Senate Leadership
May 31, 2007
Williams: Governor’s Veto Costs Taxpayers Hundreds of Millions in Tax Cuts and Benefits
Also deprives the public of a gas tax holiday for summer
State Senate President Pro Tempore Donald E. Williams, Jr. (D-Brooklyn) today said Governor Rell's veto of the Democratic tax plan-along with a gas tax holiday for the summer-will deprive Connecticut's residents of hundreds of millions of dollars in tax savings.
"The governor has chosen to say 'no' to tax relief for millions of taxpayers in Connecticut and instead has sided with the very small percentage of the state's wealthiest residents," Sen. Williams said. "We have said from the beginning that the middle class and working families in the state deserve a tax break. Our plan provided that by cutting income rates for the middle class and upper-middle class, doubling the property tax credit while expanding it to higher incomes, and instituting an earned income tax credit for low-income folks. The governor has rejected this approach."
In her news release announcing the veto, the governor said "families do not want-and can't afford-such a massive spending increase." "The fact is families receive tax breaks under the Democratic plan. No one gets a tax break under the plan she proposed, nor the one the Republicans proposed," Sen. Williams said. "She seems to the think her 7-plus percent spending increase is fine."
According the Office of Fiscal Analysis, the Democratic plan would have provided the following reductions for taxpayers at a minimum:
- $145 million in income tax reductions (over two years)
- $344 million in property tax credits on the income tax (over two years)
- $55 million in earned income tax credits (over two years)
- $545 million of tax relief
"The governor's veto is unfortunate and a missed opportunity for working families in this state," Sen. Williams said. "They lose. And that's sad."
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Senator Williams’ Larry Cook |
Listing of Leadership’s recent press releases. |
Senator Looney’s Larry Cook |
