Do you remember this quote, Connecticut taxpayers?

Malloy was ‘pretty clear’ last year

By Rob Kane

(Op-Ed published 8/9/15 in the Waterbury republican-American)

“Let me be clear, we are not raising taxes.”

That’s what Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who was running for re-election, told the Connecticut Mirror in an interview published a year ago last week.

What a difference a year makes. Twelve months after the governor’s statement, Connecticut residents are feeling the initial effects of the second-largest tax increase in state history. As Democratic legislative leaders applauded him, the governor signed the tax increases on the last day of June. Four years ago, Gov. Malloy signed the largest tax increase in Connecticut’s history.

When asked by Connecticut’s news media if he had broken his no-tax-increase promise to the people, the governor replied, “I proposed a budget that didn’t (increase taxes).”

So there you have it, taxpayers. Gov. Malloy says it’s not his fault for the new burdens this budget will provide businesses and families.

The governor can rationalize his support of the latest tax hikes in any way he wants, but the question we need to ask ourselves is whether we believed him in the first place.

Let’s say you put stock in Gov. Malloy’s pre-election no-tax-increase promise. How do you feel now? Frustrated? Betrayed? Did you expect him to veto the tax increases? Would you have at least liked to have seen the governor ‘fess up to raising your taxes when he said he wouldn’t?

As someone who was skeptical of Gov. Malloy’s words when he uttered them, I only could shake my head. The budget the governor signed not only raises taxes; state government spending will rise by 7 percent. A large deficit awaits us in a year, which could lead to even more tax increases. Welcome to what the governor’s budget chief, Ben Barnes, has dubbed Connecticut’s “permanent fiscal crisis.”

So, as you dig even deeper to pay those higher state taxes this year, bear in mind Gov. Malloy’s promise. And while you are writing out those larger checks and paying those mounting bills, you might also want to find out who your state legislators are. When you do, ask them how they voted on the budget.

The legislature is up for re-election in 2016, and elections have consequences.

Sen. Rob Kane, R-Watertown, represents the 32nd Senate District and is a ranking member of the legislature’s Appropriations Committee.