Next Tuesday House and Senate leaders will be meeting to discuss the budget. It is important that you contact your legislators and explain that increasing taxes is not the answer to a balanced budget. The CT Institute for the 21st Century has made recommendations to our legislators that would make our government more effective and efficient, without decreasing the services we all expect. Those recommendations are not included in this budget. Little or no attempts were made to reorganize government operations or spending and create a “lean” system. Please urge your legislators to reconsider the budget.
Many of you have been hearing about GE and big corporate taxes. Some of the “solutions” that were proposed in this budget not only affects these larger companies that our legislators say were the target, but they also affect the mid-sized businesses and the smaller companies that make up most of our region. I have included below an analysis of the tax increases that was done by an independent firm for your review. These economists are not democrats or republicans; their analysis is based on fact. The cup half empty can be argued that it is half full.
“Today, Ernst & Young LLP, in conjunction with the Council On State Taxation, released comments on business taxes in Connecticut. The comments provide an analysis of Connecticut’s position relative to other states in the annual “Total State and Local Business Taxes” study, last released in August 2014. Although by certain measures the study reflects a low relative business tax burden in Connecticut, further analysis shows: Connecticut is also 10% above the US average in taxing highly mobile new investment; Connecticut’s overall business tax burden ranking, on a per employee basis, is comparable to the US average (before recently legislated tax increases); and Connecticut’s overall state and local tax burden (for both household and business taxes) is 57% higher than the US average on a per capita basis. Thus, by several important measures, the analysis shows that “Connecticut imposes higher-than-average state and local tax burdens.”