Representative Scribner Votes Against Largest Tax Increase in State History

On Thursday, April 2, State Rep. David Scribner (R-Brookfield, Bethel) voted against a tax package to enact $3.3 billion in new property, income, business and sales taxes. The Legislature’s Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee approved a package that would drive more residents from Connecticut and worsen the state’s recession, said Rep. Scribner.

Rather than consolidate government agencies to reduce costs as Governor M. Jodi Rell and Republicans proposed, the tax package that now goes before the full Legislature would instead establish:

• Tax increases on profitable corporations that employ thousands;
• A 20-percent income tax hike starting at $132,500 and tax hikes on higher brackets;
• A broadening of the state sales tax;
• Elimination of some property tax exemptions for middle income families

“The tax and spending package moving forward today are beyond irresponsible,” said Rep. Scribner. “It is reckless and the spending fits the description and pattern of an addiction. I fear, we too, have lost our way.”

Rep. Scribner, who served as a banker for more than 20 years and has been Brookfield’s municipal treasurer for 14 years, said the policies in the budget proposal are fiscally unsound. Employing one time revenues from the Federal Stimulus Package and Rainy Day Fund would build enormous holes (deficits of $1.5 billion) in budgets for both Fiscal Years ‘12 and ‘13, said Rep. Scribner. For the first time ever, it would also borrow money to pay for local road projects.

He noted that passing the package into law would serve as a compelling invitation for businesses and successful individuals to legally change their residences and avoid Connecticut taxes completely. The package approved today is contrary to evidence-based policies implemented in the 1990s that encouraged job creation in Connecticut, said Rep. Scribner.

“I am disappointed with the process that produced this budget, as it is uncontrolled spending driving a dangerous tax policy,” said Rep. Scribner, an 11-year member of the Legislature’s Finance Committee and member of its two subcommittees. “It would create a huge burden on the constituents we are elected to serve and sends the message that the majority of legislators refuse to acknowledge how much families are suffering by making tax hikes the focus of addressing the state’s fiscal crisis.”