Bolinsky Slams State Tax Hikes

‘Budget Plan is a House of Cards’

HARTFORD – After absorbing weeks of intense condemnation over their budget plan that raised taxes on the middle class and pushed businesses to the brink of leaving Connecticut, the Democrats made only minor adjustments to the final product which will lead to future deficits and tax hikes, according to State Rep. Mitch Bolinsky during the special session on June 29th.

Since the June 2 when the original budget and tax plan were approved, Rep. Bolinsky received hundreds of emails and calls opposing the middle class and business tax hikes. They have also met with their local chambers of commerce who have said the hostile attitude the majority party in Hartford has toward the business community will hurt Connecticut’s long-term ability to keep businesses in state.

The massive budget ‘fix’ bill was in fact a 660 page Christmas tree bill chock-full of 529 sections. Many of the sections of the bill were ‘non-budget related’ pieces of legislation which were resurrected by the majority party after they mismanaged the legislative regular session time.

Rep. Bolinsky said, “Let me be clear up front: I voted “Nay” on this train wreck of a budget and most of its associated implementer bills because it’s a slap in the face to every Connecticut taxpayer, business, hospital and non-profit. As I said on the floor of the House of Representatives, I am tremendously disappointed by the blindness and deafness of this legislature and, at this moment, not proud of the work.  The people of Newtown are amongst the most savvy in the state and the overwhelming majority of my constituents are acutely aware of the potential damage this irresponsible budget could bring.  Because this budget spends so much more than we, as a state, take-in, we’re faced with the second largest tax increase in state history – topped only by the last budget.  I will have an incredibly difficult time trying to explain it to my constituents, although I will – with brutally honesty, whether we meet on the street, in the store, at the park or at one of the Session Wrap-up Town Hall meetings that we will host.  Folks have good reason to be sharply critical of the budget and especially the process.  My caucus presented a reasonable budget that balanced and did not increase taxes, yet, we were excluded from the budget-building and then again from the budget revision deliberations – even though we represent 42% of Connecticut voters and way more than half of all taxes paid in this state. A travesty.”

The $1.4 billion tax hike is actually closer to $2 billion when you include the additional taxes on our state hospitals, that will lead to devastating cuts to Danbury Hospital.

According to the legislative non-partisan Office of Fiscal Analysis, the Democratic budget proposal will leave Connecticut a structure deficit of close to a $1 billion and that assumes state tax revenues will grow by very healthy amounts between now and then.

The budget rolls back only 10 percent, at most, of the original $1.8 billion in tax hikes that had businesses fuming and middle class families and taxpayers steaming. The Democrats paid for much of the tax rollbacks by diverting more than $100 million in additional revenue from sales tax increases that were intended to go to towns and cities.

Bolinsky added, “Some of my greatest concerns come from what I already hear from my neighbors; Some are swearing to leave Connecticut.  Some are employed by companies that have expressed they’re going to be open to relocating long-time Connecticut businesses and jobs elsewhere.  Governors from other states are visiting here to recruit them.  The reaction from Governor Malloy and his budget-writers?  Lip service and a reduction of the tax increases from $1.6-billion to $1.4-billion,,which is actually higher because of new Hospital taxes and the budget-writers moving another $1.5-biullion in unfunded liabilities off the balance sheet. It’s not pretty and then, leading House and Senate Democrats aimed verbal criticism and calls to stop whining at the corporate community.  I could go on and on but will reserve further details for our Town Hall meetings at this point and simply end by stating: We CAN do better. We MUST do better. Business as usual in Connecticut is no longer an option.  Voters hold the key!”

One of the most controversial taxes, one that would require corporations to pay taxes on companies that they run out of state retroactively to last Jan. 1, was only delayed to Jan. 1, 2016.