With the governor's race up for grabs in Connecticut this year, the contest has focused so far on taxes and spending. Republican Bob Stefanowski has a plan to cut spending and to use the savings to cut state income taxes as well as corporate taxes and to get rid of the estate tax in CT. These cuts should give the average resident of the state back substantial cash and should bring jobs back into the state. Democrat Ned Lamont also says he wants to cut taxes, but that is not accurate. Lamont does want to cut property taxes for home owners by $100 per year, but at the same time he wants to raise the income tax on everyone and put tolls back on state highways. The net result would be a substantial increase in taxes in CT.
Lamont also claims that Stefanowski cannot cut spending without gutting education and reducing health insurance for most people. That too is untrue. Health insurance is government by Obamacare which is a federal law. The governor wouldn't be able to change it; only Congress in Washington could do that. As for cutting spending, Lamont wants to ignore the crazy pension set up that governor Malloy put in place and which Lamont wants to keep. Under the current rules, the pensions for state employees cost each Connecticut resident more than citizens of any other state except for Alaska. We always hear about out of control spending in NY or California. Connecticut citizens pay about 40% more per capita on pensions than they do in California. We pay about 20% more than they do in NY. If Stefanowski as governor were able to change the pension plan to a defined contribution plan (like a 401K) of the sort that almost everyone in private industry has, we could save probably 2 billion dollars every year. That's about $600 per person each year. For a family of four, that's $2400 per year. It's also a lot more than Lamont's promised $100 per year in supposed reduced property taxes that only some folks would get.
Connecticut's economy is slowly dying. We are about the only state that has not yet gotten back to pre-2008 recession levels. We just went through eight years of Dan Malloy who just made things worse and worse. Lamont is just more of the same. It truly is time to try something different. That's Bob Stefanowski.
Lamont also claims that Stefanowski cannot cut spending without gutting education and reducing health insurance for most people. That too is untrue. Health insurance is government by Obamacare which is a federal law. The governor wouldn't be able to change it; only Congress in Washington could do that. As for cutting spending, Lamont wants to ignore the crazy pension set up that governor Malloy put in place and which Lamont wants to keep. Under the current rules, the pensions for state employees cost each Connecticut resident more than citizens of any other state except for Alaska. We always hear about out of control spending in NY or California. Connecticut citizens pay about 40% more per capita on pensions than they do in California. We pay about 20% more than they do in NY. If Stefanowski as governor were able to change the pension plan to a defined contribution plan (like a 401K) of the sort that almost everyone in private industry has, we could save probably 2 billion dollars every year. That's about $600 per person each year. For a family of four, that's $2400 per year. It's also a lot more than Lamont's promised $100 per year in supposed reduced property taxes that only some folks would get.
Connecticut's economy is slowly dying. We are about the only state that has not yet gotten back to pre-2008 recession levels. We just went through eight years of Dan Malloy who just made things worse and worse. Lamont is just more of the same. It truly is time to try something different. That's Bob Stefanowski.
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