State budget protest
Hundreds rally in Hartford to demand a more equitable budget.
HARTFORD — Fellow Democrats angry at Gov. Ned Lamont’s spending priorities brought their complaints to his front door Saturday as a few hundred teachers, health care employees, social workers and others massed at the Governor’s Residence in Hartford demanding a shift in the state’s budget priorities.
Activists picketed, staged a “die-in” and waved union banners and the American flag as they packed a portion of Prospect Avenue — closed and guarded by Hartford police — to urge more state spending to reverse racial and income disparities they say were exposed by the coronavirus pandemic. In the well-tended neighborhood of large houses behind gates, protesters called for higher taxes on the rich to fund more spending on education, health care and housing.
“We’re ... the most economically unequal and racially segregated,” said Puya Gerami, campaign director for Recovery
For All, a network of community organizations, faith groups and labor unions, told the crowd. “And today all the crises over the last year are bringing this truth to light for everybody to see.”
A spokesman did not immediately respond when asked if Lamont was at the governor’s residence during the protest.
Rep. Edwin Vargas, D-Hartford, said the rally was organized by a coalition seeking a “budget that addresses the problems communities are facing after COVID-19.”
He’s siding with Sen. John Fonfara, an East Hartford Democratandco-chairofthelegislature’s finance committee that crafted a package of tax increases intended to raise millions of dollars. Democrats on the left of their party say the increased revenue is needed to address racial inequality and disparities in wealth.
“Fonfara much better addresses the issues (for) people who are out there hurting,” Vargas said.
The proposal advanced by the finance committee last month would impose a 2% surcharge on capital gains realized from the sale or exchange of capital assets for taxpayers. The tax would apply to Connecticut taxable income greater than $500,000 for single tax filers and married individuals filing separately, $800,000 for heads of households and $1 million for married joint filers and surviving spouses
A separate tax would be imposed on state residents with federal adjusted gross incomes of at least $500,000. The tax rate ranges from 0.7% for taxpayers with federal adjusted gross incomes of between $500,000 and $2 million to 1.5% for taxpayers
with adjusted gross incomes of $13 million or more.
Despite their energy at the Governor’s Residence, activists face a steep climb to enact their tax and spending priorities into law.
Lamont, a Greenwich businessman before entering statewide politics, is not in the ranks of his party’s left wing who taped to the gates of the Governor’s Residence photos of multimillionaires and billionaires to display Connecticut’s wealth disparities.
The governor has insisted he will not back what he calls “broad-based tax increases.” He’s not entirely averse to raising revenue: He endorses a $50 million tax on insurance companies to fund subsidized access to the Connecticut health insurance marketplace and is urging lawmakers to adopt a proposal cutting carbon emissions from vehicles that opponents say will lead to higher prices at the pump.
Republicans, moderate Democrats and businesses also are arrayed against higher taxes and more expansive spending. Chris DiPentima, president of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, on Friday called the legislative alternatives to Lamont’s budget “billion-dollar-plus tax hikes and spending gimmicks.”
Liberals, however, say the pandemic has put tremendous stress on health care and education and insist the state must invest heavily to repair the damage.
“We’ve had a deep awakening,” Suzanne Clark, secretary-treasurer of SEIU 1199, which represents health care workers, said at the rally.