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Kudlow, Frantz, Lamont Lead Panel on State Tax Policy

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By Bill Slocum
Contributing Editor

A panel discussion about Connecticut’s economic policies and its impact on businesses will be held Sunday, Nov. 15, at Greenwich Library.

The 90-minute program, which starts at 5 p.m. at the Cole Auditorium, is billed as the inaugural event in a signature speaker series being conducted by the Greenwich First Selectman’s Economic Advisory Committee.

“The whole point of this panel is to educate, inform, and activate people in Greenwich and all of Connecticut regarding issues associated with the recently passed state budget,” said James Aiello, president of a local real estate advisory firm, MAC Advisors, and one of the Economic Advisory Committee’s founding members.

The panel will include moderator Larry Kudlow, the longtime CNBC commentator from Redding, and two prominent Greenwich politicians, Republican state senator Scott Frantz and Democratic businessman Ned Lamont, a former U.S. Senate candidate. The panel will also include two executives of the Yankee Institute for Public Policy Studies, a Hartford-based business-policy think tank, including its president, Carol Platt Liebau, and its director of policy and legislative outreach, Suzanne Bates.

The panel discussion, titled “Taxing Away Connecticut’s Future,” will address what Aiello calls a “less business-friendly” posture taken by the state government in comparison to other states and cities, including New York and New Jersey.

“Connecticut offers a lot of positive elements, from its proximity to New York City, to the beauty of the country and water, its great schools, and attractive real estate,” Aiello said. “But as a business environment, we are not keeping up with other destinations around the country.”

Much of the discussion, Aiello said, will likely center around the potential negative impact of the state budget, still under negotiation. According to Livvy Floren, state representative from the 149th District and assistant House Republican leader, Connecticut’s budget this year is expected to incur a deficit of around $350 to 370 million, with some projections even higher.

“We are concerned with taxes, and their economic impact on this region,” Aiello said.

He noted ongoing relocation rumors involving such large-scale private-sector employers as General Electric, Travelers, and Aetna as a key focal point of Sunday’s discussion.

By way of contrast, Aiello pointed to Philadelphia, where the city government offers incentives and tax cuts to entice more businesses and keep those they already have.

“We would like to see that happen in the big cities of Connecticut,” he added. “We’re not being proactive with giving businesses a reason to stay, or certainly to move here. It’s sort of business as usual, and also a tax policy that is getting less business-friendly.”

The First Selectman’s Economic Advisory Committee was established by Greenwich First Selectman Peter Tesei a year and a half ago to help grow the private sector in town.

“We’re not keeping it one-sided,” Aiello said of the Sunday panel discussion. “Having Ned Lamont, who is a leading Democrat as well as a local businessman, will keep discussion lively and balanced.”

 

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