House Republican Press Release

May 9, 2007

Press Office: 860-240-8700

MIKE ALBERTS NOTES THAT POLL SHOWS VOTERS FAVOR REPUBLICAN ‘NO TAX INCREASE’ BUDGET

A new Quinnipiac University Poll shows that the House Republican No Tax Increase budget is overwhelmingly favored by state residents compared to other budget proposals, noted Rep. Mike Alberts, R-50^th, Brooklyn, Eastford, Hampton, Pomfret, Woodstock.

In the Quinnipiac Poll released May 9, the Republican No Tax Increase budget drew the most support among respondents with 41 percent saying they favored it. A Democratic proposal to increase spending by $2.1 billion received support of 33 percent of those who responded, and the Governor’s proposed budget with a 10 percent tax increase to pay for her education plan was supported by 16 percent of respondents.

Rep. Alberts said, “Voters recognize the Republican No Tax Increase budget as a rational, thoughtful approach to maintaining services and supporting initiatives without raising taxes, especially when the state has been running continued surpluses totaling billions of dollars over the past decade.”

“Clearly, the public doesn’t have confidence in the majority party’s claim that they can provide a big tax cut while at the same time increasing spending by more than $2 billion,” Alberts added.

The poll also confirms what Republicans have said. Connecticut residents do not support the Democrats’ plan to increase taxes on clothing, Internet sales and the price of a funeral.

Rep. Alberts said the Democrat’s proposal to end the sales tax exemption in clothing up to $50 would hurt poor people. He also said that taxing Internet sales (as Democrats propose) has produced only small increases in tax revenues among those states that have done so.

Alberts said he was encouraged by the new polling results because this fundamentally changes the legislative debate about raising taxes. “We are seeing a change in the public debate. The public does not want to see their taxes go up and they have made that clear,” Alberts said.