t all the brands just get along?
by Bill Field

When it comes to legalized sports betting in Connecticut, it’s time that all of the parties gathered in a room and hammered out an agreement that works for everyone. The adage of everyone benefiting from a rising tide hasn’t resonated in the past two and half years. 

COVID-19 will push nursing home design forward
by Myles R. Brown

Over 40 percent of American deaths attributed to COVID-19 have been nursing home residents. Outdated nursing home designs contributed to the scale of this tragedy in Connecticut. Many design changes that could have prevented the spread of COVID-19 were already needed to improve the well-being of nursing home residents. The pandemic has made these issues impossible to ignore.

Let gig economy workers pursue options
by Nicole Petruzzi

In response to your February 22 story, “In an evolving economy, lawmakers take roles once played by unions:” Like many Connecticut workers, I struggle to make ends meet for my family, even when working full time. This last year has been a particularly hard time. I started looking for a part-time job to supplement my income, but I was worried that even something part-time would take away precious and needed time with my family.

Fitness is part of Connecticut’s COVID solution
by David Humphrey

Based on what we now know about infection rates and transmission, it is more apparent than ever before that gyms, fitness centers, and the physical and mental health benefits of exercise are essential to help our state get through the months ahead.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion How do we show that we value teachers? By listening to them.
by Sana Shaikh

When I was graduating college, my friends’ futures were brimming with impressive labels: Google, Facebook, McKinsey, Bain, PhD, MD, Fulbrights – the list of professional excellence was seemingly never-ending. When I said that I was becoming a teacher, I got puzzled looks – “Why would you be a teacher?” “If you can’t do, teach,” I heard. The nonchalance about my professional trajectory was unsettling. What’s more? Nothing has changed in the last ten years.

Opinion Sports betting in Connecticut: Can’t all the brands just get along?
by Bill Field

When it comes to legalized sports betting in Connecticut, it’s time that all of the parties gathered in a room and hammered out an agreement that works for everyone. The adage of everyone benefiting from a rising tide hasn’t resonated in the past two and half years. 

Opinion COVID-19 will push nursing home design forward
by Myles R. Brown

Over 40 percent of American deaths attributed to COVID-19 have been nursing home residents. Outdated nursing home designs contributed to the scale of this tragedy in Connecticut. Many design changes that could have prevented the spread of COVID-19 were already needed to improve the well-being of nursing home residents. The pandemic has made these issues impossible to ignore.

Opinion Let gig economy workers pursue options
by Nicole Petruzzi

In response to your February 22 story, “In an evolving economy, lawmakers take roles once played by unions:” Like many Connecticut workers, I struggle to make ends meet for my family, even when working full time. This last year has been a particularly hard time. I started looking for a part-time job to supplement my income, but I was worried that even something part-time would take away precious and needed time with my family.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO