Forget the stupid tax on plastic bags at the grocery store. How ‘bout you figure out a way to keep companies in Connecticut?
That was the sentiment expressed Tuesday by Seymour resident Julie Hlywa.
“What are we doing to stop the bleeding of jobs in the private sector?” Hlywa asked.
“I turn the TV on and we’re having discussions about paper or plastic? And we’re have budget plan that is a tax and spend mentality in an era where I don’t have an employment check?”
Hlywa’s words came during a question-and-answer session at Seymour Town Hall with state Republican senators Kevin Kelly and Rob Kane and state Rep. Len Greene, Jr.
The standing-room only crowd asked a variety of questions, but a theme emerged — Connecticut is already too expensive and the tax increases set to be unveiled by Gov. Dannel Malloy Wednesday in Hartford are deeply troubling.
The Republican lawmakers — operating in a legislature controlled by Democrats — seemed as frustrated as the audience.
Kelly and Greene, both elected in November, said they get the sense their colleagues in Hartford are out of touch.
Kane, a state lawmaker since 2008, said Malloy’s budget, which is to include higher taxes on everything from alcohol to gasoline, targets the middle class.
“The real issue here is that the government has gotten too big and no one is talking about that,” Kane said. “We need to reduce the size of government. We need to lower taxes, because let me tell you what is going to happen. The elderly will leave because there is an estate tax. The rich are going to leave because we keep increasing their income tax and the young people aren’t coming back after they go to college.”
So what’s left?
“The middle class — and that’s who this latest tax package goes after the most.”
Reducing the size of government did not sit well with Maria Vereb of Stratford. She was one of about 10 state employees in the audience listening to the Republican politicians.
Vereb was tired of state employees being the whipping boy of Connecticut’s fiscal problems.
“State employees are taxpayers, too,” she said. “Please don’t feel you can save the state by riding on the backs of state employees. We’ve given up a lot in the last two years. We’ve given up eight furlough days — unpaid days. We’ve reduced our income by two weeks.”
Kane said the recession has been worse on private sector employees.
“I will leave you with this — 100,000 people in the private sector have lost their jobs in the last two years. Zero state employees have lost their jobs in the last two years,” Kane said.
