Connecticut
Pandemic put tax burden on CT’s poorest, report shows
Connecticut’s already regressive tax system swung even more sharply onto the backs of its poorest residents during the coronavirus pandemic’s first year, according to a new fairness study from Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration.
The lowest-earning 10% 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, according to the tax incidence analysis released Thursday by the Department of Revenue Services.
The 39.9% state and municipal tax rate effectively paid by the poorest 10% also is up dramatically from the nearly 26% rate assigned to that same group by a 2022 DRS tax fairness study, which analyzed data from 2019.
Meanwhile, taxpayers in the two middle groups paid 13% and 11.5%, respectively, of their income to cover tax burdens in 2020, up from 9.2% and 8.6% in 2019.
“This latest study just confirms what people in Connecticut have been feeling in their wallets for the last several years — a dangerous combination of historic inflation, an upside-down tax system and an extreme disinvestment in critical public services and infrastructure,” said Norma Martinez-HoSang, director of Connecticut For All, a coalition of more than 80 labor, faith and civic organizations that has advocated for higher tax rates on wealthy households and corporations to finance relief for low- and middle-income families.
The study breaks Connecticut’s earners into deciles, or groups that earned 10% of all statewide income.
For example, it took the poorest 883,552 tax filers to earn about $19.3 billion, which was 10% of all statewide earnings in 2020. This the group that paid almost 40% of its income to state and municipal tax burdens.
Unlike in past reports, the administration did not include a projected income range for the households in this group. But dividing $19.3 billion by 883,552 filers yields a rough average income of slightly more than $21,843 per year.
The second decile includes the next-highest earners, another 316,630 filers, who also made $19.3 billion. Their effective tax rate was 19.8%, and their average income was $60,960.
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The highest decile, the top 10%, involves 478 filers that earned $19.3 billion. This is the group that paid 7.3%, or less than one-fifth the rate of the poorest decile, and earned an average of $40.3 million.
Roughly two-thirds of all revenues generated by state and local government combined in 2020 came from property, sales and other taxes that largely are regressive in nature, the study found.
A regressive tax does not adjust rates based on a household or business’s earnings or wealth. A progressive levy, such as the state income tax, features multiple rates that collect more as the filer’s income increases.
A second problem with regressive taxes is that responsibility for the bill can more easily be shifted, something that’s particularly burdensome for poor households, the study found.
For example, renters effectively pay some or all their landlords’ property taxes. Gasoline distributors shift wholesale fuel tax burdens onto service stations, which pass the full cost on to motorists.
As a supplement, the report also covered a second methodology that relies upon only half of the tax burden shifts that the primary section of the report assumes. But even under this scaled back version, the lowest earning 10% of filers pay an effective rate of almost 33%, while the richest 10% pay 7.3% and the statewide average is 13.4%.
Lamont, a Greenwich businessman and fiscally moderate Democrat who says higher tax rates would prompt Connecticut’s wealthy to flee the state, said through a spokeswoman that his administration has been and continues to work to make the state’s overall tax system more progressive.
“Gov. Lamont is strongly committed to making our tax structure more progressive so that all Connecticut residents have an opportunity to succeed here,” spokeswoman Julia Bergman said. “That’s why, in recent years, the governor and the legislature have cut taxes for working families, boosted the Earned Income Tax Credit and expanded exemptions on certain pension and annuity earnings to benefit seniors.”
Bergman was referencing a series of tax changes enacted last year that represented the single-largest state income tax cut in Connecticut history, a package expected to save low- and middle-income families $200 to $400 each next fiscal year, more than $415 million in total.
Lamont and legislators also enacted a broad package of tax cuts in 2022 that included temporary relief, such as a 13-month gasoline tax holiday and an income tax rebate for households with children. But it also expanded a state income tax credit that offsets a portion of municipal property tax burdens and reduced the statewide property tax cap on motor vehicles from 45 mills to 32.46 mills. (One mill generates $1 of tax revenue for every $1,000 of assessed property value.)
Because tax fairness studies routinely lag several years of tax data, the recent relief Lamont approved is not included in the latest analysis.
“There’s definitely value in looking at this [study], but also I think the next set of studies will really tell the tale in terms of the progressivity that’s been implemented by this governor,” said Department of Revenue Services Commissioner Mark Boughton.
But critics counter that Connecticut’s tax system has overburdened the poor and middle class for decades, and recent relief won’t reverse an overall trend toward worsening inequity. They say economic damage caused by the pandemic continues even now, while the 40-year high in national inflation reached in mid-2022 also set Connecticut families back.
“We expect Gov. Lamont to respond with a reminder of recent tax cuts, which will have little impact on our state’s extreme economic inequities,” Martinez-HoSang said, adding that an income tax surcharge on the capital gains earnings of Connecticut’s wealthiest families could create significant economic change.
Connecticut Voices for Children, a progressive, New Haven-based policy think-tank, renewed its call Thursday for a new state income tax credit for low- and middle-income filers with children. It argues this credit could channel $300 million annually to assist about 80,000 kids.
Connecticut Voices’ executive director, Emily Byrne, said her group has just begun its review of the latest tax fairness report but said the overall problem the General Assembly faces is clear.
“The report not only reaffirms that our state’s tax system is regressive, but it also reaffirms why this report is so important,” she said, “because it allows the legislature to make informed decisions. … It’s also clear that more families need help.”
The Yankee Institute, a conservative fiscal policy group in Hartford, had just begun its review of the tax study late Friday. But spokesman Bryce Chinault said, “This report demonstrates why the recent income tax reforms were so important to Connecticut residents, and why the fiscal guardrails are vital to building upon that success.”
Those “guardrails” are a reference to caps on spending and borrowing and other savings programs that have helped reduce state debt by billions of dollars since 2020, which advocates say enables state government to channel more resources to cities and towns.
Members of the legislature’s tax-writing Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee received the report Thursday morning, and leaders said the 77-page analysis would get close attention in the coming weeks.
But both Sen. John Fonfara, D-Hartford, who co-chairs the panel, and Rep. Holly Cheeseman of East Lyme, ranking House Republican on finance, said it’s clear Connecticut must find a way to ease property tax burdens.
The property tax generated nearly $12 billion in revenue in 2020, more than any other state or municipal tax did, and represented 38% of all tax revenue raised in Connecticut that year.
Fonfara pushed two years ago to boost rates on Connecticut’s richest families and on large corporations and set up a new fund to support economic development and other services in the state’s poorest cities. It was blocked by Lamont and other fiscal moderates and conservatives.
House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, brokered a compromise that abandoned the tax hikes but authorized $175 million in annual bonding for urban investment that began in the 2022-23 fiscal year and runs through 2026-27.
The property tax “punishes those who have the least income,” Fonfara said Thursday, adding that the high mill rates in Connecticut’s urban centers make it very hard to attract commercial and industrial development. “It pits one town against another.”
Connecticut
Connecticut house of horrors stepmom denies child abuse accusations that came as ‘extreme shock’: attorney
The attorney for Kimberly Sullivan, the Waterbury, Connecticut woman facing a litany of charges for allegedly abusing her stepson for 20 years, denied that his client is responsible for any abuse in an interview with Fox News Digital.
Referring to bodycam footage released by the Waterbury Police Department last week, Ioannis Kaloidis said he completely disagrees with how his client has been portrayed.
“I have seen the photos, I have seen the videos,” Kaloidis said. “I disagree with the characterization of those photos and videos. They’ve been made out to be the worst that anyone has seen in 20 years. I do not see that as the case.
“Her face has been plastered all over the TV, the news, the internet, social media. Her life has been turned upside down. She has a giant target on her back. She has essentially become public enemy number one. It is a tremendous weight that she is carrying. It is a tremendous upheaval to her entire life.”
BODYCAM IN CONNECTICUT HOUSE OF HORRORS SHOWS SUSPECT AFTER STEPSON’S FIERY ESCAPE
This image provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows the home where a Connecticut man told authorities his stepmother held him captive for two decades since he was a boy. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)
Kimberly Sullivan allegedly imprisoned her stepson in this home. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)
The allegations came to light after authorities responded to a house fire in Waterbury on Feb. 17.
Inside the home, they said they found a 32-year-old man in an emaciated state, later identified as Sullivan’s stepson. He said he intentionally set the fire because he wanted his freedom.
WATCH: Police question Kimberly Sullivan at scene of fire
“This has been an extreme shock to her,” Kaloidis told Fox News Digita. “She lived a relatively quiet life.”
“Her side of the story is quite simple,” he added. “She did not harm him, she did not restain him, she did not imprison him.”
Kimberly Sullivan was arrested after allegedly abusing her stepson in their Waterbury, Connecticut home. (Jim Shannon/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP)
‘MALNOURISHED MAN HELD CAPTIVE BY STEPMOM FOR DECADES SET FIRE TO HOME TO ESCAPE: ’I WANTED MY FREEDOM’
According to an arrest warrant for Sullivan, her stepson, identified as “Male Victim 1,” said he was held in a windowless 8-foot by 9-foot storage closet with no air conditioning or heat and without access to a bathroom for 20 years. He was allegedly kept inside the closet 22-24 hours per day.
The man told police he was allowed two sandwiches and two small water bottles each day, one of which he would use for bathing. He said he disposed of his waste using water bottles and newspaper. The man weighed less than 70 pounds when first responders found him after the fire.
After an investigation, Sullivan was arrested on March 12 and charged with first-degree assault, second-degree kidnapping, first-degree unlawful restraint, cruelty to persons and first-degree reckless endangerment.
Kimberly Sullivan is taken into custody by the Waterbury Police Department on March 12. (Waterbury Police Department)
Kimberly Sullivan stands next to her attorney Jason Spilka during a bond hearing Thursday, March 13, 2025 at Waterbury Superior Court. (Jim Shannon/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP, Pool)
She has been released from jail on $300,000 bond.
While Kaloidis conceded that he does not know what happened inside the home at all times during the past 20 years, he said that Sullivan denies imprisoning her stepson.
This photo provided by the Waterbury Police Department shows Kimberly Sullivan who was charged Wednesday, March 12, 2025, with kidnapping and cruelty for allegedly holding her 32-year-old stepson captive for more than 20 years. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)
“She recognizes that given these allegations, the rest of her life is on the line,” he said. “She’s hopeful that through the process she will be vindicated.”
MAN DESCRIBES SHOCKING LIVING CONDITIONS HE ENDURED DURING 20-YEAR HOME CAPTIVITY: ‘UNIMAGINABLE’
Kimberly Sullivan’s stepson told police he had to use water bottles to bathe and dispose of his waste. (Waterbury Police Department via AP)
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“I can tell you that the allegations were that this individual claims to have been imprisoned in that home up until the day of the fire,” Kaloidis said. “And my client adamantly denies that there was any imprisonment. As for the whole history, there’s a lot that I anticipate will come out over the course of the trial, hopefully, because I think that’s the appropriate place for the release of any additional information.”
“From my viewpoint, this is a positive development both for the state and the cannabis industry in Connecticut.”
The Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection is removing oversight and enforcement of the marijuana industry from the agency’s Drug Control Division less than a month after state officials apologized for what appeared to be a retaliatory inspection at a cannabis cultivation facility.
The licensing, regulatory and inspection functions for the industry will be shifted to a separate division within the Department of Consumer Protection (DCP), the agency announced on Wednesday. Lila McKinley, a DCP attorney who has been involved in developing the regulations for Connecticut’s adult-use cannabis market, will lead that new arm of the agency.
The regulatory shift was being developed before state officials were forced to apologize for the inspection incident at cultivation facility in Portland, but its implementation was accelerated as a result, a department spokesperson said.
DCP officials sent an email to all of the licensed cannabis operators in the state Wednesday morning informing them of the creation of the new regulatory office, which oversee both medical and recreational marijuana.
“For nearly a year, we have contemplated organizational changes that would allow for more specialized attention to your complex and growing industry,” the message to license holders said. “This change reflects your evolving industry as we are restructuring to better meet your regulatory needs.”
Bryan Cafferelli, the commissioner of consumer protection, said the way the state previously regulated the cannabis industry made sense when dispensaries were limited to selling medical marijuana. But he said the oversight functions needed to change now that Connecticut companies are selling tens of millions of dollars in recreational weed every month.
“Restructuring the Drug Control Division has been in the works for nearly a year, as we contemplated the best way to meet the growing needs and complexities of the cannabis industry while ensuring continued success in our regulation of the pharmaceutical industry in Connecticut,” Cafferelli said in a statement.
“Our agency is adapting to meet the needs of both industries and protect public health and safety,” he added.
Rep. Roland J. Lemar (D), the co-chair of the General Law Committee, said he welcomes the reorganization under McKinley, who has worked at DCP for more than a decade and most recently served as the legal program director for the Drug Control Division.
“From my viewpoint, this is a positive development both for the state and the cannabis industry in Connecticut. I think she has a great relationship with the industry. She knows it well as an attorney who has worked through a number of issues over the past few years,” Lemar said.
Rodrick J. Marriott, a pharmacist by training, will remain as director of DCP’s Drug Control Division, which will continue to regulate pharmacies and controlled-substance providers and manufacturers.
It was under Marriott’s leadership that state inspectors from the Drug Control Division conducted the unannounced visit at a cultivation facility owned by Affinity Grow last month.
DCP officials have declined to say who ordered that inspection, which took place a day after Rino Ferrarese, Affinity Grow’s chief executive, criticized the state’s testing protocols for recreational marijuana during a legislative hearing.
Cafferelli, the DCP commissioner, apologized for the incident the following day and made no attempt to suggest there was a legitimate reason for what he called an “unannounced compliance check.”
Some cannabis business owners in the state said they were not aware prior to Wednesday that DCP intended to shift regulatory oversight for their industry to a new division. But they believed the move would be positive for the state and their businesses.
Ben Zachs, an executive with Fine Fettle, which operates multiple dispensaries in the state, said shifting oversight to a division devoted solely to cannabis is a sign of the industry growing and maturing in Connecticut.
The number of cannabis companies in operation in Connecticut continues to grow, Zachs said, and the rate of that growth requires more focus on the part of state regulators.
“I think it’s good that cannabis will be treated as its own department,” he added. “The scale needs a different focus and prioritization.”
Zachs was complimentary of DCP’s management of the industry in past years, and he said he looks forward to working with McKinley, who he said is familiar to everyone in the state’s growing cannabis industry.
“We’ve worked with Lila for years now. I’ve always found her to be thoughtful and open-minded,” Zachs said.
Adam Wood, the founder of the Connecticut Cannabis Chamber of Commerce, also spoke highly of McKinley, who has represented the state within the Cannabis Regulators Association, a body made up of state agencies that oversee recreational marijuana markets.
“Lila is extremely well qualified and very knowledgeable here in Connecticut and beyond our borders,” he said.
Wood said shifting licensing and inspection to a dedicated cannabis office is taking place at an opportune time as companies continue to stand up new dispensaries and grow facilities.
“There is a lot of cultivation and new manufacturing just coming online,” Wood said.
This article first appeared on CT Mirror and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Connecticut’s Social Equity Marijuana Licensees Seek Permission To Sell Their Businesses Sooner
Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.
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