Sen. Kane Op-Ed: Haven’t Taxpayers Seen This Gov. Malloy Movie Before? (Waterbury Republican-American)

November 24, 2014

Waterbury Republican-American Editorial

A movie we all have seen many times before

By Rob Kane

“I feel like I’ve been here before.” That’s a lyric from Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s classic rock anthem, “Deja Vu.” It also sums up my reaction to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s newly announced state budget crisis.

As we approach 2015, hot on the heels of an election in which we were told not to worry about the status of Connecticut’s budget, we have been informed that we now face a “challenge.”

Oh, it’s a challenge, all right. A multibillion-dollar challenge. In fact, it seems we’ve hit the time-machine button and landed back in 2011.

You remember that year, don’t you, taxpayers? You helped pay for the largest tax hike in state history. That tax increase hurt you, me, our families, our businesses and our morale as a state.

It was slapped on us in the name of “shared sacrifice.”

For those who don’t remember, in 2011, Gov. Malloy and the Democratic-controlled legislature locked Republicans out of the room and took their pound of flesh from each of us. Today, your property tax, income tax, gasoline tax and you-name-the-fee is higher as a result.

A significant portion of your freedom to work, live and raise a family in Connecticut was taken away — in all likelihood, permanently.

Fast forward to today: The legislature remains overwhelmingly Democratic. Gov. Malloy, who proposed the record-setting taxes, is back for another four years.

The key players remain, but the key problem remains, too. You see, your state government has a dirty little two-word secret. Not many want to talk about it for fear the public will catch on and throw them out of office, but I’ll venture to be so bold. The two-word secret is that the folks in Hartford have what can be commonly referred to as a spending addiction. It hasn’t been confronted, battled or cured in the past four years. In fact, it has gotten more severe.

But not to worry, taxpayers. This time, it will be different. “Tax hikes are not an option,” the governor and his number-crunchers repeat until they are hoarse. Like Lucy in the comic strip “Peanuts,” they’ll present that football for the taxpayers, aka Charlie Brown, to sprint up and kick away in 2015. Will all be well, or will they pull the ball away like they did last time and raise our taxes yet again? Would they really do that to us, one more time?

My advice would be to check your favorite newspaper comics page for the answer to that question.