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Malloy Adds Sales Tax Increase To His Budget Proposal

Jessica Hill
/
AP
Conn. Gov. Dannel Malloy

Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy has added a sales tax increase to his budget plan that would raise an extra $220 million over two years.

The Democratic governor proposed raising the tax to 6.5 percent from 6.35 percent in a budget plan he submitted to legislators on Friday. He also suggested increasing the restaurant sales tax to 7 percent. Malloy says his hopes this will finally help lawmakers to agree on a budget because neither Democratic nor Republican caucuses have come up with a proposal he’d be willing to sign.

“I really need to put a marker down here. This is a budget I can sign. If they are not going to send me a budget I can sign, let them all send me their budgets and we’ll veto them and we’ll start. Or quite frankly, we just get to the point that we recognize that there won’t be a budget this year and we begin working on next year’s and I’ll do what I have to do by executive order.”

State lawmakers haven't been able to agree on budgets for the current and following fiscal years. Connecticut's annual budget is about $20 billion and it faces an estimated $3.5 billion deficit over two years.

The state has been without a budget since July 1, with Malloy in charge of state spending under limited executive authority.

As WSHU Public Radio’s award-winning senior political reporter, Ebong Udoma draws on his extensive tenure to delve deep into state politics during a major election year.
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