McGorty: Departure of General Electric Signals Malloy’s Economic Policy Failures
With the announcement that General Electric will leave its home of 42 years in Connecticut for greener economic pastures in Massachusetts, State Representative Ben McGorty (R-122) is saying blame for the loss of this major economic powerhouse and employer rests squarely with Governor Dannel P. Malloy, Democratic leaders in the General Assembly, and the punitive tax policies they have advanced.
“Big tax hikes have consequences, and this is the result of bad policy and arrogant governing,” said Rep. McGorty. “I’m hearing legislative Democrats pretend this had nothing to do with taxes because Massachusetts is supposedly comparable to Connecticut in tax structure. That’s absurd. Governor Charlie Baker has turned that state around and made it more economically viable and cooperative to large businesses. When you couple that with the fact that Massachusetts does not suffer under the same self-imposed debt Connecticut does, there is no comparison. It’s a state of play we have no choice but to change is we want to keep jobs here.”
The legislator pointed to a “credit negative” issued this week by Moody’s Investors Services, a major Wall Street rating agency, following the announcement of GE that it would leave the state. While it does not consist of a formal downgrade in the state’s credit rating, it does make a public statement about Connecticut’s financial standing and outlook.
In the assessment, Moody’s noted that the state continues to struggle with budget deficits, low fund reserves, tax revenues that perpetually underperform and population decline.
McGorty noted that should Moody’s eventually downgrade Connecticut’s credit rating, that it would have the effect of further increasing the state’s debt due to higher interest rates for financed capital projects.
General Electric employs about 5,700 Connecticut residents including 800 at its Fairfield headquarters. It is Fairfield’s largest municipal taxpayer. It is scheduled to begin its move to Boston this summer.