Connecticut needs as many entrepreneurs as it can get. But for many would-be small businesspeople, Connecticut’s stringent occupational licensure laws stand in the way.

Connecticut licenses 241 occupations, from hairdressers to glaziers. Often sold in the name of public safety, more often licensure laws serve as artificial barriers to entry designed to limit supply and protect other occupations from unwanted competition. A study by the Institute for Justice considers Connecticut the 15th most broadly and onerously licensed of any state.

Read the full study here

Getting soaked by high taxes? Today is Connecticut’s Tax Freedom Day, the latest in the nation according to the Tax Foundation

EAST HARTFORD – Today is Tax Freedom Day in Connecticut, the day on which Connecticut residents finally stop working for the government and start working for themselves. Connecticut has the latest Tax Freedom Day of any state in the country, as calculated by the Tax Foundation.

Nationally, Tax Freedom Day arrived on April 18. Connecticut residents work three and a half weeks longer to pay taxes than the average person in American does. This includes income taxes (federal and state), payroll taxes (Social Security and Medicare), corporate taxes (which are just passed onto consumers), estate, sales, property, and other taxes such as car registration fees.

“This is another item for Connecticut’s List of Lasts – key indicators in which Connecticut is not just below average but worst in the nation,” said Fergus Cullen, Executive Director of the Yankee Institute, Connecticut’s independent, free-market think tank. The Yankee Institute considers high taxes a disincentive to work hard, invest, start a business or grow one by hiring more people. High taxes suffocate our economy and lead to higher unemployment.

“Sometimes it’s OK to be average,” Cullen said. “A modest goal for Connecticut policy makers would be to see Connecticut fall out of the top five states with the latest Tax Freedom Days.”

The comments from CEOs are revealing: “Connecticut continues to be controlled by the state and teachers unions. Unfunded pension liability and other mandated costs contribute to high taxes which make CT unfriendly to new business. The politicians just don’t get it.”

Another one was more blunt: “Connecticut is the worst. Poor leadership.”

The sad stat is simply the latest in a long parade of sad stats on Connecticut’s economy. In January, Yankee pointed to the state’s List of Lasts, the half-dozen rankings on which Connecticut isn’t first or tenth or even 45th but rather dead last. More recently at the Yankee PolicyWiki, we recorded that Connecticut’s income growth was the second worst in the nation in 2012.

The good news is that Connecticut can get back on top. The state needs pro-growth policies: pension reform, Medicaid reform, tax reform, and energy reform to liberate the marketplace and propel Connecticut back to the top where it belongs. Other states are leading the way: Ohio jumped an incredible thirteen positions in the CEO Magazine rankings between 2012 and 2013.

Connecticut can and must do the same.

The Atlas Network is a DC-based organization that provides services to more than 400 free-market organizations in 90 countries. Brad Lips, CEO of Atlas, will be joining us to discuss the organization’s worldwide work to promote freedom.

Lunch will begin at 11:30 a.m. and tickets are $30 per person and include free parking. Click here or use the ticket box below to save your seat!

*This event is sponsored by Thomas D. Lips in honor of Brad Lips and the Atlas Network for their dedication to promoting free enterprises throughout the world.*

A record 36 retired state employees enjoyed pensions of at least $150,000, which is more than Governor Malloy’s salary. In 2011, 25 retirees received pensions that large. The ten highest pensioners were:

The full list of $100,000 pensioners can be downloaded here.

The state paid out $1.4 billion in pension pay to 44,346 beneficiaries in 2012. Since the Yankee Institute began collecting pension benefit data in 2007, the number of beneficiaries climbed 15 percent, from 38,604 individuals. Adjusted for inflation, the total payout amount rose 32 percent during that time, from $1 billion to $1.4 billion.

“Overly generous pension benefits continue to grow faster than the rest of the state’s budget, to outstrip inflation, and to crowd out other spending,” said Fergus Cullen, executive director of the Yankee Institute. “This is why the Yankee Institute supports having state government move toward a defined benefit, 401(k)-styled retirement pension reform system through which state employees contribute more to their own retirement funding.”

Connecticut’s median household income is $69,243, according to the Census Bureau. The governor’s salary, which is set by state statute at $150,000 a year, is more than twice that. Yet Gov. Malloy was only the state’s 1,224th highest paid employee in 2012, according to new data released today by the Yankee Institute.

A total of 7,712 state employees were paid more than $100,000 in 2012. The state paid 66,613 full or part-time employees last year.

“$150,000 or $100,000 a year is considered very good money by most Connecticut families. That well over a thousand state employees earn more than the governor points to the amount of bloat that exists in state government,” said Fergus Cullen, executive director of the Yankee Institute.

The Yankee Institute published the names and salaries of all the state employees who were paid more than the governor here.  The data was obtained from the Office of the State Comptroller in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

Nearly half of the individuals making more than $150,000 are associated with UConn (290) or the UConn Health Center (301). Of the top ten highest paid state employees in 2012, all were associated with UConn or the UConn Health Center:

“We aren’t saying the governor is overpaid or underpaid, nor do we begrudge a small number of uniquely skilled state employees who are highly paid, especially those with medical and science backgrounds,” Cullen said. “But the average taxpayer in Connecticut has to look at the list of 1,223 state employees who are paid more than the governor and think, ‘A, there’s a lot of bloat in state government and B, how do I get one of those jobs?’”

Amity’s newly published book, Coolidge, delivers a provocative reexamination of America’s thirtieth president and the decade of unparalleled growth that the nation enjoyed under his leadership.

**Please note: the Stamford Sheraton is now at 700 East Main Street, Stamford.  Use this address for directions and maps.**

Lunch will begin at 11:30 a.m. and tickets are $30 per person and include free parking. Lunch and book tickets are $55.

Click here or use the ticket box below to save your spot now!

The governor’s approval rating sits at 54/45%, for a net positive rating of +9 percent. This is the governor’s highest approval rating yet. A year ago, Malloy’s approval rating was 51/46 (+5), which represented a significant improvement from June, 2011, in the wake of the tax increases of his first budget, when his approval rating was 42/56 or net negative 14 points.

However, just 42 percent of voters say they would re-elect him next year, with 39 percent saying they would probably vote for an unnamed Republican opponent. 19 percent are undecided. The governor’s re-elect rating has dropped 5 points from a year ago (47/47).

Furthermore, voters are deeply skeptical of the governor’s budget proposal. Given basic information about the budget, 54% of voters described it as spending too much. Voters oppose its reliance on borrowing by a 3:1 margin, 68-21 percent. They oppose exempting cars from the property tax, 52-34 percent, when informed about the proposal’s impact on municipalities. A narrow plurality of voters support the budget’s extension of tax increases on power plants, corporations, and insurance premiums, but only by 44-39 percent.

By a 2:1 margin (56-27%), voters say the governor’s First Five / Next Five program is a bad use of taxpayer money.

Support for immigration reform appears to be growing in Connecticut. By 69-27%, voters expressed support for legal status for undocumented immigrants over deportation (+42). A year ago, support for such a proposal registered at 56-37% (+19). Republicans support legal status by 54-40%.

President Obama continues to be popular in Connecticut, with a 58/41 (+17) approval rating. Senator Blumenthal continues to have strong approval ratings, at 59/35 (+24). Senator Chris Murphy enjoys a honeymoon rating of 53/39 (+14) in his first rating as an incumbent senator.

Full crosstabs

Question wording

The partisan breakdown of respondents was 40% D, 28% R, and 32% I.

Methodology: The survey was conducted on Sunday, February 10 of 500 likely Connecticut voters. 450 surveys were completed by phone using a recorded script and a keypad response mechanism. 50 surveys were completed online to capture younger demographics. The survey was conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, which is associated with Rasmussen Reports. Question wording was based on public polling conducted by NBC News/Wall Street Journal, ABC News/Washington Post, CBS/New York Times, Quinnipiac, University of New Hampshire, Rasmussen, and Pew.

Yankee Institute Executive Director Fergus Cullen said,” Now is the time to lower spending and adopt pro-growth tax policies that will move Connecticut from last to first.”

The specific policies advocated by the Yankee Institute are available on the Yankee PolicyWiki. They include:

• Tax and Spending Reform
• Pension Reform
• Economic Reform
• Energy Reform
• Transportation Reform
• Health Care Reform

Connecticut can get back on top. The General Assembly should take action immediately on these important issues.

Connecticut’s List of Lasts

• Barron’s rated Connecticut’s debt situation as the worst in the country in 2012 (Bary, Andrew. “State of the States” Barron’s. August 27, 2012)
• TopRetirements.com ranked Connecticut as the 2012 worst state for retirement (Murphy, Eamon. “The 10 Worst States to Retire In: They’re Frosty and Costly” January 13, 2012. TopRetirements.com)
• The Institute for Truth in Accounting ranked Connecticut’s financial status as the worst in the nation with a debt burden of $49,000 per taxpayer (The Institute for Truth in Accounting, “The Financial State of the States”)
• Connecticut’s credit quality was ranked 50th in the nation by Conning Inc’s State of the States Municipal Credit Research Report in 2012 (Sturdevant, M. “Connecticut Ranks Last Among 50 States in Credit Analysis by Conning” Courant Blogs. November 27, 2012.)
• Connecticut’s Tax Freedom Day of May 5, 2012 was the latest in the nation according to the Tax Foundation (Tax Foundation Tax Freedom Day Study 2012)
• Connecticut’s Achievement Gap is the worst in the nation according to the Connecticut Council for Education Reform
• The Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors by the Cato Institute gave Gov. Dan Malloy an “F” (Edwards, Chris. “Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors” October 9, 2012.)

Cullen continued, “On the first day of the Legislative Session, we are calling on the General Assembly to address the state’s financial challenges by reducing spending and adopting pro-growth tax policies to move Connecticut from last to first.”

The full page advertisement appears in the Hartford Courant, the Stamford Advocate, the Danbury News-Times, and the Greenwich Time.