by Brent Addleman
Providing financial relief to state residents is the focus of a tax relief plan introduced in the state Senate, Republican officials said.
The Connecticut Senate and House Republicans announced a $1.2 billion tax relief plan that would cut income taxes, reduce sales taxes, and extend the gas tax holiday.
Senate Republican leader Kevin Kelly, R-Monroe, said the state is “overtaxing its residents” and the state’s inflation-related windfall needs to be returned to families.
“Connecticut’s state budget is benefiting from inflation as the state sales tax and gross receipts tax bring in new, unplanned for revenue – a result of surging prices,” Kelly said in a release. “Meanwhile, Connecticut residents are struggling to balance their own family budgets with no relief in sight as inflation drives up the costs of everything – from food to energy to home heating oil. As a result of inflation, Connecticut families are being overtaxed. Instead of using that revenue to grow government, we must return it to Connecticut’s residents. Families are struggling and they need relief now.”
The tax relief plan, according to the release, would cut the income tax from 5% to 4% for individuals earning less than $75,000 and joint filers who bring home less than $175,000 annually.
The plan would also reduce the state sales tax and eliminate the 1% meals tax through the end of the year, while extending the gas tax suspension to the end of the year. Currently, the gas tax suspension ends June 30. The plan would add diesel fuel to the gas tax suspension.
As part of the plan, the highway use tax would be cut, which is a millage tax on trucks that would increase food and product prices that are transported by truck. In addition, the plan would eliminate the income tax on pensions and annuities, while expanding the state’s property tax credit.
If enacted, the plan also would reduce tax burdens on employers by paying back the state’s federal loan for the Unemployment Trust Fund.
“It’s time for Democrats to meet the moment,” state Rep. Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, said in the release. “The cost of living here is unsustainable for their constituents, and the Main Street businesses that drive our economy face a punishing tax increase that threatens their ability to reinvest, grow, and create jobs. While our plan crucially provides residents with a bit of breathing room from the financial pressures squeezing them right now, its dual focus on bigger picture goals, such as cutting the income tax rate, also provides a foundation for the type of economic and personal income growth that’s long overdue in Connecticut.
“This is what our constituents desperately want, and in the coming days I hope our colleagues across the aisle will finally show a willingness to deviate from the priorities they set at the start of session and join us in enacting broad tax relief.”
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Brent Addleman is an Associate Editor and a veteran journalist with more than 25 years of experience. He has served as editor of newspapers in Pennsylvania and Texas, and has also worked at newspapers in Delaware, Maryland, New York, and Kentucky.
Photo “Kevin Kelly” by Kevin Kelly. Background Photo “Connecticut Senate Chamber” by Connecticut General Assembly.
