When former governor and Republican Lowell P. Weicker Jr. whacked Connecticut with its first-ever state income tax after winning the 1990 election, two years later the state could hold a referendum on the new tax via the 1992 Connecticut General Assembly campaigns.
The verdict on election day? No change in the state Senate ”“ and one extra seat for Republicans in the Connecticut House of Representatives.
As Connecticut General Assembly members stand for reelection in 2012, history provides a little guidance for how Connecticut voters might react to the bitter medicine administered by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy ”“ state taxes increasing by a reported $1.8 billion, softened slightly by targeted tax breaks on low-income earners through a new earned-income tax credit, and for some businesses via a range of tax incentive programs.
Voters largely knew what they were getting by electing Malloy over Republican Tom Foley two years ago, with Malloy never refuting Foley”™s statements that he would raise taxes, if often expressing distaste at the thought of hiking them.
With one season of the new tax regime under their belt, voters get their first crack at issuing their own verdict on Malloy”™s plan to balance Connecticut”™s budget and enact his priorities for the state, through the Connecticut General Assembly races to be decided Nov. 6.
“When I became governor I was handed a ”¦ budget that had a $3.6 billion deficit ”“ structural deficit ”“ representing 17 percent of total revenue,” Malloy said, speaking in mid-October in East Hartford. “It was too big to cut our way out and too big to tax our way out. We simply had to do a little bit of both and we had to change our relationship with our state employees. We”™ve been successful on all of those fronts.
“It”™s painful,” he added. “If you are paying a little extra money out of your pockets, I understand. But there was no way that Connecticut could downsize itself by 17 percent of total expenditures at a time that the trajectory for social services ”¦ was driving out expenses substantially higher.”
If history is any judge, it might be business as usual in Hartford next January. The best analogy for next month”™s election could be the campaign of 1992, with Connecticut General Assembly members running in the wake of Weicker”™s new income tax ”“ with Weicker himself campaigning against the tax while leading a new, independent Connecticut Party during that campaign season, then pushing it through after taking office when confronted with the realities of the state”™s budget.
In a day when the state legislature included names like current U.S. Rep. John Larson, Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman and Attorney General George Jepsen, entering the 1992 session Larson was frank about the realities facing members confronting an $8 billion deficit.
“Are there magic solutions? I”™m afraid not,” Larson said at the time. “Are there sacrifices to be made? I”™m afraid so.”
Twenty years later, the question becomes whether any Connecticut General Assembly members will have sacrificed their seats in voting for Malloy”™s 2011-2012 budget and the taxes they levied.
Regardless of the outcome of this year”™s Connecticut General Assembly races, for Malloy the 2014 campaign essentially begins in January with the new, two-year legislative session. In crafting his coming “state of the state” speech, Malloy might want to borrow a page or two from Weicker”™s own words two decades ago, which still resonate today.
“Everybody says to me in one form or another ”¦ ”˜You know, this is a political year and therefore you”™ve got to sort of put it on the backburner, the solutions ”“ you”™ve got to wait until we get through this political year,”™” Weicker said. “Are the other 49 states who are trying to grab our businesses out of Connecticut ”“ are they waiting? I think it”™s the philosophical and political agendas that best wait in face of the toughest game of life that”™s been played in this state for a long time. Let the reality of Connecticut be the arbiter of our policy. For my part, my heart and hand are open anew to every one of you in this General Assembly. Many of us in terms of lawmaking butted heads last year. That”™s 1991. That”™s water over the dam. We have new challenges, a new year, and I ask that we make common cause against threats of economic devastation, government spending gone amuck, and children forgotten.”
For his part, Malloy acknowledged Connecticut”™s economy is not picking up as fast as he had hoped.
“I can tell you we have no intention of raising taxes,” Malloy said. “We are doing everything in our power to work on a budget that we”™ll present in February that does not reflect additional taxes.”
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