Egad! Is that Karl Rove poking around the Governor’s mansion to see about reclaiming Jodi’s GOP credentials? As seen in the Courant:
The governor will urge a one-quarter percentage point increase in the tax each year - increasing the current maximum tax rate of 5 percent to 5.5 percent, according to state Capitol sources.
Her annual budget message today will also call for boosting the state’s cigarette tax to $2 per pack, up from $1.51 per pack, according to high-level sources at the Capitol.[...]
Rell will need a huge influx of money to boost education funding by nearly $3.4 billion over the next five years. Cities and towns have been fighting for more education funding for the past 15 years, but Govs. Lowell P. Weicker Jr., John G. Rowland and Rell have never been able to deliver the large funding increases that would allow the state to pay for 50 percent of local education costs. The percentage has varied through the years, but has always remained far short of 50 percent.