House Approves Bipartisan Budget With Tax Breaks For Residents
Hartford—The House early Tuesday passed a two-year, bipartisan $51 billion budget plan on a vote of 139-12. Among the highlights of this plan is a reduction of the income tax from 5% to 4.50% and 3% to 2%. The budget also increases the Earned Income Tax Credit for working families from 30.5% to 40%.
“This budget is aimed at helping the middle-class and to lessen the burden on families. Tax relief is a priority of mine, and I was pleased there’s also help for seniors when it comes to additional tax cuts for those on a fixed income earning above the current income tax exemption thresholds. It’s time to give back to the taxpayers of Connecticut and this is a great start,” said Rep. Martin Foncello (R-107).
The plan fully funds the Excess Cost grants for special education reimbursements to towns and invests $150 million in education funding that will implement a portion of HB 5003, revising how public education is funded in Connecticut.
“We added language to support seniors, families, children and veterans. I was also glad to see funding included to remove PFAS contamination,” said Foncello.
The negotiated budget adheres to the fiscal guardrails that began in 2017. It also employs the House Republican proposal of real-world hiring assumptions that will shrink the cost of government over the long term, forcing state government agencies to live within their means.
The budget plan:
- Increases rates for delivered meals for seniors
- Freezes the diesel tax at 49.2 cents per gallon for one year and won’t be recalculated per statue by the Department of Revenue Services effective in FY 24
- Creates a new Fallen Hero account with Comptroller that will provide $100,000 death benefit to the family if a police officer is killed in the line of duty
- Reduces the number of state employees which shrinks government and forces government to live within its means