Revenue Options for Connecticut – 2018

Connecticut´s prosperity depends upon smart public investments in high-quality schools, reliable roads and bridges, and adequate infrastructure. To make these investments, we need a stable, balanced, and predictable budget that raises sufficient funding without undermining economic growth or closing pathways to opportunity.

This report analyzes a wide range of possible tax changes geared towards two primary goals. First, making the overall tax system less regressive, so low-income families no longer pay a higher share of their income than wealthy residents. Second, making the overall tax system more conducive to economic growth, by simplifying and broadening the tax base to raise adequate revenue.

This research brief offers a menu of revenue alternatives, options the state can adopt to raise adequate funds through a more balanced system that supports economic growth, mobility, and inclusion. In addition,  it also addresses several structural changes necessary to respond to recent tax changes at the federal level and overbroad fiscal restrictions imposed last fall.