House Republican Press Release

May 9, 2007

Press Office: 860-240-8700

REP. RYAN: Q POLL FAVORS REPUBLICAN ‘NO TAX INCREASE’ BUDGET

HARTFORD - State Representative John J. Ryan (R-Darien and Rowayton) today hailed the just released Quinnipiac University Poll shows that the House Republican “No Tax Increase’’ budget is overwhelmingly favored by state residents compared to either Gov. Rell’s proposal or the Democrats’ tax and spending plan.

“This poll validates what we have been saying since Day One. State residents should not have their taxes raised at a time when we have huge budget surpluses. Our Republican budget more than meets the needs of Connecticut when it comes to education, having a sound energy policy, health care coverage and protecting our environment. We can accomplish all this without raising taxes on anyone,’’ Rep. Ryan said.

The Republican “No Tax Increase” budget drew the most support among respondents with 42 percent saying they favored it. The Democratic proposal to increase spending by a whopping $2.1 billion received only 33 percent of those who responded, and the Governor’s across-the-board tax increase of 10 percent to pay for her education plan was supported by just 16 percent of respondents.

“Once again, the proposed additional Democrat tax increases would unfairly impact our communities in lower Fairfield County, and further skew the enormous disparity between tax dollars we send to Hartford compared to the benefits that we receive, our Republican budget, and these poll results show that this is totally unnecessary "

“According to the Quinnipiac Poll, a majority of people in Connecticut do not support the Democrats plan for increasing the income tax and demonstrates the Democrats are unable to persuade the public embrace their tax scheme,” said Rep. Ryan.

“The public is skeptical and they should be, Democrats cannot give a big tax cut and increase spending by $2 billion while telling everyone your taxes are going down,’’ Ryan said. “They will raise your taxes.’’

 In addition the poll confirms what Republicans have said from day one – Connecticut residents do not support the Democrats’ plan to increase taxes on everything from clothing, to Internet sales and the price of a funeral.

These poll results will help shape the debate as legislative leaders meet to negotiate a state budget in the coming weeks. Republican lawmakers are encouraged by Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s statements that she now believes that the legislature doesn’t need to enact her proposed tax hike to meet the state’s needs for the next two years.  

Gov. Rell said last week that the state now has a 20 percent increase in revenue collections and that has caused her to reconsider her initial tax hike proposal.