As this fact sheet outlines, a more progressive income tax could be an important revenue source for Connecticut, paid for by those who can best afford it. By modestly raising income tax rates for the state’s wealthiest residents Connecticut could raise nearly $1 billion to help close the state’s revenue gap while keeping income taxes the same for the bottom 80% of income tax earners. Reforming the income tax would make Connecticut’s state and local tax system less imbalanced. In Connecticut, wealthy residents pay a much smaller share of their income in state and local taxes than residents struggling to make ends meet.
Progressive income tax reforms would protect Connecticut’s economy better than the alternative — cuts to essential services. Under this progressive income tax proposal, Connecticut’s effective tax rates for high-income families would remain lower than those in neighboring New York.