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October 2008 — Vol. 85, No. 11

COVER STORY

Connecticut people and businesspeople are

Of like mind on key issues

 

Related article:

 

Anytown, Connecticut: A business owner agonizes over how to cut costs — trim health care benefits? forego employee raises? don’t fill open job positions? — so he can keep his prices competitive. If he doesn’t do that, his customers just might cut his company from their preferred-supplier list.

Across town, a working couple with kids worries about expenses, too — not just their own but their employers’. They know their companies face stiff foreign competition. Will the state’s high business taxes and other costs jeopardize their jobs? Will the state’s economy falter?

In another part of the state, meanwhile, a middle-aged resident shakes her head in disapproval as she reads about a legislative plan that would have taxpayers foot the bill for a state takeover of the health care system. “As if my taxes aren’t high enough!” she thinks. “Why don’t they just find ways to make health care more affordable?”

These scenarios are hypothetical — but realistic. As two recent surveys show, ordinary people and businesspeople in Connecticut closely agree on some of the most hotly contested issues that come up at the legislature year after year.

Take taxes and state spending, for instance. Both business executives and state residents responding to separate surveys recently identified those issues as among the most important ones facing Connecticut.

Of course, no one likes to pay taxes. So it’s not surprising that two-thirds of the people responding to a public opinion poll in November said the tax and spending levels in the current state budget are too high. The poll, conducted for CBIA by Zogby International, surveyed a randomly selected group of Connecticut adults.

But that poll also asked people if they thought taxes paid by Connecticut businesses were too high, too low or about right. “Too high” was the top response.

Residents also named economic growth and job creation, education, and health care — all long-time business concerns — as top priorities for the state.

Business executives participating in CBIA’s Annual Membership Survey (see box below) gave similar responses.

“It’s clear that these issues are of great importance to everyone in Connecticut — its residents as well as the business community,” says John Rathgeber, CBIA president and CEO. “Our elected leaders must listen to what the people of Connecticut are saying and act in a fiscally responsible way that encourages economic growth and job creation and improves education opportunities for our students.”

People say: Reform — don’t replace — private health system

The majority (83%) of Connecticut residents responding to the Zogby survey are satisfied with their health insurance. Sixty-five percent oppose raising state taxes to pay for a new, multibillion-dollar, state-government-run health care system. Nearly three-quarters (74%) said the best way to reform the current system is to control health care costs and make private insurance more affordable.

“Lawmakers must take action to reform our health care system by focusing on the strengths of the current employer-based system and ways to improve it,” says Rathgeber. “They can do that by concentrating on three key areas: reducing the cost drivers in the system, improving the quality of health care and making certain that the uninsured have access to health care. A state takeover is not the answer.”

“Most Connecticut adults are pleased with their health care and think it should remain a private-sector industry,” says pollster John Zogby. “This fits with other Zogby polling nationwide that shows that people sense changes need to be made to the health care industry but that they do not trust government to take it over.”

Public supports higher standards for public schools

Almost all residents (90%) responding to the Zogby poll are satisfied with their children’s education, but 85% support raising academic standards in public schools so all students are better prepared to enter college or the workforce.

“Better educating Connecticut’s schoolchildren will give them more opportunities for postsecondary education and high-wage employment,” says Lauren Weisberg Kaufman, CBIA vice president for education and job training and executive director of the association’s Education Foundation. In addition, “Connecticut will be able to retain its world-class workforce and our businesses will remain competitive globally.”

Employers trusted

Businesspeople can take heart in several other findings of the public opinion poll.
Ninety-eight percent of people surveyed think it’s important for a business to earn a profit. Two-thirds consider the business community a trustworthy source of information on policy issues, and 85% of those who are employed trust their employers. In addition, 88% of employed respondents are satisfied with their current jobs.

 

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