HARTFORD, CT -- Conventional wisdom is that the total price charged by the state and its local governments in Connecticut is one of the most burdensome in the country. A common measure upon which this conclusion is based is the total amount we residents pay in state and local taxes, relative to our aggregate personal income, i.e., our capacity to pay. On this basis, the Tax Foundation tells us that Connecticut ranks either first or second highest in the nation, depending on which of two analytic models it uses. However, taxes are not the only price paid to governments. Residents also pay a number of fees and other charges, separate and distinct from taxes. By Bill Cibes
Policy News
HARTFORD, CT -- While experts say the Malloy administration has made progress on those workforce goals over the past eight years, challenges remain — a point the governor himself concedes as he enters his final four months in office. While Connecticut's workforce remains highly educated and productive, many industries report difficulties filling positions, including manufacturing, construction, transportation and logistics and health care, to name a few.
HARTFORD, CT -- Connecticut has repeatedly considered "anti-prison gerrymandering" legislation during the past decade – in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016 – but that legislation has failed to pass. A 2013 report by the Prison Policy initiative and Common Cause found that almost half of the state’s prison population comes from the state’s five largest cities, but almost two-thirds of the state’s prison cells are located in just five small towns – Cheshire, East Lyme, Enfield, Somers, and Suffield.
WASHINGTON, DC -- The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday issued new rules aimed at preventing taxpayers in Connecticut and other high-income and high-cost states from avoiding a new cap on the deductibility of their state and local taxes. The Internal Revenue Service said in May it would move to thwart the workaround Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, California and a number of other states have taken to avoid the new cap on these popular deductions.
HARTFORD, CT — Every four years since 1965, nonprofits have been required to remind municipal tax assessors why they should be exempt from property taxes. But according to a member survey conducted by the Connecticut Community Nonprofit Alliance, municipalities have been denying those tax exemptions on an increasing basis. About two thirds of the 35 nonprofits responding to the survey said their properties - which had a history of being tax exempt and had no changes of use - were suddenly being denied tax exemptions in 44 towns.
RIVERSIDE, CT -- Sean Goldrick, a resident of Riverside, CT and who served two terms on the Board of Estimate and Taxation for the Greenwich finance board, gives the facts on the growth of wealthy individuals living in Connecticut."