FACT CHECK: Gov. Lamont’s Historic Tax Cuts Help CT Families
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 1, 2022
CONTACT
Jake Lewis
[email protected]
Hartford, CT – While Bob Stefanowski continues to distort Governor Lamont’s record on taxes, here are the facts:
Governor Lamont is the first Governor in 30 years not to increase the income tax rate. [Connecticut Office of Legislative Research, 6/14/18]
Signed the largest tax cut in state history, providing $660 million in relief. [Republican American, 5/9/22]
Budget boosts the state’s EITC, providing an additional $42 million in total relief or roughly an extra $300 each to about 185,000 working poor households earning less than $58,000. [CT Mirror, 4/27/22]
Expanded the property tax credit from $200 to $300, providing nearly $125 million in income tax cuts for the middle class. [CT Mirror, 4/27/22]
Extending the tax holiday on the 25 cents-per-gallon gas tax through December 2022, which is projected to total $150 million in savings. [CT Mirror, 4/27/22]
Increased the child tax rebate up to $250 per child, up to three children under the age of 17. [CT Mirror, 4/27/22]
Tax cuts for car owners in roughly 75 cities and towns across the state, providing an estimated $100 million in relief. [CT Mirror, 4/27/22]
Phasing out the state income tax on pensions and 401(k) withdrawals for senior citizens, saving filers an extra $40 million in relief per year beginning in FY 2023. [CT Mirror, 4/27/22]
As one reporter put it “Claims that Lamont raised state taxes by $2 billion, or anything close to that, are just plain wrong.” [CT Insider, Dan Haar Column, 9/24/22]
In 2019 budget, seniors received a tax cut through expanded income tax exemptions for Social Security and pension earnings. [2021-22 Connecticut State Budget]
WSJ Editorial Board praised Gov. Lamont’s record hosing down tax increases, saying in 2021 “Connecticut’s budget surplus this year is projected to be $470 million. Its rainy-day fund will hit an all-time high of $4.5 billion. Federal coronavirus relief is bringing $6 billion into the state. So the Legislature, naturally, is proposing to raise taxes. Give Gov. Ned Lamont credit for saying no.” [Wall Street Journal Editorial Board, 5/23/21]
In 2021 – Gov. Lamont expanded ETIC, providing a boost to nearly 200,000 Connecticut families. [CT News Junkie, 6/23/21; Office of Governor Ned Lamont, Press Release, 6/23/21]
Gov. Lamont and the legislature “spared Connecticut businesses” from a tax hike making hundreds of millions of dollars to help bolster the unemployment fund. [CT Mirror, 8/29/22]
Gov Lamont’s first budget in 2019 closed a $3.7 billion deficit, ending a decade-long cycle of deficits and allowed the state to refinance the state’s debt at one of the lowest relative interest rates the state had seen in years, saving taxpayers more than $42 million. [Middletown Press, 6/4/19; Office of Governor Ned Lamont, Press Release, 7/26/19]
Record pension payments of more than $3 billion “will save taxpayers $500 million a year for the next 25 years — in effect, a tax cut.” [CT Post, COLUMN Haar, 9/24/22]
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