Lamont paints self into a fiscal corner

Democratic nominee rules out most options to close budget deficit

Ned Lamont has spent months beating back accusations from his Republican rival that he would order a massive state tax hike if elected.

But as the Democratic gubernatorial nominee has built his defense, he also has painted himself into a fiscal corner, ruling out most options available to close a major post-election deficit in state finances.

A quick run-down of what Lamont has said:

He has pledged throughout the campaign to prioritize municipal aid and higher education.

He has said definitively that he would not raise either the income or sales tax rates.

He has ruled out tapping emergency reserves that hold $1.2 billion now, and could be worth nearly $2 billion next summer.

He has pledged to cut income tax burdens on low- and middle-income households by bolstering the property tax credit, phased in over his first three years in office, that eventually would cost the state an estimated $400 million a year.

And when it comes to the final remaining major option — another round of concessions from unionized state employees — Lamont said he hopes to find major savings only through “win-win” reforms that wouldn’t freeze pay or reduce benefits.

All of these promises raise one overriding question: How would Lamont balance the first two-year state budget after the election?

State finances, unless adjusted, are slated to run $2 billion or 10.5 percent in deficit in the first year, according to the legislature’s nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis. OFA recently downgraded slightly the projected shortfall for the second year, but it still stands at more than $2.4 billion, or 12 percent.

And state finances continue to trend into the red for another two years after that.

Lamont seems to have no solution for how to deal with this problem.

“We’re going to hold the line on the income tax ... not going to raise rates on the sales tax,” Lamont told WFSB-TV 3’s Dennis House during an appearance last week on “Face The State,” a Sunday morning political affairs program.

Those comments echo a similar pledge Lamont made last week at The Bushnell in Hartford during a candidates’ forum held by the Connecticut Retail Merchants Association.

Together those taxes raise almost $14 billion per year and pay for nearly three-quarters of the General Fund.

Although Republican gubernatorial nominee Bob Stefanowski has charged repeatedly that Lamont would order major tax hikes if elected to balance Connecticut’s books, Lamont says he would consider only small revenue hikes, possibly through a fee on sports betting, or by repealing some of the existing sales tax exemptions.

Unlike Lamont, both Stefanowski and independent gubernatorial candidate Oz Griebel have left open the prospect of tapping reserves — commonly known as the rainy day fund — to whittle down those projected shortfalls.