HARTFORD, Conn.—The American Federation of Teachers and AFT Connecticut issued a press release this morning calling on Gov. Dannel Malloy and the state legislature to ask the richest residents to pay their fair share of taxes to avert budget cuts that would hurt virtually all Connecticut families.
In a full-page ad in today’s Hartford Current, the union said, “Connecticut doesn’t have a budget problem. Connecticut has a fairness problem.”
Connecticut’s richest 1 percent pay 5.3 percent in state and local taxes, while the rest of the 99 percent pay an average of 9.9 percent, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and the Economic Policy Institute. “Tell Gov. Malloy and state legislators that you think everyone should pay their fair share, including the richest 1 percent,” the ad says.
The AFT and AFT Connecticut said they firmly believe that if the wealthiest individuals and corporations in the state pay their fair share of taxes, the proposed drastic cuts could be averted.
For education, Malloy’s budget proposal freezes education spending and eliminates funding for adult education and early literacy programs, grant funding for after-school programs, and support for school-based health centers. However, his budget includes $9.3 million for charter schools.
For state employees, Malloy’s budget proposal to cut several thousand full-time positions would affect corrections and law enforcement, health and social services, forensics, maintenance and other service work. For higher education, the budget includes millions of dollars in cuts to the University of Connecticut, including the teaching staff and the health center, which currently is plagued by nurse shortages.
