CBIA’s 2007
Government Affairs Program:
Fiscal policy: State taxes and spending

 

Taxes

 

Goal: Develop a long-range state tax strategy that will encourage sustained business investment in Connecticut and foster new economic development.

 

Recommendations:

• Target tax incentives for investments in technology, innovation and productivity.
• Simplify and modernize manufacturing sales tax exemptions to make them true economic-development incentives.
• Allow entities such as limited liability companies and S corporations to take advantage of tax credits currently available to C corporations.
• Reject efforts to make Connecticut’s business taxes more onerous.
• Reject efforts to shift more of the property tax burden onto the business community.

Spending

Goal: Make the Connecticut state budget an instrument of economic development and job growth.

Recommendations:

• Adopt a two-year budget that adheres to the letter and spirit of the state’s spending cap.
• Control state spending by creating and enforcing outcome measures for state services, beginning with the costliest and most expansive programs; and by achieving better productivity and more efficient and effective programs.
• Create a comprehensive plan to reduce the state’s unfunded liabilities in public-employee retirement costs, and help municipalities in need of a similar plan.
• Review and reduce unfunded municipal mandates.
• Reshape the state budget to directly aid economic development and opportunity, by:
  • Accelerating and enhancing the state’s transportation investments to reduce congestion through multimodal means of transit, which will help the economy grow.
  • Controlling state spending to ensure the phaseout of the property tax on manufacturing machinery and equipment.
  • Increasing incentives for college graduates to stay, live and work in Connecticut, especially in high-demand technical fields such as the biosciences and engineering.

Read CBIA's Priorities for 2007