WTNH TV
Updated: Jan 18, 2012 7:34 PM
South Windsor, Conn. (WTNH) — Despite almost across-the-board tax hikes, Governor Dannel Malloy's new budget is already estimated to be in the red.
The new, higher rate income tax, is not producing enough money. The latest estimate shows the red ink at $95 million and growing.
Malloy visited a small business in South Windsor on Wednesday to tout a jobs program, but he had to spend some time defending his budget, which despite spending cuts and large tax increases is estimated to be running almost a hundred million in the red.
"Instead of talking about a $3.5 billion structural deficit, we're talking about less than a half a percent of revenue, which we will address on the spending side," Gov. Malloy said.
However, Republicans are saying "I told you so." They say Malloy didn't do enough spending cuts and relying on large tax hikes is not the answer.
"The revenues that he thought would be pouring in, arn't pouring in because the economy is still bad," said Minority Leader Rep. Larry Cafero.
The Republicans are also saying that Malloy has still not realized the maximum savings from those union concessions.
"The Governor claims he got $1.6 billion over two years in union concessions and to this day, more than half a year later, he's still unable to show where those savings are," Cafero said.
Some are pointing to the budget cutting ways of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie as a more logical budget course. Christie is now proposing a 10% cut in income tax rates, but Malloy has a comeback for that.
"Governor Christie has not funded his pensions," said Malloy, "prior to this year's budget to the extent of $2 billion. You're looking at the first governor in the history of the state of Connecticut to fully fund pension obligations on an actuarial basis."
Malloy said Wednesday that when he announces his State Budget adjustments in his speech to the General Assembly on February 8 he will not be seeking any tax adjustments to make up for any shortfall.
Copyright 2012 WTNH TV. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Political Pulse
Did you like this article? Vote it up or down! And don't forget to add your comments below!
Yes
No
Comments
northlander41 | January 23 2012 4:17pm
Wow JRS you have so many inaccuracies and mistatements - you must of copied and pasted a lot of Democrat bloggers for this one LOL! BTW noone believes you are a Republican - Obama has hired a team of bloggers to post this kind of nonsense and say they are Republican - maybe your expecting a check?? :)
jrs | January 20 2012 8:17am
The Reverend Al Sharpton has a commercial in which he recalls being a kid and he and the neighborhood kids would sneak in the house and eat blueberry pie that their mother had made. When the mother came home, she asked the kids if they ate the blueberry pie. They would all deny it even though they had blueberry pie all over their faces. The GOP is just like that. They complain about the deficit but they have blueberry pie all over their faces. Ever since Reagan the GOP has wanted to cut government spending. But there was always a political problem with this. The programs that dominate government spending are Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. The conservative answer to this was a policy dubbed "Starving The Beast." This policy was initiated by Greenspan, Reagan, Grover Norquist, etc. Rather than proposing unpopular spending cuts the Republicans would push through popular tax cuts with the deliberate intention of worsening the government's fiscal position. Spending cuts could then be sold as a necessity rather than a choice. Before Reagan came in office we had a deficit of under a trillion dollars. Reagan tripled the deficit, Bush Senior added another 1.5 trillion and Bush Jr another 6 trillion dollars. This wasn't by accident. This was an objective of the GOP. They've succeeded very well. We are well on our way to bankruptcy. And who got most of the tax cuts. The wealthy. The distribution of wealth from the poor and Middle Class to the top one tenth of one percent is scary. It makes no economic sense. George W.'s administration knew as far back as 2001 that there were serious problems with housing loans. Instead of addressing these problems they deregulated the derivative market to make the housing crisis even worse. The 2008 banking crisis didn't happen overnight. I'm a registered Republican because I believe in balanced budgets and the proper balance between corporate interest and government services. That's the way it used to be but no longer. When the Republican primary comes to Connecticut I'm putting my vote in for Stephen Colbert.
Eric | January 19 2012 5:13pm
WOW..this is 10 minutes of my life I'll never get back....talk about BORING
northlander41 | January 19 2012 11:30am
BTW when Clinton was president the economy was roaring with the Internet boom - also it was the Republican controlled congress at the time (Newt G. too) which forced Mr Clinton to sign a budget that was balanced to create any surplus - the congress are the ones who pass laws and spend money - like they did in excess during the first two years of Mr Obama's presidency while they controlled things - until they lost the house - many are thankful for that loss of power as many are scared - me included – of what a purely Democrat controlled Govt would do - If you value your children’s future you should NOT VOTE DEMOCRAT! The Democrat party of the 1960s is gone and is now a socialist party catering to entitlement takers and the Unions - there's proof everywhere if you just look
northlander41 | January 19 2012 10:55am
Yeah JR, the banking crisis caused by the Democrat controlled congress while Bush was in office - CT Dem Chris Dodd and Barney Frank etc.. loosening up lending requirements so even the Dem entitlement base could get mortgages - which they couldn't afford. The $150,000 every man, woman and child owes thanks to the Democrat spending on entitlements to buy votes and the Democrat controlled Senate congress not even passing a budget in over 3 years. Obama and the Dems borowing more than all that past presidents combined. Oh yeah all GW Bushes fault LOL! I've lived in CT all my life and it's gone downhill as the Democrtas have been in power the entire time - they have no excuses!
jrs | January 19 2012 10:34am
I applaud Gov. Malloy for taking responsibility for the fiscal crisis he inherited. Just look at what tax cuts have achieved at the National level. When George W. took over, the Clinton Administration left him with an economy that was operating at a surplus. Two wars, Medicare Part D and the collapse of the banking industry left us with a revenue shortage. And how did we pay for this? Tax cuts mostly for the rich, increased borrowing and an explosion of the money supply. And what was the result of all this? A devaluation of the dollar which increases the cost of imports with the cost of gas and heating oil exploding upward. So is the Middle Class better off with all these tax cuts? Not even close. Our standard of living has been on a decline for the last 30 years at the same time the rich are getting filthy rich. This is in addition to the $150,000 every man, woman and child owes in funded and unfunded liabilities. A politician like Governor Malloy is a rare commodity. Let's all take a deep breath and let Governor Malloy make the tough decisions that are necessary to get this state going in the right direction.
northlander41 | January 19 2012 9:44am
There shouldn't be such pensions for CT public sector union employees! There's way too many of them to start and NO ONE in the private sector can get anything like these lavish pensions - a company in the private sector would go bankrupt trying to pay for pensions like the public sector union employees get! The public sector employees should contribute to regualr 401ks like the rest of us have to to. But the CT Dems don't care about the 90+% of us CT taxpayers who don't have such a free ride -the CT Dems simply tax us more to fund these union pensions and keep their union cash cow donations coming. Voters need to wise up and vote the Dems out.
Cope119 | January 18 2012 4:51pm
They are right about NJ Governor Christie, He has unfunded the pensions and in 5 years those bills come due, but Governor Jabba the Hutt will either be re-elected or in Washington by then, so he doesnt care
northlander41 | January 18 2012 1:39pm
Aritcle change! First they mention in the article that the federal tax cuts were the George Bush tax cuts - now they removed GW Bush's name from the article - they've done stuff like this before - seems the Democrats control WTNH and they don't want to give a Republican any credit!
northlander41 | January 18 2012 9:22am
Great point Hosed. Somehow I think that the CT Dems relied more on last years retroactive tax increase than anything else. Typical of them - and only in an election year will they say they will cut back like everyone else has to. Yes, make some real cuts this time!
« Previous
|
Displaying
1 – 10 of
11 |
Next »
Add a Comment
Sign in or join now to post a comment. All comments will display your username and avatar.
