Sen. Kissel: The possibility being floated to violate the CT State Spending Cap should worry all taxpayers.

Hartford Courant, Letter to the Editor

Connecticut voters ratified the spending cap by a 4-to-1 margin through a ballot question on Nov. 3, 1992. The cap, while not perfect, has endured as one of our only tools to curb runaway government spending.

That’s why a position taken by UConn economist and gubernatorial advisor Fred Carstensen makes me nervous about the governor’s upcoming budget proposal [Nov. 14, courant.com, High-Income CT Sends U.S. More In Taxes Than It Gets Back”].

Mr. Carstensen states that our state government’s spending cap is one reason the state does not receive additional federal funding. This is not accurate. The spending cap does not negatively impact the state’s ability to receive federal dollars.

It has been determined that Connecticut does not get federal grants because wealthy Fairfield County skews our ability to compete with other less wealthy states. Moreover, many state agencies do not even task employees with researching and preparing federal grant applications.

The possibility being floated to violate the cap should worry all taxpayers. Our continuing budget crisis is not rooted in spending too little, but spending too much.