The Connecticut Business and Industry Association is launching an advertising campaign aimed at reminding legislators and candidates for elected office that jumpstarting the state economy must be the main objective in the 2019 General Assembly session.
The $600,000 “Fix Connecticut” campaign will combine print, broadcast and digital advertising to stress what the CBIA has dubbed its “5-Point Plan to Fix Connecticut”: prioritizing economic and job growth, cutting state spending, lowering taxes on businesses and individuals, reforming the state government”™s retirement system and addressing regulatory burdens on businesses.
“Opinion polls consistently show that taxes, jobs and the economy are the top issues for people in our state,” said CBIA President and CEO Joe Brennan. “We want to make sure those issues are front and center during what we believe is a make-or-break time for Connecticut. Lawmakers and candidates must understand what really matters to Connecticut, and we want residents to understand how critical these issues are to the state”™s economic future.”
The Fix Connecticut website offered bullet-point arguments on the state”™s fiscal troubles, noting that “Connecticut is the only state in the country with an economy that has not grown since the recession ended eight years ago” while adding that only 88 percent of all Connecticut jobs have been recovered. The CBIA estimated that “each Connecticut taxpayer now owes $53,400 to pay off the state”™s growing debts.”
Brennan added that he did not want to see national political controversies distracting attention from the state economy. “With so much attention on national politics, we cannot lose sight of the critical issues impacting Connecticut. Connecticut has tremendous economic potential,” he said. “It”™s time to unlock that potential by attacking the issues that are holding us back and make this state a leader in economic growth and job creation.”
