To the Editor:
Connecticut has a spending problem, not a taxing problem! The State Legislature establishes public policies and uses tax receipts to fund those policies. The only way the State can have a tax problem is if the Legislature spends too much money and that is not a tax problem, that is a spending problem.
It is ironic that every resident of the state must limit their spending based on what they can afford, but some members of the Legislature, primarily Democrats, absolve themselves of this fact once they get elected. This problem is compounded by the lack of accountability for how our tax dollars are spent. For example:
• The recent spike in the Public Benefits portion of our electricity bills highlights: (1) the Legislature’s ability to find multiple ways to impose new taxes/fees and (2), their ability to impose taxes in less than transparent ways. Over 25% of our electricity bills have nothing to do with the generation or transmission of electricity. Rather this portion is made up of state mandated fees that support legislative initiatives such as renewable energy investments, customer support for those who chose not to pay their bills, and alleged energy efficiency programs.
• In 2019, the Legislature committed to the buildout of the Connecticut State Pier with an estimated cost of $93 million. Over the life of the delayed project, several scandals arose leading to a U.S. Dept. of Justice investigation and the resignations by several senior officials of the project. The current cost estimate is now over $300 million with approximately $200 million being financed by taxpayers. This is an unbelievable failure of oversight by the Democrats in the Legislature.
• As described in a recent column by Red Jahncke Democrats have given state employees a 33% wage increase over Governor Lamont’s six-year tenure. This significant increase has not only impacted the last six years’ spending levels but will also increase future budgets as pension benefits will be calculated off these higher wages. In fact, over the first five years under Lamont, even with $5 billion in extra money contributed to the pension fund in excess of the required amount, the State’s unfunded liability in the employee pension fund only dropped by $1 billion. Democrats’ focus on money put into the fund ignores the growth in pension liability driven by the increased wages.
Every decision made by the State Legislature impacts you and your family. Residents need to understand this and elect representatives who will spend our tax dollars wisely and be accountable for their decisions. This is why I am supporting Senator Ryan Fazio for reelection and Tina Courpas, Paul Cappiali and Tod Laudonia for our Greenwich State Representatives. They will be effective stewards of our tax dollars and our community.
Jerry Cincotta, Chair, Greenwich RTC
