RTC on state budget

The following letter was sent from the Cheshire Republican Town Committee Chairman, Steve Carroll, to Governor Jodi Rell.

Dear Governor Rell:

At the request of the membership of the Cheshire Republican Town Committee (CRTC), and with the unanimous approval of all CRTC members in attendance at it's most recent meeting on Feb. 22, 2007, the CRTC urges you in the strongest terms to reconsider your proposed budget, including your proposal to increase the state income tax by 10%. Our state is already one of the most heavily taxed states in the nation. An increase to the state income tax will further erode Connecticut 's image as a state that is already too expensive to live in and too expensive to do business in.

We understand your objective is to strengthen public education; it is a worthy one. However, we believe that your approach is fundamentally flawed and will do nothing to improve public education. Rather, it will only exacerbate the situation further. There is ample, objective information available that clearly indicates that our educational problems cannot be solved simply by throwing more money at those failing school systems.

Finally, we believe that your approach is directly contrary to fundamental principles of our party: controlling spending, minimizing taxes and reducing long-term debt. The Republican Party is known to stand for these values. We understand the difficulties of having to work with a super majority in our Democrat controlled state legislature, and the need to compromise, but we urge you to not abandon those basic principles that have defined the Republican Party for so long and have been the trademark of Republican leadership.

We therefore ask you to reconsider the potential consequences of a higher income tax and further ask that you address the state's budget difficulties by controlling and reducing spending, and by reforming out-dated state policies, such as binding arbitration and prevailing wage, in such a way that best serves all Connecticut residents.

Respectfully,
Steve Carroll, Chairman
Cheshire Republican Town Committee