By Kathy Kennedy
State Rep., R-119
Kathy Kennedy
With less than a month left in the legislative session, the clock is ticking for my colleagues and me to finalize a state budget agreement. But how will the money be spent? Will we raise taxes?
Right now, our budget is held together by fiscal guardrails that were put in place to ensure we only spend the money we have. Sadly, some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to increase spending beyond these safeguards, forcing us to raise taxes down the road.
Take the governor’s budget proposal as an example. It includes a tax increase of $491.5 million over the next two years, just to cover the excess spending of the money we don’t have. Does that sound responsible to you?
Recently, my House Republican colleagues and I unveiled our state budget proposal for fiscal year 2026-2027 that accomplishes three main things: protects our fiscal guardrails, cuts wasteful spending and balances spending and taxes. Unlike other budget proposals, our version addresses the rising energy costs, maintains municipal aid for towns and continues to pay down our debt simultaneously.
On affordability, we propose removing insurance assessments to lower health care costs, eliminating the “public benefits” charge from our electric bills, and funding excess cost grants and special education programs to prevent significant municipal property tax hikes.
On public health, we are increasing funding for domestic violence outreach and CT FoodShare, allocating money to provide local food in local schools to support state farmers, and we recreate the Office of Dyslexia for resources within the Department of Education.
Zooming out, our budget only spends the money we have without raising taxes on the middle class. With the cost of living at an all-time high, my Republican colleagues and I believe that Connecticut residents should come first in budget talks, instead of inflating our government.
If we can embrace a bipartisan budget process, we will have a good chance of spending wisely and not raising taxes. But if some of my Democratic colleagues push hard to eliminate the protective guardrails that help keep us from overspending, a tax increase will occur.
As a member of the Appropriations Committee, I’ve personally worked across the aisle to get things done and I believe that we can continue to work together and build a more affordable Connecticut. It is our constitutional duty to approve a state budget agreement by June 4 and I look forward to embracing all ideas as we move forward in these discussions.
Stay tuned for more updates on the budget by following me on social media and visiting RepKennedy.com to subscribe to my brief newsletter. As always, please never hesitate to contact me at Kathy.Kennedy@housegop.ct.gov or at 860-240-8700 with your questions, ideas and concerns.