Indiana Strikes Back: State Takes Swipe at CT

Written by Vincent Salzo, Patch Editor

The state of Indiana has taken a swipe at Connecticut and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, possibly in retaliation for Malloy’s strong criticism of that state’s controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act a few months ago.

Indiana took out a full-page ad in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal, lending its support to Fairfield-based GE, along with fellow Connecticut companies Aetna and Travelers that criticized the state’s new business tax increases in the recently adopted budget.

The ad states that Indiana offers its support to those companies in the wake of the looming tax increases “because friends don’t let friends pay higher taxes.”

Gov. Mike Pence also publicly released a letter that he sent to General Electric, Aetna and Travelers Companies encouraging them to come to Indiana for business.

“In Indiana, we’ve labored over the last decade to build a state that works for business,” he said. “We understand that a financially strong state is a critical foundation for building a stable and predictable business environment.”

He said Indiana corporate tax rate is scheduled to drop to 4.9 percent while Connecticut has a 9 percent rate.

General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt recently sent an email to the company’s Connecticut employees, notifying them that he has “assembled an exploratory team to look into the company’s options to relocate corporate HQ to another state with a more pro-business environment.”

Malloy said to his knowledge GE hasn’t paid any substantial taxes in Connecticut.

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