Connecticut

CT officials focus on tax cuts as new election cycle starts

Published

3 months ago

December 2, 2025

CT officials focus on tax cuts as new election cycle starts

Republicans have staunchly defended unprecedented state efforts in recent years to shrink Connecticut’s massive legacy of pension debt, even though it’s leached billions from education, health care and other core programs in the process.

But the GOP has begun to modify that stance, willing to scale back that effort if — and only if — those dollars go back to middle-class households in the form of big tax cuts.

Citing high energy costs, inflation above federal targets and Congress cutting deeply into human services, Republicans say Connecticut families need more help badly now, but not through new state programs.

And with many Democrats already renewing their push for a new child-based income tax cut and the next state election less than 12 months away, the 2026 General Assembly session could be swamped with tax-cutting ideas.

GOP: CT households must benefit directly from big surpluses

“For my constituents, it’s about over-taxation,” House Minority Leader Vincent J. Candelora, R-North Branford, said during a floor debate last month. “We are seeing billions and billions of dollars flow into our coffers.”

The GOP leader was referring to the aggressive series of state budget caps that have generated unprecedented surpluses averaging more than $1.8 billion, or 8% to 9% of the General Fund, every year since 2017. About $4 billion from those bounties has been used to bolster budget reserves, but the bulk, about $10 billion, has been dedicated to whittling down the massive pension debt Connecticut amassed over seven decades prior to 2011.

The primary beneficiaries of those payments, Candelora said, involve tens of thousands of state employees, municipal teachers and retirees from those two fields.

“But what about the other 3.4 million people, the people that are telling us we can’t afford to continue to pay property taxes in the state of Connecticut?” he added. “I think we need to start looking at the people that are slipping into poverty, slipping into need, because everything in the state of Connecticut has become unaffordable.”

In late October, House Republicans called for a $700 increase in the state income tax credit that covers a portion of households’ municipal property tax bills.

With the potential to restore $500 million annually, all to the middle class, it would rival the 2023 income tax cuts ordered by Gov. Ned Lamont and the Democratic-controlled General Assembly for the most generous relief package in state history.

But it also would mean this fiscal year’s projected surplus — another big windfall projected at $2 billion — would be about 25% smaller. That means less to pay down pension debt, which still exceeds $33 billion, according to Lamont’s budget office, and isn’t projected to be eliminated until the mid-2040s.

But Candelora said Connecticut could afford a big tax cut and still make big annual inroads on its debt problem. The $10 billion in surplus funds its deposited into the pensions since 2020 were in addition to the more than $3 billion in required payments Connecticut makes annually through regular budgeting. Prior to 2020, Connecticut never had contributed surplus to its pensions.

And since Lamont and his fellow Democrats in the legislature already have diverted some funds away from surplus and into new spending, why couldn’t Republicans deflect some to cut taxes on households in need, the North Branford lawmaker added.

Lamont and Democrats dedicated $300 million from last fiscal year’s surplus to launch a new program to expand affordable child care. That initiative also has a claim on a portion of future surpluses.

And despite repeated warnings that Medicaid costs were exploding, Democrats underfunded the program by $284 million last fiscal year, effectively leaving the problem to be solved using surplus dollars.

“I think I’ve been dragged into this conversation unwillingly by the Democrats,” Candelora added.

House Republicans likely won’t be alone in supporting tax cuts.

Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield, has “serious concerns” about redirecting any funds away from paying down a pension debt, but “if we’re going to do anything [else] with those funds … it needs to be returned to [households] in the form of tax relief.”

The GOP’s two gubernatorial contenders, former New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart and state Sen. Ryan Fazio of Greenwich, both agreed Connecticut can help its middle class and save diligently to reduce debt.

Given the huge budget surpluses Connecticut has reported since 2017, “it’s hard to not ask the question: Are we being overtaxed?” Stewart said.

And while she praised the bipartisan legislative effort eight years ago that helped Connecticut save more, stop tax hikes, and begin reducing debt, the former mayor added it’s still too expensive for many to live here.

“I see that every day,” she added. “Often times, both parents are working and they’re just scrounging by.”

“At some point, middle-class taxpayers are the forgotten people of Connecticut,” Fazio said, adding relief would provide an economic assist as well. “All the evidence suggests that income tax cuts spur more economic growth than other forms of tax cuts.”

Democrats have their own tax-cutting ideas

Republicans also won’t be the only ones putting tax-cut proposals on the table.

Many progressive and moderate Democrats in the General Assembly have been pushing for the past four years to create a permanent state income tax credit for low- and middle-income households with children.

The most popular plan, raised back in 2021 by then-Rep. Sean Scanlon, a Guilford Democrat who now serves as state comptroller, would provide $600 per child, up to $1,800 per household.

The United Way of Connecticut, another leader in the fight for a state child tax credit, vowed to continue the battle in September when it released its latest affordability analysis, showing a record-high 581,000 Connecticut households, about 40%, couldn’t afford a basic “survival” budget.

The United Way estimates it cost a family of four — two parents and two children — $116,000 to cover basic survival needs, including food, housing, utilities, child and health care and transportation in 2023.

Lamont’s budget spokesman, Chris Collibee, said the governor “will listen to any ideas that reduce taxes, increase taxpayers and make our state a more attractive place to live and work.”

Rep. Maria Horn, D-Salisbury, co-chairwoman of the tax-writing Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee, said this week she anticipates many state tax relief proposals aimed at the middle class in the next session, especially since the GOP-led Congress focused the bulk of federal tax cuts it ordered last July on the nation’s wealthiest households.

“That creates a structure where the very wealthy are receiving a tax benefit and the middle and less privileged classes are not,” she said.

Can CT afford to cut taxes and bolster human services?

But both Horn and House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, warn frequently that any tax cuts must be sustainable. In other words, don’t promise so much relief it must be scaled back one year later if the economy slips.

And state legislators are more worried about budget stability now than perhaps any other time since they installed new caps eight years ago. That’s because Congress ordered more than $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and other human service programs to help finance federal tax relief.

Connecticut expects to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in annual federal assistance, although the bulk of those cutbacks likely won’t take effect until 2027 or 2028.

Rep. Josh Elliott of Hamden, a progressive who is challenging Lamont for the 2026 Democratic gubernatorial nomination, said many lawmakers still want to put more dollars directly into working families’ hands.

But Elliott, a founder of the legislature’s Tax Equity Caucus, added tax relief is a good tool — but not the only one — to help families.

It does a family little good to save $700 on state income taxes if Connecticut cuts municipal aid so much that same household faces an $800 increase in town property taxes.

Similarly, it state budget policies drive up community college tuition, slash rental and winter energy assistance and ignore rising health insurance costs, then tax cuts help little or not at all.

“It’s not one or the other,” Elliott said. “It seems that there’s a hypocrisy on the part of the Republicans that they are only willing to affect [costs] with tax cuts.”

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Connecticut

Hartford community grieves men killed in police shootings

Published

3 hours ago

March 5, 2026

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Hartford community grieves men killed in police shootings

The Hartford community is grappling with two police shootings that happened within eight days of each other. Both started off as mental health calls about someone in distress.

People came together to remember one of the men killed at a vigil on Wednesday evening.

With hands joined, a prayer for peace and comfort was spoken for the family of Everard Walker. He was having a mental health crisis when a family member called 211 on Feb.19.

Two mental health professionals from the state-operated Capitol Regional Mental Health Center requested Hartford police come with them to Walker’s apartment on Capitol Avenue.

A scuffle ensued, and police said it looked like Walker was going to stab an officer. The brief fight ended with an officer shooting and killing Walker.

The family is planning to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the city.

“All I will have now is a tombstone and the voicemails he left on my phone that I listen over and over again at night just so I can fall asleep,” Menan Walker, one of Walker’s daughters, said.

City councilman Josh Michtom (WF) is asking whether police could have acted differently.

“To me, the really concerning thing is why the police were there at all, why they went into that apartment in the way that they did, in the numbers that they did,” he said.

The president of Hartford’s police union, James Rutkauski, asked the community to hold their judgment and wait for a full investigation by the Inspector General’s office to be completed.

A different tone was taken in a statement released about another police shooting on Blue Hills Avenue on Feb. 27.

Rutkauski said the union fully supports the officer who fired at 55-year-old Steven Jones, who was holding a knife during a mental health crisis.

In part, the union’s statement says that Jones “deliberately advanced on the officer in a manner that created an immediate threat of death or serious bodily injury. This was a 100% justified use of deadly force.”

The Inspector General’s office will determine if the officer was justified following an investigation.

The officer who shot Jones was the fourth to arrive on the scene. Three others tried to get him to drop the knife, even using a taser, before the shooting.

“It just feels like beyond the conduct of any one officer, we have this problem, which is that we send cops for every problem,” Michtom said. “I don’t know how you can de-escalate at the point of a gun.”

Jones died from his injuries on Tuesday.

The union’s statement went on to say that officers should not be society’s default for mental health professionals. The statement said in part, “We ask for renewed commitment from our legislators to remove police from being the vanguard of what should be a mental health professional response.”

The officers involved in both shootings are on administrative leave.

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Connecticut

Connecticut Launches New Era for Community Hospital Care – UConn Today

Published

15 hours ago

March 4, 2026

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Connecticut Launches New Era for Community Hospital Care – UConn Today

Marked by a ceremonial ribbon cutting and attended by Governor Ned Lamont, state legislators, Waterbury officials, and community leaders, UConn Health celebrated the acquisition of Waterbury Hospital which as of today is now the UConn Health Waterbury Hospital.

“This is a defining moment for healthcare in Connecticut,” said Dr. Andrew Agwunobi, CEO of UConn Health Community Network. “We now have the opportunity to take the award -winning academic quality and service of UConn Health and share it with the wonderful employees, doctors and community of Waterbury.”

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont described the initiative as a forward-looking investment in the future of healthcare access across Connecticut.

“Connecticut is leading with innovation,” said Connecticut Governor Lamont. “The UConn Health Community Network reflects a proactive approach to strengthening community-based care by connecting it directly to the capabilities of our state’s public academic medical center. What begins in Waterbury today, represents a new model designed to expand opportunity, access, and excellence for communities statewide.”

In addition to UConn Health Waterbury Hospital, the Network includes UConn Health Community Network Medical Group and UConn Health Waterbury Health at Home. The model preserves each member’s local identity and will grow thoughtfully over time to improve quality, expand access, and reduce the total cost of care.

“This reflects a bold step forward in how we think about healthcare in Connecticut,” said John Driscoll, Chair of the UConn Health Board of Directors. “Today we celebrate the beginning of a new approach to community-based care. We move forward with clarity of purpose and shared commitment to serve our communities better together.”

Comptroller Sean Scanlon highlighted the significance of the model for the long-term evolution of healthcare delivery in Connecticut.

“This partnership represents thoughtful leadership at a pivotal time for healthcare,” said Connecticut Comptroller Sean Scanlon. “By aligning community hospitals with academic medicine, Connecticut is building a modern framework that positions our healthcare system to meet the needs of patients today and into the future.”

“Hosting this celebration on our campus is deeply meaningful for our staff, physicians and the families we serve,” said Deborah Weymouth, President of UConn Health Waterbury Hospital. “Waterbury’s legacy of care continues, and we are tremendously proud to have a strong partner who is deeply committed to our community and help lead this next chapter for healthcare.”

Welcome UConn Health Waterbury Hospital!

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Connecticut

Multiple cars involved in crash on I-84 in Hartford

Published

1 day ago

March 4, 2026

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Multiple cars involved in crash on I-84 in Hartford

A multi-vehicle crash temporarily close Interstate 84 on Tuesday night.

The crash happened around 8:30 p.m. and involved four cars, according to the Hartford Fire Department.

Fire crews arrived at the scene and helped one of the drivers who was trapped. The driver was then taken to a local hospital for evaluation and treatment.

Four other people reported minor injuries but declined ambulance treatment at the scene, officials said.

I-84 East was temporarily shut down as crews responded but has since reopened.

The Connecticut State Police is investigating the crash.

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