Wall Street Journal Editorial
The Census Bureau says Connecticut was one of six states that lost population in fiscal 2013-2014, and a Gallup poll in the second half of 2013 found that about half of Nutmeg Staters would migrate if they could.
Now the Democrats who run the state want to drive the other half out too.
That's the best way to explain the frenzy by Governor Dannel Malloy and the legislature to raise taxes again and blow through a state constitutional spending cap. They've been negotiating behind closed-doors over the details of a two-year $40 billion budget that could be revealed this weekend, but it's already clear that Connecticut residents will pay big time.
Mr. Malloy promised last year during his re-election campaign that he wouldn't raise taxes, but that's what he also said in 2010. In 2011 he signed a $2.6 billion tax hike promising that it would eliminate a budget deficit. Having won re-election he's now back seeking another $650 million in tax hikes.
But that's not enough for the legislature, which has floated $1.5 billion in tax increases. Add a state-wide municipal sales tax that some lawmakers want, and the total could hit $2.1 billion over two years.
One reason Mr. Malloy needs cash is because the state economy isn't growing. According to the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis, the state grew a scant 0.9% in 2013, the last year state data are available. That was tied for tenth worst in the U.S. The state's average compounded annual growth for the last four years is 0.42%.
Slow growth means less tax revenue but spending never slows down. Some "40% of the state budget goes to government employee compensation and benefits, including payroll, state pensions, teacher pensions and current and retiree health care," says Carol Platt Liebau, president of the Hartford-based Yankee Institute. "These items are growing at a rate that exceeds the growth of the economy."
The Tax Foundation ranks Connecticut as one of the 10 worst states to do business. The state finished last in Gallup's Job Creation Index in 2014 and now ties with Rhode Island for the worst job creation in the index since 2008.
This will only get worse if the state Assembly gets its way. Democrats want to make permanent what has been a temporary surtax of 20% on a company's annual tax liability, while limiting the use of accumulated tax credits. They also want to apply the 6.35% state sales tax to services, increase the top marginal income tax rate for individuals to 6.99% from 6.7%, and add a new 2% surcharge on capital gains income, which is now taxed as ordinary income.
In a sign of grasping desperation, the proposal also calls for the Connecticut Lottery to put keno in bars and restaurants. Not too many years ago Connecticut was a tax refuge for New York City workers, but since it imposed an income tax in 1991 the rate has kept climbing, as it always does.
We're tempted to say that the Connecticut voters who re-elected Mr. Malloy after he dissembled on taxes the first time are getting what they deserve. But this is what happens when a state, like Illinois and New York, becomes dominated by public unions and gentry liberals.
They soak the middle class.
On May 13 Nutmeggers became the last U.S. residents to reach Tax Freedom Day, when they finish paying the government each year and begin working for themselves. No wonder so many want to leave.
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For Protective Parents. Your source for news and information on the broken Family Court System in Connecticut. I am NOT an attorney. This blog does not constitute legal advice.
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Showing posts with label WALL STREET JOURNAL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WALL STREET JOURNAL. Show all posts
Saturday, May 30, 2015
SENATOR LEN FASANO POINTS OUT WSJ ARTICLE ON WHY CT CITIZENS WANT TO LEAVE THE STATE! DARE I SAY OUR CORRUPT JUDICIAL SYSTEM IS A SUBTEXT!
Thursday, April 16, 2015
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL REPORTS STATES ARE SHIFTING CUSTODY LAWS TO FAVOR MEN!
Reporter Ashby Jones of The Wall Street Journal reports as follows:
"Some of the biggest battles over child custody are playing out not in courtrooms, but in statehouses.
Prompted partly by fathers concerned that men for too long have gotten short shrift in custody decisions, about 20 states are considering measures that would change the laws governing which parent gets legal and physical control of a child after a divorce or separation.
The laws generally encourage judges to adopt custody schedules that maximize time for each parent. Some of the measures, such as those proposed in New York and Washington state, take an additional step by requiring judges to award equal time to each parent unless there is proof that such an arrangement wouldn’t be in a child’s best interests.
Critics of these bills contend that they threaten to take discretion away from judges and risk giving leverage to abusive men. They also say the laws are poorly targeted because typically the only custody cases that end up in court are ones in which former spouses are too hostile toward each other to effectively practice shared parenting anyway."
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