[East of the River]

AS has been said on here before no good solutions at this point. Massive layoffs and cuts to services are about the only way they can fix things. Raising the sales tax above 7% forces people to shop across the border so that's a no go, Tolls would take years to approve and setup, can't count on that. Increasing income tax will just keep the same thing happening. So basically this state will continue to be in a budget crisis for the next 6-7 years at least.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by RunD1987

You think CT could adopt something similar to Maine's income taxes. Where you are not taxed till you reach $17,000. Maybe a flat income tax rate of 5% from $20,000 to $200,000. Then a flat income tax from $200,000 to $1,000,000 or higher of 8%.

If you Robin Hood high income people, they simply move to low tax states. Go to Nashville. Tennessee has no state income tax. It's stuffed full of entertainment industry people who fled California. The number of Hollywood A listers who "live" there is enormous. Massachusetts just put in an enormous millionaire tax. There is a giant run on New Hampshire seacoast trophy homes from high income people bailing out of Boston.

Fairfield County is already a NYC arbitrage. People opt to live and work there because it's a lower tax burden than living and working in Manhattan.

Maine ranks #39 in terms of millionaires per capita. Connecticut is #3. If you pull a Robin Hood, people will move. You end up killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

[RunD1987]

Originally Posted by East of the River

AS has been said on here before no good solutions at this point. Massive layoffs and cuts to services are about the only way they can fix things. Raising the sales tax above 7% forces people to shop across the border so that's a no go, Tolls would take years to approve and setup, can't count on that. Increasing income tax will just keep the same thing happening. So basically this state will continue to be in a budget crisis for the next 6-7 years at least.

You could have a flat 4% income tax for those making $40,000 or less. A 7% tax for those making between $50,000 to $200,000 that only taxes how much you make after $20,000. A flat tax of 8% for those making $200,000 or more. After 6 year's do away with CT income tax,; with a 2% income tax on those that make $1,000,000 or over. A flat sales tax of 8% with exemption of sales tax on motor vehicles or boats. Used sales tax on items purchased outside of the State over 5%. Legalize marijuana and place an excess tax on it to fund mental health services in the State. Mileage tax for 5 years to lower the debt in the State.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by RunD1987

You could have a flat 4% income tax for those making $40,000 or less. A 7% tax for those making between $50,000 to $200,000 that only taxes how much you make after $20,000. A flat tax of 8% for those making $200,000 or more. After 6 year's do away with CT income tax,; with a 2% income tax on those that make $1,000,000 or over. A flat sales tax of 8% with exemption of sales tax on motor vehicles or boats. Used sales tax on items purchased outside of the State over 5%. Legalize marijuana and place an excess tax on it to fund mental health services in the State. Mileage tax for 5 years to lower the debt in the State.

Massachusetts has a flat 5.1% state income tax up to $1 million. ...and you wonder why GE moved to Boston?

[ads94]

Originally Posted by RunD1987

You could have a flat 4% income tax for those making $40,000 or less. A 7% tax for those making between $50,000 to $200,000 that only taxes how much you make after $20,000. A flat tax of 8% for those making $200,000 or more. After 6 year's do away with CT income tax,; with a 2% income tax on those that make $1,000,000 or over. A flat sales tax of 8% with exemption of sales tax on motor vehicles or boats. Used sales tax on items purchased outside of the State over 5%. Legalize marijuana and place an excess tax on it to fund mental health services in the State. Mileage tax for 5 years to lower the debt in the State.

Since I don't have a good amount of data to try and cost this out fully here's some rough calculations...

All Data from here:
https://ctmirror.org/2017/04/26/trum...-ct-taxpayers/
http://www.ct.gov/drs/lib/drs/resear...ual_report.pdf

4% Income Tax
726,400,000 from 25-50k
316,090,000 from 10-25k
100,580,000 from $1-10k
1,143,070,000 Total

7% Income Tax
919,187,500 from 50-75K
929,264,000 from 75-100k
1,952,496,000 from 100-200k
5,743,347,500 Total

8% Income Tax
1,942,400,000 from 200k+
1,942,400,000 Total

Sales Tax (8% Statewide)
5,175,161,673 Total

Income Tax: $8,828,817,500
Sales Tax: $5,175,161,673

Assuming all other taxes are left in place, the budget would actually balance with this (probably). If it is just these two taxes plus the pot tax (Using Colorado's vaunted $1 billion, adjusted simply for CT's population this is about $658.054 million) you are looking at state revenue of $14,662,033,173. Given that this information was all using 2014 state data, you're looking at $14.6 billion in revenue to fund a $19 billion budget. This also assumes that everyone in the tax brackets are at the very top rate. I don't have any data on the 200k+ crowd so that number is off. Even if it was doubled the budget wouldn't balance. It's simply not feasible.

[RunD1987]

Originally Posted by ads94

Since I don't have a good amount of data to try and cost this out fully here's some rough calculations...

All Data from here:
https://ctmirror.org/2017/04/26/trum...-ct-taxpayers/
http://www.ct.gov/drs/lib/drs/resear...ual_report.pdf

4% Income Tax
726,400,000 from 25-50k
316,090,000 from 10-25k
100,580,000 from $1-10k
1,143,070,000 Total

7% Income Tax
919,187,500 from 50-75K
929,264,000 from 75-100k
1,952,496,000 from 100-200k
5,743,347,500 Total

8% Income Tax
1,942,400,000 from 200k+
1,942,400,000 Total

Sales Tax (8% Statewide)
5,175,161,673 Total

Income Tax: $8,828,817,500
Sales Tax: $5,175,161,673

Assuming all other taxes are left in place, the budget would actually balance with this (probably). If it is just these two taxes plus the pot tax (Using Colorado's vaunted $1 billion, adjusted simply for CT's population this is about $658.054 million) you are looking at state revenue of $14,662,033,173. Given that this information was all using 2014 state data, you're looking at $14.6 billion in revenue to fund a $19 billion budget. This also assumes that everyone in the tax brackets are at the very top rate. I don't have any data on the 200k+ crowd so that number is off. Even if it was doubled the budget wouldn't balance. It's simply not feasible.

Don't forget about the mileage tax. Plus keep the gas tax. Do away with the Estate tax.

[ads94]

Originally Posted by RunD1987

Don't forget about the mileage tax. Plus keep the gas tax. Do away with the Estate tax.

There's about 1.9 million vehicles in the state, assuming all do 12.000 miles a year, and the mileage tax is $.10 a mile, then the state will pull in 2,368,303,200 a year. The state also takes in $488 from the gas tax. That's $2.856 billion total.

If this is the sum total of how individuals are taxed, the budget could possibly balance. If this is all the taxes in the state, period, you still only have $17.5 billion in revenue.

Under this plan my taxes would go from (just counting the big ones):

Gas Tax: ~$140
Income Tax: ~$1,300
Sales Tax: ~$635

Total: ~$2,075

to

Gas Tax: ~$140
Income Tax: ~$1,680
Sales Tax: ~$800
Mileage Tax (10¢/mi): ~$1,200

Total: ~$3,820

My taxes almost doubled. I don't smoke or drink a darn thing so I'm not gigged there at all. According to the government, my income isn't considered Middle Class for New Haven County. Essentially taxes would double on the middle class, if you balanced the budget by offloading pensions to the towns you would see property taxes skyrocket. This essentially calls for a massive tax increase on the middle class and the lower class, where the rich and corporations (assuming a corporate tax of zero) get massive tax cuts.

[Matrix2791]

Originally Posted by RunD1987

You could have a flat 4% income tax for those making $40,000 or less. A 7% tax for those making between $50,000 to $200,000 that only taxes how much you make after $20,000. A flat tax of 8% for those making $200,000 or more. After 6 year's do away with CT income tax,; with a 2% income tax on those that make $1,000,000 or over. A flat sales tax of 8% with exemption of sales tax on motor vehicles or boats. Used sales tax on items purchased outside of the State over 5%. Legalize marijuana and place an excess tax on it to fund mental health services in the State. Mileage tax for 5 years to lower the debt in the State.

I don't think the mileage tax will even fly thankfully, unless the surrounding States implement it as well. So I would take that out of your equation.

[RunD1987]

For things to get better taxes are going to have to go up. However, they should lower taxes for those making less than $40,000, slightly raise the taxes for those making $40,000 to $200,000 by 1.5%. Those from $200,000 and up by 3.5%.

[Mr_250]

Has no one mentioned the income tax receipts? They sank, hard. I'll be interested to see what they come up with for the next two year budget. Right now CT will have $5.2B in debt over the next two years. The top 100 tax payers in CT paid 45% les than last year.

Revenue and fees are coming. There are only so many cuts to make.