Case Comments on Inaction of Appropriations Committee

Hartford – State Representative Jay Case (R-63) participated in an Appropriations Committee meeting on Tuesday, April 25, 2017 at the Legislative Office Building. The major item on the committee’s agenda for the meeting was to take action on the legislature’s proposed state budget. The committee failed to do so.

“This is an unfortunate reflection the legislative process. It is obvious that as a result of this poor proposal, legislative Democrats are trying to place the blame on Republicans. That is simply an inaccurate characterization of what went on during today’s meeting,” explained Rep. Case who serves on the Appropriations Committee. “The Democrats are in the legislative majority and could not get the votes needed to pass their own proposal. Consequently, the chairs decided to effectively kill the proposal, which was a unilateral decision from legislative Democrats.”

Case attributes the current deficit, and projected out year deficits, to poor fiscal policies put forward by the Governor and legislative Democrats. Within the past five years, Connecticut taxpayers have received two of the largest tax hikes.

“More tax increases, after we have already burdened the Connecticut citizenry and our businesses with huge tax hikes, would be crippling,” said Case. “I believe that additional taxes would serve as the tipping point for those who are considering leaving Connecticut and moving to a state with a lower tax burden. This mass exodus will only lead to a greater tax revenue problem, which is why tax increases do not remedy this issue.”

In the coming days the House and Senate Republicans are expected to release a proposed budget. However, Case noted that no-tax increase budget options have been presented by Republicans in the past.

“I, along with my Republican colleagues, have come up with several budget solutions that do not increase taxes,” explained Case. “I will not support additional tax increases because that is not the solution to the current budget shortfalls.”

The current projected deficit over the next two fiscal years sits at $3.7 billion.

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