Americans for Tax Reform condemns Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s (CT-R) latest budget plan, which was unveiled yesterday. Despite her public statements throughout the year that she would not raise taxes, Rell’s latest proposal includes $391 million in tax increases.  

Key provisions of the plan include a 50 percent tax increase on a pack of cigarettes, a 10 percent increase in alcohol taxes, and a 10 percent surcharge in the corporate profits tax. The corporate profits tax would be back dated to January of this year. Additionally, companies that do business in Connecticut but have no physical presence (property or employees) in the state would be required to pay the new 10 percent levy.
 
For help understanding why her latest budget plan is a disaster, ATR points to Gov. Rell’s June statement in which she explained that raising taxes right now "would be the worst thing we could do in the middle of a national recession."
 
Rell should also explain how she reconciles her latest budget with her March remark that "families cannot raise taxes on someone to pay for their bills and neither should the state.”
 
Rell’s budget – if approved by the Democrat-controlled legislature, which is likely – will continue the policies that have made Connecticut, and the entire northeast for that matter, an economic blackhole. If higher taxes were the answer, Connecticut would be in great shape. Only New York and New Jersey have a higher state and local tax burden and Nutmeg State residents work longer than anyone else to pay for the cost of their government.
 
 
At least Connecticut can make Michigan feel better about itself.