CT Progressive

There hasn’t been a lot to love about the game of chicken that Rell and Connecticut Democrats have been playing on the budget, where nobody has wanted to be the first to propose raising taxes.

But it looks like Dems and progressive groups are gearing up for a big response to the proposal Rell’s been hinting at – first, a press release from 1000 Friends and friends, including CT Voices for Children and the CT Association for Human Services:

While Governor Rell has promised that her upcoming biennial budget will include deep cuts affecting every agency of the Connecticut government, Better Choices For Connecticut believes that reliance on spending cuts is both unwise and unnecessary. Slashing public services in the midst of this recession places the Connecticut economy in grave danger. With smarter choices, Connecticut has the capacity to protect our schools, our transit, our infrastructure, our social services, and our public safety agencies.

The coalition will release a white paper [Monday at 1:30pm] proposing a multi-part revenue package that would balance the budget without cutting our state’s vital services.

Better Choices for Connecticut is a community coalition working to help Connecticut make better choices on ways to improve the state’s imbalanced revenue system so that it advances opportunity for shared prosperity for all Connecticut residents; preserves services for children, families and the elderly; creates and sustains good jobs; and reinvests in the middle class and our communities.

From the wording of the proposal, it sounds like the coalition is taking a defensive posture, but in the service of painting the Governor as the radical – which, if she holds her no-taxes line, happens to be completely true.

Also promising is a request from Donovan and Williams to grab some airtime following Rell’s Monday evening address:

Gov. M. Jodi Rell will deliver a live, televised address to the state Monday night to warn citizens about impending cuts in the state budget. It’s the first time in the 4½ years she’s been governor that she will give such an address.

House Speaker Christopher Donovan and Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams, both Democrats, asked for an opportunity to speak after the Republican governor, and their request was granted by channels 8 and 30.

It may be the first time Rell has given an address like this on this particular subject, but her political capital comes primarily from her ability to get on the evening news three or more times a week. Blumenthal learned this lesson a long time ago, and it’s promising to see Donovan and Williams taking advantage of the opportunity.

Finally, Ned Lamont gets into the budget discussion with former OPM (i.e. “Budget”) Director William Cibes in today’s Courant. It sounds like they may be a part of the same coalition with the 1000 Friends et al, but we’ll have to wait for their press conference or for their website to go live to learn more. Still, they’re the first to venture out with some specifics:

CUTS in projected appropriated spending for the budget year ending June 30, 2010, and the budget year ending June 30, 2011, of $700 million or more, each year.

REDUCTIONS in existing tax exemptions and tax credits such as those for filmmakers, corporations and mixed-use historic structures, totaling $700 million or more.

INCREASES in selected taxes and fees, including among others a sales/use tax on Internet sales, an increase in the gas tax and a tax on snacks and junk food, totaling $700 million or less.

The one thing I’m skeptical about is that the list of taxes that they’re proposing (”among others”) sound like they’ll mainly be squeezing the poor: at a time when wealth is more concentrated in the hands of a few than ever before, and the taxes paid by those few is less than ever before, I’d expect new taxes to be a little more income-aware.

[As an aside, if we're going to be tampering with the gas tax, perhaps we could consider a huge hike paired with a refundable gas tax credit, so that those using the average would see no change, and those using above average would subsidize those who limit their car usage or utilize public transit. The 25¢ a gallon + 7% tax brings in over $800 million a year, so modernizing that could play a meaningful part of that $700 million target.]

But really, there’s a lot of good news today for those eager to see a more organized progressive movement in the state. We’re even seeing some return on the promise shown by Lamont’s involvement with the Progressive States Network, which has been a long time coming. And it’s looking like Monday is going to be the opening of a pretty exciting political season here in Connecticut.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 1st, 2009 at 2:32 pm and is filed under State Policy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.