Middlebury Legislators Say “No New Taxes”

April 27, 2011
Rep. D'Amelio (left) listens as Sen. Kane (right) responds to a Middlebury taxpayer's question at the April 25 Town Hall Meeting.

Rep. D’Amelio (left) listens as Sen. Kane (right) responds to a Middlebury taxpayer’s question at the April 25 Town Hall Meeting.

About 30 people turned out to State Senator Rob Kane and State Representative Anthony D’Amelio’s April 25 Town Hall Meeting at Middlebury’s Shepardson Community Center.

The Middlebury legislators discussed the state budget, the looming deficit and alternatives to the governor’s proposed tax increases.

Senator Kane, Rep. D’Amelio and their fellow Republicans at the State Capitol are proposing a no new taxes budget which significantly reduces the size and cost of government while protecting the social safety net and preserving state aid to municipalities.

The Republican Plan:

  • Raises no new taxes on any business, individual, employer, service or good.
  • Cuts $1.5 billion in spending from Gov. Malloy’s plan.
  • Preserves municipal aid at current levels for Middlebury and for all towns
  • Consolidates state government agencies to save more than $46 million
  • Streamlines government through attrition and reductions to the 54,000 member state workforce.
  • Fully restores the $500 property tax credit cut by Gov. Malloy.
  • Restoration of the sales tax free week
  • Eliminates the $40 million in annual bonuses paid union and non-union state workers who have been on the job for at least ten years. The bonuses, issued each April and October to around 30,000 workers, are issued regardless of job performance. You get your bonus no matter what.

The legislators said they are providing the tough medicine Connecticut needs to emerge from this fiscal crisis. State government, they said, has a spending addiction. Government waste and redundancy must be eliminated to pave the way for economic recovery and help make living and working in Connecticut affordable again.

The legislators urged taxpayers to call and email the following elected officials to tell them that the Republicans’ no tax hike proposal is the right one for Connecticut: