Connecticut residents are saddled with the burden of working 18 days longer than the average American taxpayer just to pay for government spending and regulations. New York, the state with the next-latest Cost of Government Day (COGD) date, fell below Connecticut by more than three days.
Although Connecticut’s high per-capita income, which results in higher federal income tax rates, is a major factor in Connecticut’s late COGD, the state also ranks third in terms of tax increases since 2001. Not only do Connecticut taxpayers foot a big bill for federal government spending, they also are paying for rising state and local taxes.
“Connecticut’s cost of government is astoundingly high, and there’s no question that it affects our economy,” said D. Dowd Muska, Philip Gressel Fellow for Tax and Budget Policy at the Yankee Institute for Public Policy. “According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Nutmeg State has had the worst job growth in the country since the early 1990s.
“Government at all levels–local, state, and federal–places immense burdens on the Connecticut citizenry,” Muska said. “It’s clear that we long ago reached the point of diminishing returns for the very expensive ‘services’ the public sector provides.”
— Elizabeth Karasmeighan