Connecticut’s Senate MAGA caucus promised residents more than $1.5 billion in tax relief in early February
Months later, the caucus had not submitted a bill, scheduled a hearing, or produced fiscal analysis, with less than three weeks left in the session
Senate Democrats have advanced their own tax relief proposals through committee, including Senate Bill 1, which would cut taxes on groceries, clothing, and household essentials
Months after promising Connecticut residents more than a billion dollars in tax relief, the Senate MAGA caucus had yet to submit a bill, schedule a hearing, or produce nonpartisan fiscal analysis as of Monday, with less than three weeks left in the session.
Connecticut Senate Republicans rushed in front of television cameras in early February to tout an “affordability plan,” which the CT Mirror described as a “huge departure” from the caucus’s purported support for fiscal guardrails and a plan that would “struggle to remain balanced.”
But in the months since their press conference, the MAGA caucus has been content to allow their “affordability plan” to remain an abstract catalog of promises even as the General Assembly’s Democratic majority have advanced their own tax relief proposals through the legislative process ahead of the session’s May 6 deadline.
On Monday, Senate Democrats questioned the status of the Republican promises. In a joint statement, Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney and Majority Leader Bob Duff said the MAGA caucus had produced nothing on paper.
“The public, the media, and legislators have no bill number, no fiscal analysis, and no public hearing,” Looney and Duff said. “Just more campaign talking points and empty promises. It is as real as Donald Trump’s promise to lower prices on Day 1 — which is to say, it was never real at all.”
According to the Mirror, the Senate Republicans’ “plan” would have represented a shift from the caucus’s apparent support for savings policies that have helped to replenish Connecticut’s budget reserves.
However, state fiscal analysts never got the chance to evaluate the GOP proposal because the caucus never submitted it as legislation or made an effort to make good on their tax relief promises.
Looney and Duff said the GOP’s “half-baked,” “press release budget” appeared to saddle future generations with debt, but suggested it was difficult to measure the plan’s economic consequences given Republicans’ failure to submit their promises in writing.
Democrats, meanwhile, have vetted and advanced budget proposals through the Appropriations and Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committees. Those proposals include Senate Bill 1, which would cut taxes on groceries, clothing, and household essentials while creating new credits for renters and family caregivers.
“Connecticut families dealing with thousands of dollars of increased costs imposed on them by the Trump regime’s tariffs, pointless war, and reckless governance deserve real tax relief, not a social media stunt designed to fool voters into thinking his Connecticut MAGA allies have a plan,” Looney and Duff said. “The Democrats will deliver actual, vetted tax cuts as part of a responsible budget before this session ends.”
By Hugh McQuaid