Malloy Blasts Democrat Sales Tax Increase Proposal

HARTFORD, CT — House Democrats proposed raising the state sales tax to 6.99 percent from 6.35 percent as a way to keep municipal aid funding around current levels.

Thursday turned into a day of capitol chaos. House Democrats made their proposal, which was then rebuked by House Republicans and in turn by members of the State Senate. Then Gov. Dannel Malloy criticized both Republican and Democrat House leadership.

The two-year budget is scheduled for a July 18 vote. Between now and then House Democrats will work with Senate Democrats and legislative Republicans on finalizing the bill.

House Speaker Joseph Aresimowicz said Malloy's “mini-budget” proposal is a dead issue and that he will have executive budget authority between July 1 and final passage of the budget.

House Republicans started looking over the Democrat proposal shortly after a Democrat press conference.

"I do understand that there are tax increases in there, which is what we've been talking about for how long that we certainly can not support," said House Minority Leader Themis Klarides.

She also criticized Malloy's mini-budget proposal as a way to blame the legislature. Republicans came up with a one-month budget to mitigate some painful cuts that hospitals and others would face.

A clearly frustrated Malloy criticized both House leaders at a Thursday afternoon press conference. He also took the time to thank both Senate Republicans and Democrats for putting forward budget proposals.

"Rather than act we were instead treated to multiple days of conflicting and confusing statements from both leaders of the house,” he said.

He said the Democrat budget proposal maintains the status quo and leads with a revenue increase.

Republican Senate President Len Fasano said he wasn't a fan of the Democrat tax increases and Democrat Senate President Martin Looney said he wasn't yet on board for a July 18 budget vote.

July 18 is a significant date because the state employee union is scheduled to vote on a concession deal the day before.

Some media reports surfaced that a small number of Democrats felt that unions should increase concessions. Aresimowicz said no Democrat has drawn a line in the sand about not voting on the budget on that issue.

The sales tax increase would mitigate Malloy’s proposal to slash municipal aid and force towns to take on one-third of teacher pension obligations.

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