FROM: Lou Arata, Candidate for State Representative 83rd District
DATE: September 30, 2020
RE: Taxation Op-ed
The Connecticut legislature raised the State income tax in 1992, 2003, 2009, 2011 and again in 2015. All were passed by the Democrat controlled legislature, with little bipartisan support.
The Democrats still have a stranglehold on the governing bodies in Hartford. The influence on legislation from the state unions negatively affecting our cities and towns is well documented and known. It is a very sad statistic that the largest employer in the state is actually the State of Connecticut. Private enterprise creates the wealth and government spends what it takes. We still have people voting for the same individuals, term after term and the State continues to deteriorate financially.
For this reason, we’ve been seeing such a wealth drain of individuals and corporations relocating to more affordable areas. In order to correct this mess, we first need to get rid of the stale, entrenched representatives that have done nothing to fix this problem. My opponent has served in the General Assembly for sixteen years and in 2019 she voted 99% of the time with her party. This is exactly why term-limits are a good idea.
Tax and spend politicians should be a thing of the past, like the horse and buggy. Connecticut residents are some of the most well educated in the nation, yet our voting patterns seem to be awry. Voting the same people back into office over and over doesn’t create an environment for new ideas. Only the politicians and the bureaucrats are doing well. They’ve been protected through the COVID-19 pandemic with their jobs and paychecks secure. How secure are you and your family? What ever happened to “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander?” and where is the shared sacrifice, if we’re truly all in this together?
People, we must collectively wake up to the God’s honest truth that we cannot tax and spend our way out of this madness. It has been proven over five times to be a grotesquely failing proposition. How many more fees and license increases, along with the sheer number of items and services that are now taxed here in Connecticut, can our working families withstand? State Representatives send our cities and towns unfunded mandates that each municipality must pay on their own, causing our property taxes to continue to rise. Do you feel your best interests are really being served by your elected officials in Hartford?
Our system of governance and our regulations must be revised since the state cannot declare bankruptcy and start over. It will take courage and transparency to tackle that mission. As a first step I support having a forensic audit of every department to unearth the waste, corruption, redundancy and mismanagement inherent in our present situation.
Lastly, with such a well-educated populous here in Connecticut, I would think we could find enough upstanding, smart folks, perhaps some within our own legislature, to figure out a workable path and develop a plan of execution, without having to spend millions of dollars for an out-of-state firm to tell us to do basically the same thing. Having that expenditure for an out-of-state commission to pass, tells me the elected officials need cover- because they can’t or don’t have the leadership qualities or qualifications it takes to succeed at their elected jobs and do what is the right thing for their constituents, which is to not raise taxes.
Please, I ask for your vote because I do have the qualifications and qualities to succeed, and I will begin to rebuild broken systems, seeking impetus from all sides. Those entrenched, elected officials want you to vote for them, yet they won’t make a difficult decision and an unpopular vote to be on their record. They only care about getting re-elected and so they can claim they fight for you, without a blemish on their vote tally. This is not progress.
Connecticut was once the leader of states in wealth and job opportunity, prior to the state income tax slide of the last 29 years. There are plenty of other states that are in the same situation, mostly led by Democrat legislatures and Democrat Mayors in our largest cities. Those are facts and sometimes the truth is painful. Remember that only all of us, together, can we solve this and the other enormous problems we’re facing. Yes, difficult decisions will have to be made. Government will have to do more with less, just like you and I have had to do in our households. It’s about time.
I want to help our state and work for you, to once again make Connecticut a state where one can be raised, go to school, find employment and retire. I am asking you to vote for me for State Representative of the 83rd District. Thank you.