Response to the Governor's budget proposal from the business community was swift and harsh. The president of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, Joseph Brennan said, “I think it strikes a blow at business confidence …strikes a blow at our recovery.”
State government grants to municipalities are essentially flat-funded or down slightly. That means local property tax payers must pick up the inflation costs and that translates into higher local property taxes.
The Governor’s budget proposal for the next two years claims to reduce the sales tax. The devil is always in the details. The reality is the budget proposal eliminates sales tax exemptions on clothing and restricts “Tax-Free Week.” We pay $57 million more in sales taxes.
Even your garbage collection costs are going up with Governor Malloy as he raises solid waste disposal fees.
Not only do you get more taxes from the Democrats but you also get a huge “get out of jail free” program. This budget predicts savings of nearly $50 million for releasing prisoners early over the next two years. Has anyone thought about the costs to monitor so many early-release prisoners?
Wait, there’s more. Governor Malloy doesn’t seem to like our third branch of government – the Judicial Branch. He proposes stripping over 1,500 employees from the Court Support Services Division and transferring them to the Executive Branch – now reporting to the Governor. Why is the Governor taking 35% of the Judicial Branch’s employees?
Transportation was a key focus of Governor Malloy’s budget address to the General Assembly. I’ll cover this topic in a future post.
I’ll keep reading and studying the details of Governor Malloy’s budget proposal. So far I see many questions.
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