Kelly, Formica: CT Tax Study Highlights Democrat Failures to Make CT Affordable

March 2, 2022

Senate Republican Leader Kevin Kelly (R-Stratford) and Senate Republican Leader Pro Tempore Paul Formica (R-East Lyme) released the following statement in response to the Connecticut Tax Incidence Study – Tax Year 2019 released on Monday by the Department of Revenue Services:

 

“This study highlights the failures of a tax system and economy created and maintained by the Democratic majority that makes Connecticut unaffordable for working- and middle-class families.

 

“When Democrats implemented Connecticut’s two largest tax increases in recent history, we were promised shared sacrifice. But when the wealthy left, the tax burden fell to working- and middle-class families to pick up the tab.

 

“Connecticut Democrats responded by further increasing taxes that most burden low- and middle-income families. Since the last DRS analysis release in 2014, Connecticut Democrats:

  • Extended the 6.35% sales tax to clothing and footwear under $50 (2015)
  • Increased property taxes by $152 million by weakening the property tax credit and eliminating it for many households. (2015)
  • Expanded the sales tax even further, applying it to previously untaxed items and services including PPE, dry cleaning, and parking. (2019)
  • Put a brand-new tax on prepared meals and beverages sold at grocery stores and eateries. (2019)
  • Increased the cost of services and fees, including riding in an Uber and trading in your car. (2019)
  • Approved a new mileage tax on trucks, which will raise the price of everything trucks transport throughout our state, from food, to household items, to home heating oil. (2021)

 

“Connecticut lags behind the rest of the nation in job growth and income growth. Our state is unaffordable, and opportunity is out of reach for far too many. And yet every year, besides election years and times of Republican equal numbers in the Senate, CT Democrats have implemented even more tax increases on low- and middle-income families. Connecticut residents have had enough. We need an economy that supports job growth and income growth. We need to make our state more affordable so that all our families can live here and achieve prosperity. We must take measures to provide immediate relief, including reducing the sales tax and eliminating the meals tax to return the state’s inflation windfall to the people. And we also must pursue budgets that are sustainable and that don’t repeat the same failed policies that only result in more burdens shifting to the taxpayers who can least afford it.”