SEN McKINNEY’S STATEMENT ON CONSENSUS REVENUE ESTIMATE AND LATEST NON-PARTISAN DEFICIT PROJECTION

May 1, 2012

Senate Minority Leader John McKinney (R-Fairfield): “I hope Connecticut’s experience with the first two years of the Malloy administration puts to rest once and for all the idea that government can simply tax its way out of a fiscal crisis. After imposing a $3.8 billion tax hike – the largest in state history – the Malloy administration and legislative Democrats still managed to spend Connecticut into deficit.

“For months the governor and legislative Democrats have been in denial about the state of our budget crisis. As they’ve procrastinated, our deficit has grown to $285 million with just nine days remaining in the legislative session and just 60 days remaining in the fiscal year.

“Instead of addressing the deficit, Democrats have been behind closed doors working on a plan to spend $320 million in new taxpayer money in the next fiscal year. Today’s forecasts render those plans obsolete as there is no longer enough money to fund either the governor’s, or the legislative Democrats’ FY13 budget proposals. The more fiscally conservative Republican alternative, which accomplishes meaningful education reform within existing appropriations, is the only plan that is still in balance and we urge the governor and Democrat leaders to take a more serious look at it. At the very least, the governor and legislature need to agree on a deficit mitigation plan to balance this year’s budget before spending next year’s money.”