The Connecticut economy has been stagnant for years. The state has not created new jobs over the last decade, one of the few states in America about which that can be said. The reasons for this stagnation are clear: clogged transportation arteries, high taxes, high costs and heavy regulation. Another big cause is the after effect of the departure of military bases and facilities. The one big area of growth has been the movement of banking and finance jobs out of New York and into Fairfield County. Perhaps the big draws for that move were quality of life and much lower income taxes than New York.
So what is the plan of the new governor, Dan Malloy, to close the budget gap? You guess it! Less raise income taxes so that we can give away the one advantage that has been pumping new life into the state's economy. Oh, Malloy talks about cutting costs, and he announced a plan to consolidate the state agencies into only about 60% as many as there were previously. this was a big talkinig point for Malloy during the recent campaign. Of course, during the campaign, Malloy would never say what this move would say; in fact, he did not make it clear if he was in favor of closing 40% of the agencies or just consolidating them in a reorganization so that little was cut. Now we know! Malloy just wants to change the organization chart and cut nothing. The estimated annual savings from Malloy's much touted move is ten million dollars. So, on a multi billion dollar budget gap, Malloy wants to "cut" spending by ten million and raise taxes. Indeed, Malloy proposes another 500 million dollars in new spending which will make balancing the budget that much harder. What a mess!
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