Better Choices for Connecticut, a statewide coalition advocating for state revenue solutions to the state’s revenue shortfall, called on Governor Rell to sign the budget bill approved today by the Connecticut General Assembly. The Coalition expressed support for the measure as one that, while containing some painful cuts, begins to make the state’s revenue system more fair and protects families who rely on services in the areas of health care, education, and human services. The Coalition warned that the Governor’s budget proposal would further delay Connecticut’s economy recovery, add to the ranks of the unemployed, drain public investment from the economy, and harm families struggling through an economic downturn.
The budget bill increases income taxes for those with taxable incomes over $500,000 for joint filers or over $265,000 for single filers. As explained in Connecticut Voices for Children’s “Who Pays” research report, Connecticut's middle-income and lower-income families currently pay much more of their income in state and local taxes than do the wealthiest families. After federal tax deductions, the wealthiest 1% of Connecticut's families pay 4.5% of their income in state and local taxes. This is less than half the share of income paid in these taxes by the state's middle-income families (9.3%) or low-income families (12.1%). Better Choices for Connecticut noted that Governor Rell proposed an increase in the income tax in 2007 and urged her to adopt the current legislative proposal.
The budget proposal also would begin to scale back public subsidies to the entertainment industry through the “film tax credit” and increase cigarette taxes to help close the state revenue gap. These measures and a progressive income tax were among the revenue goals of the Better Choices coalition.
“The Legislature has taken a more realistic and responsible approach to the state revenue gap than the Governor,” said Jamey Bell, Executive Director of Connecticut Voices for Children. “By beginning to address Connecticut’s revenue problems with revenue solutions, they are avoiding many more severe cuts that would further set back Connecticut’s economy and our families.”
The Coalition cautioned that if Governor Rell vetoes the legislative budget proposal and no new budget is passed before the end of the fiscal year on June 30, many public and private service providers could be left with no guarantee of funding when the new budget year begins on July 1. After July 1, the Governor can suspend funding for services she deems to be “non-essential.”
“Health and human services for the state’s most vulnerable residents were, with a few exceptions, mostly protected in the budget approved by the House and Senate,” said Liza Andrews, Public Policy Specialist at the Connecticut Association of Nonprofits. “We encourage Governor Rell to sign this bill and ensure that private providers are properly funded immediately at the start of the fiscal year on July 1.”
“I know that Governor Rell cares about family values,” said Jeffrey Freiser, Executive Director of the Connecticut Housing Coalition. “But I don’t understand what kind of family values would lead her to impose greater hardship on struggling families, seniors and people with disabilities, in order to protect the wealthy from a tax increase.”
Better Choices for Connecticut is a community coalition working to help Connecticut make better choices on ways to improve the state’s imbalanced revenue system so that it advances opportunity for shared prosperity for all Connecticut residents; preserves services for children, families and the elderly; creates and sustains good jobs; and reinvests in the middle class and our communities. For more information, go to www.betterchoicesforCT.org.
