Sredzinski: 'Democrats' Endgame Is More Taxes And Fewer Services'

NEWTOWN, CT - From the Connecticut House Republicans: Rep. JP Sredzinski (R-112) called the governor’s recently released revised Executive Order Resource Allocation Plan “shameful” as more municipal funding cuts were announced and Legislative Democrats emphasized that a sales tax hike would be “inevitable.” These developments come seven weeks after the close of the fiscal year without a two-year budget in place to dictate state spending and revenue.

Governor Malloy’s new resource allocation plan aims to funnel available funding towards the “neediest” school districts, as determined by a formula that takes a town’s wealth, grand list, and student population into account. Many towns, including Monroe and Newtown, would see their education funding completely zeroed out while also suffering cuts to town aid as a result of the budget crisis.

“The governor’s executive order makes me absolutely livid, especially because this is the exact scenario I desperately wanted to avoid” said Rep. Sredzinski. “Connecticut families and businesses have been demanding a taxpayer-friendly budget since January and they assumed their legislature would be doing that for them. Instead, those same families and businesses will now have their lives negatively impacted by severe cuts to core government services, their children’s education, and state programs for those in need. I want to stress that this did not have to happen; it is the expected consequence of failed leadership and a refusal to debate the no tax-increase, balanced budget that Republicans had advocated since April.”

As a result, majority leadership in the General Assembly have strongly hinted that a sales tax hike would be a likely plug for the $5.1 billion budget deficit through various statements and outlines of budget proposals. Rep. Sredzinski and fellow House Republicans have been on record since January stating “adamant” opposition to any kind of tax increase for Connecticut residents.

“It’s not like there wasn’t another option,” said Rep. Sredzinski. “We presented four versions of a bold budget proposal that would have dramatically scaled back the size of government in order to prevent having to raise taxes again. We were summarily ignored and shut out of the process. Now, it looks like a sales tax hike is going to be the new thing the Democrats will force upon our state and tell us how we just don’t have another choice.”

Rep. Sredzinski continued, “Connecticut’s sluggish economy over the past couple of years has shown that tax increases do not work and a sales tax would only hurt the businesses that urgently need a better economic climate. This is very disappointing to hear and I will reiterate that I will not support a budget that increases taxes whatsoever.”

Although no date has been set, majority leadership has indicated a preference to vote on a budget before the week of September 11th.

Rep. JP Sredzinski represents the 112th General Assembly district communities of Monroe and Newtown and serves as Ranking Member on the General Assembly’s Public Safety Committee.

Image via Connecticut House Republicans