‘Jewish life is under great pressure here’
Increase in Connecticut anti-Semitic incidents addressed at Holocaust Remembrance Day service
DANBURY — Rabbi Stefan Tiwy stood before 60 or so people at the United Jewish Center on Wednesday evening — the start of Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Yom HaShoah — and led a prayer for the 6 million Jews killed.
Relatives of those killed at concentration camps came up single file and lit one of the six candles at the front of the synagogue, with some mentioning a name and concentration camp.
The last candle was lit for those who don’t have anyone to light a candle for them and all those killed.
“As we remember, it’s very important we look forward,” Tiwy said.
Several people who spoke during the program said it was important to remember what happened so they can be vigilant and prevent these atrocities from happening again. The event took place a day after the release of the AntiDefamation League’s annual anti-Semitism audit.
That report noted that number of anti-Semitic incidents is down for 2018, though still much higher than it was five years ago and still considered at an “historic level.”
“Jewish life is under great pressure here,” said Cathryn Prince, a journal
around 60,000 in tax savings from the Trump federal tax cut. I did talk to the governor about that. We want to restore that tax savings back into Connecticut.”
The letter proposes raising the top income tax bracket — couples making $1 million or more a year — from
6.99 percent to 8.9 percent and the second highest tax bracket — couples making
$500,000 or more — from 6.9 percent to 7.9 percent. This
would raise $874 million in annual state revenue, the letter states.
The letter is similar to a
2017 message to former Gov. Dannel P. Malloy calling for a tax increase for the top 5 percent of state earners and spending cuts. That letter was orchestrated by Responsible Wealth, a progressive group that was also behind a letter from 400 millionaires and billionaires asking Republicans in Congress not to cut their taxes in
2017.
The new Connecticut letter was signed by Robert
Nixon, of Norwalk; Courtney Bourns, of West Hartford; Rachel Garron, of West Hartford; Scott Schoem, of West Hartford; David Topitzer, of Tolland; Frank and Shannon Demarest, of Higganum, and David Bingham, of Salem. Most of these people also signed the 2017 letter to Malloy.
“It’s just basically a matter of fairness in Connecticut tax policy,” said Nixon, a 60-year-old self-employed writer and consultant. He grew up in Fairfield County and inherited some money from his family. He’d like to
see more tax dollars invested in transportation, the environment and higher education, he said.
“All the hedge fund community here don’t get asked to contribute enough,” he said.
Vander Klay is collecting more signatures from supporters before sending the letter to Lamont and the General Assembly next week, he said.
“Things aren’t final with the letter,” he said.