Saturday, September 5, 2009

Budget Victory!! The Millionaires Tax

After a long and hard fought fight over the state budget the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate, and a labor-community coalition, came away with an important victory. They passed a millionaires tax over Governor Rell's objection. Connecticut was one of only two states without a budget until it was recently passed.

Governor Rell, a Republican, adamantly refused to tax the wealth in Connecticut even though our state is one of the richest states in America. She chose to attack state services, children's services, people with disabilities, education and health care. Even after the state workers gave up almost 800 million dollars in concessions she still refused to tax the rich.

While Governor Rell's cuts will cause untold pain for working people and vulnerable groups in Connecticut, the millionaires tax is one very important victory. It establishes the precedent that the rich should pay their fair share of taxes and somewhat reduces the impact of Rell's cuts.

You can see examples of the peoples fight back in blog entry Aug. 25th and July 10th below.

By Tom Connolly

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