Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney (D-New Haven) today took issue with Senator George Logan (R-Ansonia) for making false and misleading statements at a press event in Hamden earlier today. Senator Logan falsely claimed that the Republican budget passed by the General Assembly on September 15th does not raise taxes.
In fact, the Republican budget raises Hamden residents’ car taxes in from 37mills to 45 mills for a total of $3.2 million. Statewide, the Republican budget raises car taxes by $64 million.
Additionally, the Republican budget increases the financial burden by $153 million on low- to moderate-income working people across CT by slashing the Earned Income Tax Credit, which currently helps 2,770 people in Hamden for a total of $1.4 million a year.
The Republican budget institutes a secret tax on teachers raising taxes on 44,000 teachers statewide for an average of $1,500 per year, including over $1 million for Hamden teachers.
The Republican budget also targets college students from low-income by cutting funding and scholarship opportunities to public and private colleges, including the elimination of a scholarship that helps 234 Hamden students with $594,000 this year alone.
“Republicans are purposefully misleading the press and the public,” said Senator Looney. “For months, Republican legislators have been claiming that their budget doesn’t raise taxes. They’ve made that claim to newspaper reporters, on TV, on talk radio, in mailers to the public, in social media posts—you name it. And it’s clearly false. Just look at the nonpartisan OFA analysis. The Republican budget raises taxes on Connecticut residents— it always has by reducing the Earned Income Tax Credit for the working poor and by doing away with the motor vehicle property tax cap. Yet, despite all of these facts, Republicans continue to falsely claim their budget is some sort of no tax increase budget. It’s not. It never was. These are glaringly false statements by Republicans.”
Last week, when questioned repeatedly by the media, Senate Republican President Pro Tempore Len Fasano acknowledged that the Republican budget raises taxes.