From 1997 to 2010, Connecticut had a Republican Governor who had to work with a Democrat House and Senate for legislation. Since 2010, Connecticut has had Democrat one-party rule "trifecta" and "triplex," meaning the Democrat Party controls the offices of the governor, secretary of state, attorney general, and both chambers of the state legislature, House and Senate.
Twelve years of having one party dominate state politics is a long time. Year after year, with Democrats rubber stamping their own agenda, there's no balanced approach to problem solving. When there's no competition, there's no reason to try to do better. The results for Connecticut's people is a laundry list of inefficiencies and more bureaucracy, making life in Connecticut more expensive.
This year, our state dropped to #39 in CNBC’s annual Top States for Business rankings, earning two “F” letter grades for our state economy and cost of living, and a “D” letter grade for cost of doing business.
During election time, it's hard to see the truth of what's really going on. Here are some recent examples of the kind of ineptitude that should not be OK with the people of Connecticut:
* ONLINE TAX OOPS - In 2019, our state legislature passed a new tax to start charging state sales tax on online transactions. Politicians even counted on it bringing in $30 million to state coffers for FY2020-21.
But a June 21, 2022 report by our state Auditor says the Tax Department never even bothered to implement the new tax. Why not? Because Connecticut has such a complicated hodge-podge system of sales tax rates and exemptions, we would have to dramatically simplify our taxes, in order to be able to join any multi-state coalition to start collecting taxes on online sales.
So, what's happening? Our local in-state merchants are complying with the new online sales tax, but many out-of-state merchants are not. Is this fair to our in-state sellers? Connecticut small businesses are being hurt by Democrat policies and there's no political will in a one-party-rule state to fix this situation.
Cynically, we could be OK with the kind of incompetence that leads to taxes NOT being collected on us. But it does beg the question, what else is our state government not getting right?
*CHILD TAX REBATE -- Democrats are touting their so-called "historic" $660M tax cuts. A big chunk of this is their child tax rebate. Rebates are NOT tax "cuts" and they ARE NOT even tax "credits". Rebates are $$ checks that are sent out to anyone who qualifies and claims it. An election year one-time tax rebate is a kissing cousin to a vote buying scheme. In their rush, the Democrats have a poorly run program that is leaving 20-30% of their estimated recipients not even claiming the rebate.
* COVID $$ DEBACLE -- This is a new low and should be infuriating for us all. A $34M COVID program never got off the ground. It was supposed to cover lost wages and medical expenses for frontline workers, but the program is a hot mess. More than six months after it was launched, the state has awarded only $361,122 or 1.1% of the $34 million in federal dollars. Good reporting by Keith Phaneuf at the CT Mirror.
Just in the last two years, here is a laundry list of Democrat tax proposals:
2021 Session
SB 1202- Among other policies, this bill extended the 10% corporation business tax surcharge to the 2021-2022 income years and delayed the start time of the capital base phase out by three years and extends the phase-out period.
SB 1106- Proposed a new "consumption tax" based on an individual's income, imposes a digital advertising tax.
HB 6443- Proposed a consumption tax, a new tax on digital advertising services, a 2% capital gains surcharge, and other tax related policies. Some were carried into the final budget proposal, some were not.
HB 5274-Proposed a 1.5% tax on capital gains
SB 821- Proposed a 10% tax on gross revenues from digital advertising services, a 2% tax on residential property exceeding 1.5 million in value, a 5% capital gains tax.
SB 171- Proposed a 1 mil state-wide property tax on commercial and residential real property valued at $300,000 or above.
SB 172-Similar to SB 171 but proceeds from the tax would go to affordable housing in the state
HB 6688-Enacted the highway user fee (Truck Tax) on large trucks based on gross weight and class. This bill passed into law.
HB 5531- Proposed a 2-cent tax per round on ammunition .22 or lower and a 5-cent tax per round on all other ammunition.
2022 Session
The above are just a few examples of how one party rule has made Connecticut more expensive and less efficient. Please support my re-election to the state House to continue to be a check on high taxes and more bureaucracy.