Rep. Nuccio, House Republicans Unveil Biennial Budget Proposal

HARTFORD—House Republicans on Tuesday released a balanced budget proposal that provides more than $1 billion in broad-based tax relief to Connecticut residents while also making historic investments in education and providing more funding for nonprofit providers.

“Connecticut residents desperately need tax relief, but they also deserve a government that responsibly prioritizes and funds core services and programs our communities need,” House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora said. “House Republicans have created a budget which strikes that balance in a way the legislative Democrats did not, doing it in a comprehensive way that avoids accounting gimmicks that violate our state’s bipartisan fiscal controls.”

The fiscally conservative plan from House Republicans constrains overall spending growth in the general fund to less than zero percent in FY24 and 2.6 percent in FY25. The Republican plan offers $1.067 billion in tax relief through a variety of means, including a retroactive structural middle-class income tax cut with additional relief for seniors and, for the first time, a state child tax deduction for everyone at a rate of $2,000 per child.

“This is a spending plan that funds local school districts at historic levels and fully funds the state’s responsibility for special education for the first time in years. It increases spending for non-profits, directs funding to our police and firefighters and ensures the continuation of programs that protect our citizens. It also allocates funds for higher education, with the understanding that those expenditures must be accounted for,” said Rep. Tammy Nuccio, ranking member on the Appropriations Committee. “It does all of these things and also has more than $1 billion dollars in tax cuts for our residents – tax cuts that will benefit our seniors, our working middle class, our parents and our businesses. This is a responsible spending package that should have bi-partisan support, because commonsense spending, coupled with tax relief for residents, is something that we should all be behind, regardless of party.”

“Our finance package was crafted to deliver for working and middle-class Connecticut families the most significant income tax cuts in three decades,” said Rep. Holly Cheeseman, Ranking Member, Finance Committee. “Our ongoing commitment to pay down debt and invest in state pensions allows us to make good on our pledge to provide much needed relief for those that need it most—our middle-class citizens.”

The Republican budget meets the challenge of funding core government services, and in several cases spends more in key areas than Democrats. That includes a $254 million investment in local education funding that provides fully funded Excess Cost Grants (special education, $50 million) for the first time. Additionally, the budget funds higher education while installing new financial reporting requirements for both the UConn and CSCU systems. The plan also provides a 2-percent increase for nonprofit service providers.

A dedicated website has been established where details of our spending plan can be viewed: www.cthousegop.com/tax-relief-budget/

The package offers the following proposals:

Tax Relief for Connecticut Residents
($200 million more than Governor or legislative Democrats)

• Adopt but enhance Governor’s income tax cut proposal by using one-time $300 million of FY23 surplus to make it retroactive to January 2023. Removes benefit from top 1 percent earners
• Create first-ever state child tax deduction for everyone, $2,000 deduction per child
• Help job creators by restoring pass-through entity tax credit to 93.01 percent
• Eliminate Highway Use Tax on trucks
• Establish phase-out threshold for state tax on retirement income
• Eliminates sales tax on children’s clothing under $100

Supporting Students, Parents, Educators

• Invests $290 million in education, including $214 million to implement components of H.B. 5003, $20 million to hold harmless towns that would have seen an ECS decrease; fully funds special education grants ($50 million); funds Danbury charter school ($4 million)
• Expands support for Care4Kids program ($60 million)
• Increases minority teacher scholarship funding by $1 million
• Meets Democrats’ funding level on higher education, but requires oversight
• Increase parent representation on State BOE and Parent Cabinet

General Government

• Increases funding for nonprofit social service providers by 2.5 percent ($100 million)
• Fully funds effort to eliminate DSS waitlist
• Increases investment in gun violence prevention programs
• Increases current services funding for rail and bus
• Eliminates proposed messaging program for inmates, saves taxpayers $3.5 million
• Enhanced 2-1-1 crisis services for housing and homelessness ($2.4 million)
• Reinstate Transportation Strategy Board to review investments and recommend savings
• Increases pay for assigned counsel in public defender cases ($23 million)
• Expands GPS monitoring for domestic violence offenders ($6 million)
• Increases funding to Women’s Business Development Council to almost $1 million
• Invests in firefighter training, creates $1 million support fund for families of fallen officers
• Doubles what Democrats provided for senior meals funding to $3 million