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Bob’s Economic Plan To Rebuild Connecticut

A Five-Step Plan endorsed by President Reagan’s Economic Advisor Dr. Arthur Laffer

 

Download the full plan here.

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Connecticut is in Economic Free Fall

 

Connecticut is in absolute crisis.

 

High Taxes – We have the highest tax burden in the nation. We in Connecticut have to work four weeks longer than the average American just to cover our tax bills! We need to work until May 21 – vs. April 23 on average (as reported by the Tax Foundation)

 

 

Out of Control Spending – Despite five tax increases since 1992, we have a growing, $3.5 billion budget deficit and a pension plan which is underfunded by $74 billion.

 

Job Losses – Since introducing a state income tax in 1991, we have had the slowest job growth in the entire nation – with 6,600 jobs lost in October 2017 alone.

 

Decline Population – More people are leaving Connecticut than any other state (except West Virginia). In the last 10 years, we have lost $6 billion in adjusted gross income from people moving to Florida alone!

 

A Dysfunctional Government – the current fiscal year budget was 117 days past due, and it included $881 million in “unidentified savings” and was already more than $200 million out of balance only a month after it was signed into law.

 

Connecticut Democrats have followed a policy of “Tax & Spend”.

 

Bob’s Five-Step Plan to Rebuild Connecticut

  1. Phase out corporate income tax and business entity tax over 2 years

  2. Phase out state income tax over 8 years

  3. Eliminate the gift and estate taxes immediately

  4. Embrace zero-based budgeting to reduce spending

  5. Enact a taxpayer bill of rights

 

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Step 1: Phase out corporate income tax and business entity tax over 2 years

  • Eliminating the Corporate and Business Use taxes, reducing regulatory interference will provide stimulus for companies to rediscover everything our state has to offer.
  • Our corporate tax raises less than 5.0% of the state’s total tax revenues, but Connecticut is uncompetitive with its neighbors and rivals. Repeal is an affordable and important way to carve a competitive niche relative to economic development marketing.
  • In recent months, the headquarters of GE, Alexion, and Aetna left. Bristol-Myers and Konica Minolta have also announced plans to depart.
  • Since 1991, we have seen the slowest job growth in the entire nation. We lost 6,600 jobs in October 2017 alone.
  • Our labor force participation continues to decline – only 66% of the adult population is working or looking for work – 1/3 are on the sidelines.

 

We need a bold statement – a bona fide competitive advantage – to get businesses to start here, expand here, and relocate to Connecticut – and quickly – so that the number of jobs, number of businesses, and labor force participation all start moving in the right direction again.

 

 

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See the other steps.

 

 

Step 2: Phase out state income tax over 8 years

  • Introduce an across-the-board income tax cut over eight years tied to the attainment of revenue targets.
  • Our income tax destroys growth! For the 15 years preceding the Connecticut State Income Tax (1976 to 1991), our state economy grew faster than any other state. For the 25 years after the tax (1991-2016), our growth is 46th in the nation.
  • Since 1960 only 11 states have introduced a state income tax. In each of those 11 states, every economic metric is down – population, gross state product, and total tax revenues. Adding an income tax reduced gross tax revenues – in every instance!
  • A study by the Cato Institute showed that over 5 years: the 5 states that increased taxes the most had zero job growth and the 5 states that decreased taxes had the most job growth at 10.8%.

 

Massachusetts did it! They lowered the tax rate to 5.1% and since then, population, employment, personal income and tax revenues have all gone up!

 

 

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Step 3: Eliminate the gift and estate taxes immediately

  • The majority of states have already done away with both the gift and estate taxes as they drive residents to other tax-free states!
  • We are the only state with both an estate and a gift tax!
  • They raise only about 1 percent of the state’s total tax revenues each year – but cost so much more than that in the slowing of our economy.
  • These taxes are causing more people to leave Connecticut than any other state (except West Virginia).
  • An astounding $6 billion of adjusted gross income has left for Florida alone in the past 10 years.

 

 

We want our retirees to stay here! They create jobs, pay taxes, donate to charities, buy goods and services and sustain our state’s economy.

 

 

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See the other steps.

 

 

Step 4: Embrace zero-based budgeting to reduce spending

  • Zero-based budgeting starts with a “blank piece of paper” not an already bloated budget with special interests and sacred cows baked in.
  • You add back in only the services absolutely needed while finding creative ways to do things cheaper.
  • Even with “fixed” costs like debt service and SEBAC, 20 to 25% of CT’s budget is “discretionary.”
  • With a two-year budget exceeding $40 billion, there are plenty of opportunities to identify savings and efficiencies.
  • Steps:
    • Review every department and agency for waste, fraud, and abuse
    • Reward, with whistleblower protection, employees with cost savings ideas.
    • Contract out public services to the private sector, starting with the DMV
    • Consider more public-private partnerships to share the cost of aging infrastructure
    • Reduce SEBAC – lower staff via attrition, defined contribution plan for non-vested employees, “revisit” overall contract extension.

 

 

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Step 5: Enact a Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

  • Impose term limits for state legislators (5 terms/10 years) and the governor (2 terms/8 years).
  • Allow for a recall of state officials who are not living up to campaign promises, getting the job done or representing their constituents properly.
  • Impose a constitutional amendment to require a supermajority to enact any tax or fee increase.
  • Allow citizens the rights of referendum and recall.
  • Require more transparency around private interests receiving tax payer dollars.

 

Our constitution never intended for political office to be a “job for life.” We need better accountability around the actions of our representatives and a mechanism to force fresh thinking on how to solve problems.

 

 

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It Can Work

 

Lower corporate taxes will bring companies and jobs back to Connecticut.

 

Lower individual taxes will increase disposable income, resulting in more consumer demand and businesses will expand to meet that demand.

 

Eliminating the gift and the estate tax will stop the exodus of high tax paying residents to Florida and other low tax states.

 

Zero-based budgeting will force a fresh perspective on what costs are truly needed and what can be eliminated.

 

A Taxpayer Bill of Rights will ensure accountability around government officials to best represent their constituents or be removed from office.

 

 

 

If you agree with my plan, please consider donating to my campaign. We urgently need your help to take our state back from Dan Malloy and the liberal politicians in Hartford!

 

 

 

 

Plan to Help Small Businesses

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Connecticut used to be a beacon for business.  For nearly twenty years, from 1976 through 1992, our state had the highest rate of job creation in the entire country. But after that, job creation slowed and came to a halt due to the passage of a state income tax. 

 

We can lead the nation again in job growth, but only if we lower our taxes, and reduce our regulatory burden to make people and businesses WANT to move here.

 

Bob has formed an Economic Advisory Council of small and medium-sized business owners to ensure his plan will work to grow jobs in Connecticut.

Plan to Modernize Our Infrastructure

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In a recent US News study, only 14.6% of Connecticut residents said they were satisfied with the status of our infrastructure. Bob has been working with dozens of small business owners, private citizens and economic experts like Dr. Arthur Laffer to come up with a detailed plan on how to fix our economy as well as our crumbling roads and bridges. Some elements of this plan include:

 

 

Streamlining the approval process for major construction programs.

 

We need to ensure the integrity of our beautiful towns, rural areas and open spaces in Connecticut. But once decided, the administrative process for rebuilding and enhancing our roads, bridges, airports and tunnels needs to be faster. We need to cut the “red tape” that often delays critical infrastructure projects by 50% or more.

 

Spend money where it counts!

 

We need to cut the wasteful spending habits of Dan Malloy and the career politicians and reinvest money in our infrastructure to the benefit of everyone in this state. That is money that could re-directed to improve our crumbling infrastructure and benefit everyone in this state, rather than a select, few, privileged politicians.

 

Encourage Connecticut financial institutions to be part of the solution

 

We should encourage our local banks to consider financing more economic development in our state. Various programs such as the Community Investment Act and low-cost loans from the Federal Small Business Loan Program could provide an incentive for Connecticut based banks to support projects to improve our infrastructure. It will allow them to increase their business activity, create more local jobs for construction projects and improve the quality of life for all residents.

 

Investigate using public-private partnerships to help rebuild our crumbling infrastructure.

 

In a PPP, a government agency contracts with the private sector to rebuild an airport, transportation system or other critical assets. The private sector partner brings the technology, expertise and actual experience running a business that our career politicians desperately lack. The private partner funds part of the cost of construction, allowing us to improve the state’s transportation system without adding to our already massive budget deficit.

 

Other states have used this model to improve the quality of their infrastructure – faster, cheaper and better than the state government has any chance of doing. With the proper supervision and a business person experienced in negotiating these partnerships, PPP’s can be a very efficient way to rebuild our state. Bob has successfully worked on a wide variety of projects around the world and can bring that expertise to the governor’s office.

 

It will take all the tools at our disposal to repair years and years of neglect to our roads and bridges. But we have many assets to draw on and with the proper leadership, we can begin the process of rebuilding our state now!

 

Plan to Keep Retirees

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Connecticut’s onerous income, sales, gift, and inheritance taxes are driving retirees out of our state at alarming rates. In fact, in the 2015 tax year, Connecticut lost more adjusted gross income from residents deciding to leave than any other state in the country except one.

 

We lost $1.3 billion in reported adjusted gross income in Connecticut for 2015 alone!

 

Connecticut is the ONLY state in the country to have BOTH a gift and estate tax.

 

Under Bob’s leadership, the “death tax” will be removed day one, stemming the outflows of people, jobs and tax revenues from our state.

 

We will reduce the burden of Connecticut’s state income tax over time making it easier for our retirees to afford to stay in the state they love with their family and friends.

 

As the articles below show, Connecticut retirees are feeling the pain.

We need to provide a better economic environment for all of our residents:

 

Plan to Retain Our Graduates

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Even with Connecticut graduates topping the national charts of the highest-earning graduates, our state is still facing a crisis with most graduates moving away (Source:”5 Connecticut Census Numbers That Should Scare Your Socks Off” – Hartford Courant). We are losing jobs and losing our well educated young adults to other states and nearby cities like Boston and New York.

 

The business climate in Connecticut is not attractive for young workers. Bob wants to build businesses, grow our economy, and bring in new workers. Starting with a welcoming business climate, he wants to bring innovative and startup jobs to Connecticut.

 

Keeping more of our graduates will help ensure a bright future for Connecticut.