Democrats In the Home of Hedge Funds Are Divided Over Tax Plans Sparing Rich
- Liberals see poor on losing end of Connecticut’s budget plans
- Democratic governor seeks to expand state’s sales-tax net
Ned Lamont
Photographer: Patrick Raycraft/Hartford Courant/TNS via Getty Images
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In the hedge fund capital of the U.S., Connecticut’s Democratic Governor Ned Lamont is facing criticism from his own party’s ascendant left-wing for tax plans they say favor the rich over the poor.
Lamont’s $41.3 billion budget proposal extends the sales tax to services like haircuts and parking while eliminating a gift tax and keeping rates on income at current levels. Liberal Democrats say broadening the regressive sales tax must be accompanied by higher income taxes on the wealthy whose net worth has soared along with prices of financial assets since the Great Recession.