Malloy's Budget. Soak the Poor

We are constantly surprised Democrats are perceived as the party of the working class (whatever that means) and sympathetic to the poor, when their policies work against those groups. For instance, minimum wage laws hurt the less educated, less experienced, mostly black underclass. Yet the Democrats continue to point to this program as a success. Ask yourself, Who is supposed to be helped by minimum wage laws? Answer: Those at the low end of the skills and experience spectrum. And ask yourself: since the minimum wage law has been enacted, has unemployment gone up or down for the low end of the skills and experience spectrum. Answer: Up, Way Up. The reason is obvious. If you raise the price of something, demand falls. The unanswered question is, Since minimum wage laws hurts those it purportedly helps, why do we keep these laws on the books? But we digress.

Governor Malloy's budget is a study in hurting the less well-off. Let's start with the hidden taxes. Increased sales tax, higher taxes on beer, wine, liquor, cigarettes and our favorites, electricity, gasoline and heating oil. Since all of these items are a greater percentage of the disposable income of the poor and middle class, it takes a bigger bite of their resources. But the budget also calls for more taxes on luxury goods like yachts, clothing and jewelry. The latter two are easy to avoid, and in our opinion, will be avoided aggressively. The yacht tax will merely result in Senator Kerry behavior, buying and berthing a yacht elsewhere, like, Rhode Island. This will hurt the workers in the boating and yachting industries. For a good example of the impact a luxury tax has, look at the Clinton era taxes and the job destruction that ensued. The rich will still buy and berth a yacht; just not in Connecticut.

Income taxes go up as well. Go find the Connecticut FY 2012 – FY 2012 Biennium Governor’s Budget Summary. On page 32 of the Introduction there is a table showing, the impact of the "income tax changes on selected levels of adjusted gross income for single and joint filers." We've reproduced the first three columns, and added a percent increase in the tax bite. We've started at an AGI of $50,000. Below that level the 2010 income tax was zero and in the proposed 2011 budget, income earned below $50,000 "may" be eligible for the earned income tax credit.

For Joint Filers			Proposed
		2010	2011	Percent
	CT AGI	Income Tax	Income Tax	Increase
	$           50,000	$             350	$             850	143%
	$           60,000	$          1,300	$          1,800	38%
	$           70,000	$          2,200	$          2,700	23%
	$           80,000	$          2,740	$          3,240	18%
	$           90,000	$          3,190	$          3,690	16%
	$         100,000	$          4,008	$          4,508	12%
	$         125,000	$          5,500	$          6,095	11%
	$         150,000	$          6,850	$          7,550	10%
	$         200,000	$          9,600	$        10,500	9%
	$         250,000	$        12,100	$        13,375	11%
	$         500,000	$        24,600	$        28,000	14%
	$      1,000,000	$        49,600	$        59,500	20%
	$      2,000,000	$      114,600	$      126,500	10%

Remember, these aren't our numbers, they are straight from the Governor's proposal. Taxes are set to go up about 10% for those with income over $125,000. For the less well off taxes are set to increase much more.

So the next time you think the Democrats are the friends of the middle class, ask yourself why their polices are so regressive.

Commuters paying for decades of neglect. Town next?

Anyone who commutes to NYC has noticed the dramatic change in service quality the past thirty days. No surprise this is attributed to the snow and cold we have been subject to. From a letter Howard Permut President of MTA Metro-North Railroad posted on the Metro North web site: http://www.mta.info/news/stories/?story=186

The extreme winter weather’s repeated pummeling of the region has had a devastating impact on our New Haven Line.

Significant car shortages due to record-breaking amounts of snow and extreme cold have forced us to operate all our trains with fewer than scheduled cars. We have also had to cancel trains which exacerbate the problem and reduce the reliability of your commute.


The situation is dire. On a daily basis, there are close to 150 (40%) cars out of service on the New Haven Line. Our employees are working around-the-clock to get damaged equipment back into service. However, with each new weather event, more weather-damaged cars arrive in our shops in need of repair. The service we have been providing has been far less than what you have come to expect from us and we strive to provide you. It is time for us to take additional steps to improve our reliability.
The problems with our fleet created by its age—almost 70 percent of our electric fleet is over 40 years old—and the unprecedented winter weather are numerous. The cars were designed in a manner that made key components extremely vulnerable to snow. These components include: 

• Traction motors, which must be repaired or replaced – a job that routinely takes six or more hours to complete.
• Brakes, which freeze and get stuck from the extreme cold.
• Doors, which won’t close properly because the snow and ice that gets inside the door pockets prevents them from opening or closing on command.

 And why are commuters on the New Haven line suffering much greater service degradation than commuters on the Hudson and Harlem River lines as well as the Long Island Rail Road? Simple. For years the Connecticut state legislature has used the funds "allocated" for the New Haven line for other items. As Bob Duff put it, the money has been "swept" to the general fund.

We think a similar scenario is playing out in Darien. For years the Board of Ed has refused to rein in its budget. This puts pressure on the town budget. But the math is difficult. Education consumes almost 75% of town spending. When 75% of the budget grows 4% to 5% per year and the goal is to keep total spending closer to inflation, about 2% a year, the result is tremendous pressure on the 25% of town spending controlled by the Board of Selectman.

In a few years will we look at our beaches and police and fire infrastructure and wonder why nothing works like it should? If we do, we only have ourselves to blame and our myopia and unwillingness to restrain the Board of Ed.