Connecticut is among the worst 10% of states in terms of its taxpayer burden, according to a new study from Truth in Accounting. These “sinkhole states” have the highest amounts that taxpayers would have to pay for the state to be debt free. Connecticut’s taxpayer burden is $49,500. The state is $63.6 billion in debt with $27.7 billion from unfunded pension benefits. Truth in Accounting gave Connecticut an “F” for this burden on taxpayers, which is five times the national average.
If tax hikes are the solution, then all is well. Connecticut is one of half a dozen states where Democrats control all the branches of government. They hiked taxes by $1.5 billion in 2011, $1.2 billion in 2015, and want to hike taxes by $1.8 billion today. Governor Malloy wants to hike taxes on everything that he can such as vacation homes, cellphones, cigarettes, hospitals, hotel rooms, drugs, ride-sharing services such as Uber, and fantasy football. The problem is that they have always spent all of the money that they can get their hands on and then some.
If the Dan Malloy Democrats were right that this is a good idea, then people would be voting with their feet. Businesses would be moving in and the population would be rising. However, the opposite is happening. Businesses are fleeing. The population falls year after year as taxpayers escape. These trends are accelerating. But the worst is yet to come. After a third massive state tax hike, it is likely that the federal government will reform taxes to eliminate the deductibility of those taxes. That would cause the total tax burden to explode and Connecticut real estate to collapse.
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As we barrel down the road towards this fiscal cliff, homeowners and taxpayers will be faced with two stark choices. The first is proposed by Florida Gov. Rick Scott: give up, capitulate and move to Florida. He said that, “I love Malloy. I wish he could stay governor forever. Governor Malloy has basically been a great recruiter for us.” That choice is fast and easy and raises the burden even further on those left behind. The second choice is to change course and elect new leaders with new ideas. The one thing that we can be certain of is that the current politicians will not change.
From Venezuela to Connecticut, financially bankrupt politicians tend to be immune from changing course when the evidence suggests that they should. Whatever happens, their predictable reaction is that we have not really tried their combination of high taxes, higher spending, and centrally dictated regulations. They have to hit rock bottom before there is any kind of change and that is simply because the run out of other people’s money. But we don’t need to wait for them to change. We can change Connecticut at the local level in 2017 and at the state level in 2018.
