Connecticut seems determined to follow the Illinois path into a death spiral of higher taxes driving out business, leading to less revenue and the need to raise taxes on the remaining businesses unable to flee. The Democrat governor and legislature, who ran in 2014 on a promise of no new taxes have just introduced a large tax increase, including a suicidal attempt to drive corporate headquarters out of the state. The Wall Street Journal’s Review and Outlook column explains:
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The blue-state paragon’s two-year budget of $40.3 billion includes a $1.5 billion net increase in taxes and fees. The top marginal individual tax rate rises to 6.99% from 6.7%. But the biggest blow is making permanent a 20% surtax on a company’s annual tax liability—a tax on a tax—and for the first time taxing Connecticut companies on their world-wide income, rather than what they earn in the state.
General Electric , long a Connecticut fixture, protested that the state is “retroactively raising taxes again,” which “makes businesses, including our own, and citizens seriously consider whether it makes any sense to continue to be located in this state.” Aetna , the giant health insurer and pillar of Hartford, said the bill would “undermine the competitiveness” of companies and “lead to an exodus of jobs and business from the state.’’
The biggest shock came Thursday when GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt told the company’s Connecticut employees that he has “assembled an exploratory team to look into the company’s options to relocate corporate HQ to another state with a more pro-business environment.”Via: American Thinker
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