(Hartford, Conn. WTIC)-Goveror Ned Lamont will deliver his budget adress to the legislature tomorrow.
Topics will likely include the budget, covid, economic development and transportation.
Senate President Martin Looney wants greater equity when it comes to municipalities. He also believes the "Mansion tax" will provide more money for poorer communities.
Further Looney wants an increase in the capital gains tax, arguing that's how the rich earn most of their income while the poorer lack that opportunity.
Finally Looney believes we should wait to see the numbers on the budget defecit until April because those figures "swing up and down like a pendulum."
Senate Republican Leader Kevin Kelly says the PILOT program regarding municipalities redistributes money from the middle class to the cities. He feels the same about the Mansion tax, saying it's a money grab from the rich. As for capital gains, Kelly says many families are inheriting homes from the fifties that are now worth 4-hundred thousand and in his words, "the middle class gets whacked."
And regarding the budget deficit, Kelly says we have to look at the budget structure. But he fears with Democrats in the majority that is unlikely to change.
