New taxes unveiled

Gov. Malloy has just released details of the new tax plan which, as fully expected, includes many tax increases.

The theme seems to be "shared sacrifice", something that hasn't been addressed by previous GOP administrations. Rather than show any leadership, Gov. Rell simply punted the issue to the next governor. Gov. Malloy is willing to take charge and do what's necessary to fix the problem.

This video from the Courant/Fox CT explains some of the broad points. Note that even if all the increases are passed, Malloy will still need to cut government and get state employees to agree to givebacks in order to balance the budget.

 

GOP Chairman Chris Healy's remarks shows a complete lack of reality when addressing the budget crisis. He obviously wants to score political points without offering any realistic solutions. We all knew this was going to be a brutal process, and we encourage the Republicans to come up with helpful suggestions. Unfortunately, we can't meet the massive budget simply by cutting government, despite Healy's wishes.

Shared sacrifice will be required to see all of us through this crisis. The means we all have to do our part.