Kelly & Formica Respond to Gov. Lamont Budget Adjustment Proposal

HARTFORD – Senate Republican Leader Kevin Kelly (R-Stratford) and Senate Republican Leader Pro Tempore Paul Formica (R-East Lyme) issued the following statement in response to Governor Ned Lamont’s proposed budget adjustments released today, including moving funds outside the state spending cap and increasing state spending by $1.85 billion:

“This budget is more about politics than anything else. At a time when the majority of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, Governor Lamont is playing a high stakes shell game and proposing a drastic spending increase and abandoning the very protections that turned our state’s financial health around. It’s clear this budget does not provide immediate tax relief now. Budgets are about priorities and we must invest in needed services, but we also must respect the protections that got us here, protections that Gov. Lamont had no role in creating. Circumventing the spending cap sets us up for a cliff where either services will disappear or taxes will drastically increase. It puts our future in jeopardy and will make our state more unaffordable for working- and middle- class families.

“Taxpayers need relief now and Republicans are exploring all ways to provide that relief. The tax policies in the Governor’s proposal are clearly election year pandering. Families need relief, but they need relief now more than another promise for a credit over a year from now. The proposed $336 million in mostly tax credits does not even begin to scratch the surface to undo the nearly $2 billion in tax increases approved by Connecticut Democrats since Gov. Lamont was first elected. None of this relief is immediate and most requires residents to pay government first before they see anything back in the future. This is the same Governor who increased taxes by over $1.7 billion his first year in office, who put a tax on PPE and the food people eat, and who led the charge for a truck tax during a time when residents are struggling with supply chain issues and inflation. Let’s not forget this is the same Governor who wanted new taxes on groceries, nonprescription drugs, tolls, health insurance, gasoline and the list goes on. And this is the same party that just last year wanted a new statewide property tax!

“Today’s proposal is typical election year politics, promising eventual tax relief and increasing spending with no concern for the pain it will cause taxpayers in the future.”