Who Pays? Yankee Institute Vs.

CT Voices For Children

By Christopher Keating
on July 27, 2009

State legislators, as well as interest groups, are continuing the battle over how to solve the state’s massive budget
gap - and who should pay the bill.

Former New Hampshire Republican Party state chairman Fergus Cullen, a longtime Connecticut resident who
now heads the Hartford-based Yankee Institute, says the rich are already carrying most of the weight. The top 6
percent of the population, he notes, pays more than the bottom 94 percent combined.

But Shelley Geballe, the guiding spirit and intellectual force behind the Connecticut Voices For Children think
tank, says that those earning $1 million or more pay 35 percent of all state income taxes and have 32.5 percent of
all the income.

Geballe says legislators must look at the combined total of income, sales, and property taxes paid by those who
have various incomes - rather than concentrating only on the state income tax.

“That, to me, is more relevant,’’ Geballe tells Capitol Watch.

Matt O’Connor, a spokesman for the state employee unions, said that everyone must pitch in as part of a shared
sacrifice to close the budget deficit of $8.55 billion over the next two fiscal year. The “shared sacrifice’’ theme
has been prevalent in the unions’ commercials that have been on radio, broadcast television, and cable since
February - costing about $400,000. The latest ad depicts a wealthy corporate executive who is enjoying the good
life, surrounded by cigar smoke and brandy snifters.

“We’re not asking the wealthy to carry the load,’’ O’Connor said. “There’s more than one George David out
there. They shouldn’t carry the load for everybody, and neither should state workers. We’re going to step up and
do our part. That’s the problem with the wealthy - they haven’t been asked, and they haven’t contributed. ... When
you’re at that level, contributing a little more is not an enormous sacrifice.’’