Connecticut

CT child tax credit still possible as budget talks hit home stretch

Published

8 months ago

May 26, 2025

CT child tax credit still possible as budget talks hit home stretch

State legislators are focused mainly on spending now, trimming their requests to compromise soon with Gov. Ned Lamont on a new two-year budget.

But with just over one week left in the 2025 session, one popular tax-cutting idea is still alive: a new credit for low- and middle-income households with children.

Leaders of the Senate and House Democratic majorities were cautiously optimistic about the child tax credit, though the full program likely would need to be phased in over several years.

The initial $150 per child income tax break under consideration would cost state government $83 million per year, even as looming federal Medicaid cuts could cost Connecticut hundreds of millions in annual revenue. But given the unprecedented surpluses the state has amassed since 2017 and the extremely conservative revenue growth the Lamont administration has projected during its six years, lawmakers say Connecticut can afford this relief.

“We are trying very hard to protect that tax credit the best that we can,” said House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford.

“It still is a reasonable objective,” said Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, who said working families here needed more relief long before President Donald J. Trump and Congress began planning huge cutbacks in Medicaid, food stamps and other social assistance programs.

“The pressures [on working families] are going to be extreme, and we hear all the time about the potential Draconian, punitive choices” federal cutbacks will force upon them, Looney added.

Lamont’s budget spokesman, Chris Collibee, said only that tax proposals remain part of ongoing budget negotiations among the administration and legislative leaders. The governor proposed boosting a different state income tax credit, one that offsets a portion of municipal property tax bills, from $300 to $350, while also broadening eligibility.

Connecticut is the only state with a broad-based personal income tax that doesn’t account for the cost of raising children. Many Democratic lawmakers here largely have endorsed offering a $600-per-dependent credit with relief capped at $1,800 per household.

But because of the uncertainty surrounding federal funding, the General Assembly’s Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee endorsed a less costly $150-per-child credit starting with 2025 earnings and tax returns filed in the spring of 2026, with a maximum household benefit of $450.

It would be available to single parents earning up to $100,000 per year and couples earning up to $200,000, starting with 2026 earnings.

The credit would be gradually phased out above those income levels. For every $1,000 earned above those thresholds, households would lose 10% of the credit’s value.

The credit also would be refundable. Even if a household earns so little it has no state tax liability to reduce via the credit, it still would have $150 per child added to its refund.

Nonpartisan analysts project this tax break would cost government about $83 million per year, about the same as Lamont’s plan to expand the property tax credit. It’s also roughly one-quarter of what legislators anticipate the state would lose with a full $600-per-child benefit.

And while the finance committee measure wouldn’t order increases in the credit in future years, many supporters say proposals to increase the credit would enjoy strong backing down the road.

Rep. Jillian Gilchest, D-West Hartford, co-chairwoman of the Human Services Committee and another backer of the $600-per-child benefit, predicted most Democrats won’t be satisfied for long with “an austere child tax credit” given likely federal cutbacks in health and human service programs.

“More people are going to feel the pain of these [federal] budget decisions,” she said.

Reformers have been clamoring for a child credit in recent years as public and private analyses show Connecticut’s state and municipal tax systems, combined, disproportionately burden the poor and middle class.

The Department of Revenue Services’ 2024 report found the lowest-earning 10% of households effectively spent almost 40% of their income in 2020 to cover state or municipal tax burdens, more than five times the rate faced by Connecticut’s highest earners and two-and-a-half times the statewide average.

Even one of the largest state tax cuts in 2023, which included the first income tax rate reduction since the mid-1990s, only slowed — but didn’t reverse — the ever-widening shift onto working families, according to a 2024 analysis from Connecticut Voices for Children, a progressive New Haven-based policy group.

The United Way of Connecticut, one of the progressive groups spearheading this year’s push for a child tax credit, released a report last October showing that a family of four — two parents and two children — needed to earn $113,520 in 2022 in this state to cover a basic “survival budget.”

The United Way’s methodology covers housing, food, utilities, transportation, child care and — assuming the family can’t afford a computer — at least one smart phone. By comparison, the Federal Poverty Level, a simple metric developed in the mid-1960s by U.S. Social Security Administration economists and based largely on the cost of a minimum food diet, said a family of four earning more than $27,750 in 2022 was above the poverty line.

“On a good day, 42% of Connecticut families with children struggle to make ends meet,” said Lisa Tepper Bates, president of the United Way’s Connecticut chapter. “The proposed cuts to Medicaid and SNAP will hit many Connecticut families hard. And ongoing economic upheaval and rising prices affect every family in our state. Creating a Connecticut child tax credit has never been more important.”

CT has underestimated tax revenues by wide margins

Legislators also were optimistic that Connecticut could afford to provide a child tax credit, even given the uncertainty of federal funding, given its budget caps and its track record of projecting revenues since Lamont took office in 2019.

These caps have generated surpluses averaging $1.8 billion, an amount equal to 8% of the General Fund, since they last were set in 2017. The administration is projecting a $2.4 billion surplus this year, equal to 10%. Analysts project budget caps will capture at least about $1.3 billion in each of the next two fiscal years.

Connecticut has funneled $12.5 billion in surpluses since 2017 to build reserves and scale back pension debt, a furious pace that far outstrips any similar effort in modern history.

Critics say the state has overcompensated for fiscal mistakes of prior decades and is saving excessively now at the expense of core programs and tax relief for the poor and middle class.

The state also has been extremely conservative in its revenue projections in recent years.

Legislators largely build the budget each year using an April 30 forecast prepared by their nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis and by the governor’s budget staff. The basis for that forecast is income and other tax data provided by the administration, particularly the Department of Revenue Services.

Connecticut has amassed large surpluses in each of Lamont’s six years in office. Most of those surpluses turned out to be significantly larger than projected on April 30. The state’s fiscal year ends June 30, and the comptroller formally closes the books in late September.

Since Lamont has been governor, the actual surplus has topped the April 30 projection by an average of $600 million per year.

But 2020 and 2021 were outliers. The coronavirus led officials to push the 2020 income tax filing deadline back from Apil 15 to July 15. And in 2021 they moved it to May 15. In both cases, that meant analysts had limited data to build their projections.

But even if those two fiscal years are removed, the average increase in surplus after the April 30 projection has been $375 million.

“I believe it’s realistic to continue to talk about a phase-in” of a larger child tax credit, Looney said, noting that the average surplus in recent years far exceeds the cost of helping working families.

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Connecticut

Dog found dead in Willimantic River

Published

12 hours ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

A dog was found dead on the ice in the Willimantic River on Friday, according to the Willimantic Police Department.

The Windham Animal Control was notified after a report of a small dog lying motionless near the center of the river close to the waterfall.

Emergency personnel responded and found that the dog was already dead and had been laying on a cardboard box on unstable ice.

While the police and fire department worked to create a plan to rescue the dog, the ice broke apart, and the dog was carried downstream.

It is still unknown how the dog ended up in the river, and what the causes of death were.

Animal control and the Willimantic Police Department are currently investigating the incident and are looking to find out who was involved and how the dog entered the water.

Anyone with information can call the police department at 860-465-3135.

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Connecticut

Police investigating after Hartford ICE protest incidents

Published

24 hours ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

Police investigating after Hartford ICE protest incidents

Hartford Police are investigating what led to a skirmish between protestors and possible federal employees during a protest outside a federal building on Thursday.

The incident, captured on camera, occurred when protestors tried to prevent two vehicles from entering the Abraham A. Ribicoff building on Thursday evening.

The vehicles, which Hartford officials believe were driven by federal employees, proceeded through the crowd.

The mayor said a van struck one of the protestors in the process, and a separate person is captured on video smashing the back window of the van as it drove away.

Separately, also captured on video, an unidentified person, whom the mayor says believes is affiliated with the federal government, is seen spraying pepper spray at the protestors.

“We will be investigating what appears to be a hit and run incident with pepper spray being used on attendees of the vigil last night,” Mayor Arunan Arulampalam (D-Hartford) said during a press conference Friday at City Hall.

Arulamapalam said Hartford police will investigate all aspects of the incident, including the driver who allegedly struck the protestor, the individual spraying what appeared to be pepper spray, and the individual who was seen smashing the window.

They have not identified the driver, the person who was struck, the person who damaged the vehicle, or the person who was pepper-sprayed.

The event was one of many around the country that served as a vigil for Renee Good, the woman shot and killed by ICE in Minneapolis on Wednesday, as well as a protest against ICE.

“What we saw last night was a peaceful vigil in the city of Hartford turned violent,” said Mayor Arunan Arulampalam, who said around 200 people were in attendance in total.

Debra Cohen, of Wethersfield, said she was at the vigil when she and others learned there was a potential federal van parked behind the Ribicoff building, and they were concerned ICE had someone detained in the vehicle.

The Department of Homeland Security has not responded to NBC Connecticut’s request for comment. The agency has not said publicly whether the people were ICE agents or employees with any DHS agency, or whether the van was involved in immigration enforcement activities.

Cohen said she and others went from Main Street to the back side of the building and hoped to block the van from leaving.

She says people, whom she also believed were federal law enforcement, were “yelling at us to get back. To get back, to get back. We stood our ground. and that’s when the pepper spray came out.”

Cohen says that the individual then sprayed them from behind the gate.

“It wasn’t so much a taste as a burning that I’ve never felt before,” she said, describing the spray. “It was not only in my eyes, and I seriously couldn’t open my eyes or see anything. It was all on my face, on my lips, which was really, really bad.”

Video also captured some protestors trying to stop a car in front of the van from leaving the Ribicoff parking lot.

Both vehicles continue through the crowd, at which point police said the van struck one of the protestors.

The protestor denied medical attention, according to the City.

Gov. Ned Lamont, (D-Connecticut), said Friday he wants to wait for the investigation before making judgement, but he was critical of some of the protestors.

Lamont, speaking at a separate press conference at the Legislative Office Building, said protestors who obstruct law enforcement shift the focus.

“ICE took an open window and shot somebody in the head and shot her dead, and she was an innocent mother of three,” he said. I don’t want anything to distract from that.”

Lamont pointed to frequent comments from President Donald Trump claiming Democrats and liberal-leaning voters engage in violent protests around the country.

“You’re doing just what President Trump says,” Lamont said. “There’s a demonstration here in Hartford, a couple of people do what they shouldn’t do. All of a sudden, that distracts. That’s just what he wants.”

Rep. Vincent Candelora, (R-Minority Leader), said he wanted to hear Lamont us strong language to tell protestors never to obstruct law enforcement.

“I think we need to draw a hard line on people stepping into traffic and trying to obstruct that traffic,” he said. “We saw what happened in Minnesota, and we don’t want that to happen in Connecticut.”

Candelora also believes that both sides need to tone down their rhetoric, objecting to how Democrats have talked about ICE and to how Vice President J.D. Vance and others in the Trump administration characterized Good.

“I don’t like the use of the word terrorist to describe the victim as much as I didn’t like that word used to describe ICE,” he said. “I think that word has been cheapened, and we should be dialing back that rhetoric.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), also speaking at the press conference in the LOB, said he wants an independent review of Good’s death, suggesting a task force of local, state, and federal law enforcement officials.

He also supported Hartford’s efforts to investigate the conduct of federal agents.

“There are state laws that apply; state authorities are not without jurisdiction,” he said. “They have authority.”

Blumenthal separately wants more information on how ICE trains new employees, noting the agency has been hiring at a rapid rate as Trump looks to deliver on his campaign promise of ramped-up deportations.

Blumenthal is the ranking Democrat on the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which released a report last month about the conduct of ICE agents.

Specifically, the report details the claims of 22 U.S. citizens who claim they were assaulted, and some detained, by ICE agents.

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Connecticut

New Connecticut economic data: “It takes job seekers longer”

Published

1 day ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

New Connecticut economic data: “It takes job seekers longer”

The U.S. economy added fewer jobs than expected in December, capping what economists say was the weakest year for job creation since 2009, aside from 2020.

Data from October shows about 73,000 job openings in Connecticut, according to the Connecticut Business and Industry Association. The state’s unemployment rate stands at about 4%, which is historically low.

Here is the topline information from Connecticut’s October and November jobs report released this week, according to the state’s Labor Department (data was delayed due to the government shutdown):

Overall, Connecticut job growth is +1,800 from November 2024 to November 2025.
Private sector payrolls were up 1,900 in November after a 900 decline in October.
Health Care & Social Assistance is up 1,700 in November and recovered September losses.
Construction is at the highest level since August 2008, a trend expected to continue with infrastructure and housing initiatives.
Retail continues a slow downward trajectory. The sector was up 200 jobs in November, not enough to offset September and October losses.
Initial unemployment claims are just under 30,000, slightly higher than last year at this time when they were around 25,000.

In a press release, Connecticut Department of Labor Commissioner Danté Bartolomeo said: “After several years of strong job growth that created a job seekers’ market, the economy is now more competitive—it takes job seekers longer to find employment than it has in the recent past.”

Experts say the experience of finding a job can be very different for job seekers.

Dustin Nord, director of the CBIA Foundation for Economic Growth and Opportunity, said the state may be seeing what economists call frictional unemployment.

“We’re not seeing huge changes in hiring and quits,” Nord said, adding that it’s possible people who are losing positions are not necessarily seeing positions open in the field that they’re losing their job from.

Although unemployment remains relatively low, Nord said recent trends raise concerns about the direction of the labor market.

“There’s not that many people on the sidelines, but I’d say the trends are definitely not moving in the right direction,” Nord said.

Connecticut faces longer‑term workforce challenges. The state’s labor force has declined by about 19,600 people since January, according to the new data.

“Federal immigration policies may impact these numbers. Connecticut employers rely on an immigrant workforce to offset retirements in Connecticut’s aging workforce and the state’s low birthrate; 23% of Connecticut workers are born outside of the U.S.,” the state’s Department of Labor said.

Connecticut’s labor force participation rate of 64% is higher than the national rate of 62.5%, the Department of Labor said.

The CBIA said since the COVID‑19 pandemic, Connecticut’s labor force has grown just 0.2%, compared with 4.3% growth nationwide.

That gap is occurring even as wages rise. Average weekly earnings in Connecticut are up 5.4% since November 2024, outpacing inflation.

Still, the CBIA says those gains reinforce the need to address affordability across the state.

“If we take the right steps, especially over the next six months, to try to find ways to make it more affordable,” Nord said. “I think there’s no reason we can’t continue to see, at least steady economic activity in the state.”

Nord said those steps include addressing costs tied to housing, energy and childcare.

Overall, the data suggests Connecticut’s job growth has been largely stagnant. Looking ahead, what happens in 2026 will depend both on state‑level policy decisions and broader national economic trends.

Patrick Flaherty, director of research at the Connecticut Department of Labor, said in a review of the data that recent numbers suggest the pace of growth could continue, but at a slower rate.

“The November increase suggests modest job growth that Connecticut’s labor market has shown could continue into 2026, although at a slower pace, as long as the nation avoids a downturn,” Flaherty said.

See the state report here. Read the CBIA’s analysis here.

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