No More Taxes, Senator Looney

Editorial Photo

While much of our attention has been captured by what has been happening in Washington, our state legislature in Hartford has been busily at work and it deserved your attention as well.

Recently, Senate President Pro-Tem Martin Looney, a democrat from New Haven, introduced two bills that would have a disastrous effect on Greenwich. The first would implement a statewide property tax on residential and commercial property. It would establish a one mill state-wide tax, one dollar in taxes for every one thousand dollars in property value.

Senator Looney has made no attempt to hide the fact that he views Greenwich, and other wealthy communities, as the state’s ATM machine and this bill, as written, is no exception. It exempts the first three hundred thousand dollars of the assessed value ensuring pretty much every homeowner in Greenwich will have to pay this tax while most in his own community will not.

The second bill Senator Looney filed would implement a surcharge on capital gains, but not all capital gains. It would only effect taxpayers who earn $500,00 or more as an individual or $1 million or more if married and filing jointly. Again, this would affect many people living in Greenwich and other wealthy communities in Fairfield County, but not the rest of the state.

It appears that because Senator Looney cannot control his spending, he is looking to tax his way to solvency. Connecticut’s fixed costs such as Medicaid, debt service and retiree benefits continue to grow faster than state revenues and make up 52 percent of the state’s budget. He needs to look at reducing the state’s fixed costs before he looks to increase revenue from Greenwich in the form of taxes.

It is said that Albert Einstein once explained that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. We have been here before, many times. Taxing the wealthy will not fix our state’s finances. It will further erode them and encourage people to move away from Connecticut, therefore denying the state tax revenue that will be paid in other states.

We all have neighbors or know of people from our community who have moved to Florida. According to the Internal Revenue Service, Connecticut has witnessed a net loss of more than $12 billion in adjusted gross income between 2012 and 2018 due to outmigration. That number is staggering and scary! According to a Pioneer Institute report, 64 percent of that loss came from those earning more than $200,000 a year – the highest income level used by the IRS in their migration data.

This should be a huge wake-up call to Senator Looney, the Governor, our own state delegation, everyone; that if they continue to implement progressive taxes that are targeting communities like Greenwich more people will move. Even proposing them is driving people to leave. We wonder how many hedge funds and money managers are already packing boxes and looking at real estate listings on Zillow?

When these people and businesses move it does not just affect revenue in Hartford, it affects us here in town. When one hedge fund decamped for Palm Beach, instead of selling their large property they donated it to a private school. While that was absolutely wonderful for the private school, it did take a significant property of grand list here in town.

Our nonprofits suffer as well. They were used to receiving donations from these individuals, and in some cases counting on those dollars to make their budget. Now those donations are going to organizations in the states where they have moved. Our local nonprofits need to find new sources of income, which is difficult.

While there is a lot going on in the world right now, we must not lose sight of what is happening in Hartford. We must be diligent and let our delegation know how we feel. And, please, Senator Looney, no more taxes that target Greenwich.

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