Celebration Of ‘Tax Freedom Day’ Sunday At The Capitol – Hartford … – Hartford Courant

Tea Party activists and their supporters will rally at the Capitol Sunday to mark Tax Freedom Day, the day the average Connecticut resident has earned enough to pay their federal, state and local taxes.

Connecticut's Tax Freedom Day is the latest in the nation, a sign that taxes here remain too high, organizers said.

The rally is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. on the Capitol steps. A slate of speakers includes conservative commentators and two Republicans in the state legislature, Reps. Craig Fishbein of Wallingford and Anne Dauphinais of Killingly.

Grappling with projected deficits in excess of $1 billion for each of the next two fiscal years, neither Republicans, Democrats or Gov. Dannel P. Malloy have shown an appetite to further increase taxes. Budgets released this week by legislators and Malloy rely on deep cuts and concessions from state employee unions to tackle the deficits.

After income tax increases in 2011 and 2015, rally organizers said a third income tax increase is not the answer.

"Our speakers will tell the truth about Connecticut's addiction to taxation and the damage it has done our state economy," said Bob MacGuffie, one of the founders of the Tea Party in Connecticut.

John Slater, a Republican from Bridgeport and one of the organizers of the Tax Freedom Day rally, said state legislators "have to find a way to promote growth in our state."

"We need to incentivize job creators to hire the next employee and create the next idea and send it into the production line," he said. Further tax increases will drive businesses and high-income earners out of Connecticut, Slater said.

Ty Seymour, who graduates from Southern Connecticut State University next year, said many of his peers want to stay in the state but have trouble finding work, or don't make enough to live on their own and wind up back home with their parents.

"One of the main things that can be done to help end that cycle ... is encourage businesses to provide opportunities to stay in Connecticut" by lowering their tax burden, said Seymour, who is active in a statewide organization of college Republicans and is one of the rally's speakers.

The state with the lowest tax burden, according to the Tax Foundation, which compiles the Tax Freedom Day rankings, is Mississippi, where Tax Freedom Day is marked on April 5.

Joining Connecticut in the top five states for cumulative tax burden are other Northeastern states including New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and California.

Connecticut began collecting an income tax in 1991.

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Celebration Of 'Tax Freedom Day' Sunday At The Capitol - Hartford ... - Hartford Courant