Report Finds Connecticut Still Has the Second-Highest State and Local Tax Burden

According to recent data from the center-right Tax Foundation, Connecticut taxpayers continue to shoulder nearly the highest revenue burdens of anyone in the U.S.

As stated in a report titled “State and Local Tax Burdens, Calendar Year 2022,” the average state resident paid 15.5 percent in combined state and local taxes last year. That places Connecticut in second among all states in that category, second only to New York which claims 15.9 percent of residents’ annual earnings on average. Neighboring Massachusetts and Rhode Island both have tax onuses under 12 percent, hovering around the national mean.

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Connecticut Gas Prices Rising Despite Tax Pause

Both Democrats and Republicans in Hartford worked for and celebrated the Connecticut gasoline-tax suspension that Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed in late March, but new data indicate its effect could be lessening.

The center-right Yankee Institute (YI) published an analysis on Saturday showing that the difference between gasoline costs in Connecticut and those in Massachusetts, which did not enact a similar gas-tax holiday, are narrowing.

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Connecticut State House Approves Legislative Pay Raise

By a vote of 95-53 on Tuesday, Connecticut’s State House of Representatives approved a 43-percent salary increase for state lawmakers and statewide elected officials.

It is the first such pay raise enacted since 2000. Representatives conducted no public hearings on it, having only fleetingly discussed potential adjustments to politicians’ compensation during committee meetings.

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Nearly 3,000 State Workers in Connecticut Had Salaries Exceeding the Governor’s in 2021

A review of Connecticut’s salary records published by the center-right Yankee Institute (YI) Thursday indicated that 2,927 state employees received higher salaries than the governor in 2021.

State statute confers a $150,000 yearly salary on Gov. Ned Lamont (D). Approximately 2,000 state employees earned higher pay than him through 2017. Over the next three years, that number rose by nearly 1,000.

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