McKinney: “A Fiscal House in Disorder”

Hartford, CT 8:36P.M. – A FY2015 midterm budget adjustment negotiated by Governor Malloy and legislative Democrats is being debated in the Connecticut House of Representatives.

As described by the CT Mirror, the bill, H.B. 5596, “represents a $19 billion [annual] state budget that relies on nearly $200 million in fund sweeps, risky savings assumptions and other gimmicks to stay in balance – including the last-minute discovery of $75 million in ‘miscellaneous’ tax revenue.”

Just three years after Governor Malloy passed the largest tax increase in state history, the midterm adjustment represents additional increases in spending, taxes and borrowing. It delays planned tax cuts for teachers and also delays the scheduled restoration of the sales tax exemption on clothing and footwear under $50.

The budget adjustment increases the two-year deficit for FY2016 and FY2017 to nearly $3 billion.

State Senate Minority Leader John McKinney (R-Fairfield) said the Democrat proposal represents “a fiscal house in disorder.” He said, “This budget represents all of what we have come to expect from Governor Malloy and legislative Democrats. It is structurally unbalanced, full of gimmicks and further increases taxes and spending. Sadly, the people of Connecticut will need to wait for new leadership to begin the long process of getting our fiscal house in order. This governor and this Democratic-led legislature started their terms in multi-billion-dollar deficits and, even after imposing the largest tax increase in state history, they will leave the state of Connecticut with multi-billion-dollar deficits.”