Talking Taxes, U.S. Senator Stumps For Aspiring State Senator

Chris Murphy came to his door Tuesday afternoon, Paul Lee did not ask about Supreme Court nominations or federal aid packages. Instead, he asked the U.S. senator what almost every Hamden voter asks when a politician comes to the door: When will our taxes decrease?

In the U.S. Senate, Murphy can affect Hamden’s taxes only from a thousand miles above. What Hamden needs, Murphy said, is to elect Jorge Cabrera to the State Senate.

Murphy had joined Cabrera for a dusk canvass on a quiet residential street in Hamden Tuesday afternoon. Cabrera and Murphy have known each other through two decades worth of elections and political offices. Murphy was in his first term in the State House of Representatives, and was still in law school, when he interviewed Cabrera, a fresh-eyed college graduate, for a position as a legislative aid in Hartford.

Cabrera, a fellow Democrat, is running for the 17th State Senate District, which includes parts of Hamden, Naugatuck, and Woodbridge, and all of Ansonia, Derby, Bethany, and Beacon Falls. He ran for the seat lost to incumbent Republican George Logan by 77 votes in 2018. Now the two are in rematch, in one of the state’s closest and most closely watched legislative races.

When Cabrera and Murphy knocked on a door at the end of the street, Tamara Lee opened it. Her eyes widened when she recognized her senator standing in her driveway in a blue jacket and black mask.

She stepped back into her house and got her husband Paul, who sat down on the porch.

The family moved into their house in 2000, Paul Lee told Murphy. ​“Since then really for us tax-wise has been a real struggle,” he said. Their taxes are now double what they were when the family moved in. ​“That’s been the hardest part for us,” he said. He said he tries to have as much deducted from his paycheck for income tax as possible so it forces him to save for property taxes and he can pay them at the end of the year using his refund.

“My big question is: What are you going to do to reduce mainly the property taxes?” he asked.

Murphy is not running for office this election cycle, and does not determine Connecticut or Hamden tax policy, but he offered his thoughts.

“To me, property taxes is the most insane way to fund local government,” he replied. ​“It’s totally regressive.”

He said it’s not his place to tell the state legislature how to conduct its business. But he said in general, tax systems should be based on how much people can actually pay. Income tax does a better job of assessing that ability than property taxes do, he said. Local property taxes also put an undue burden on communities with high need, like Hamden and New Haven.

The federal government can play its part, too, Murphy said, by raising more money from wealthier Americans and from corporations, reducing the burden on municipalities to come up with property tax revenue.

If elected to the State Senate, Cabrera could offer more immediate tax relief to Hamdenites like Lee struggling because of the town’s fiscal woes, the candidate argued. Cabrera said he would like to create a capital gains tax in Connecticut and increase the top marginal income tax rate for the wealthiest residents of the state. Collecting more revenue would allow the state to provide more relief to financially strained municipalities like Hamden, he said.

He said he supports tax reforms ​“that get away from being overly reliant on local property taxes, because it’s regressive.”

Logan, Cabrera’s opponent, has argued that the solution to the heavy tax burden in Hamden is to get rid of regulations in order to encourage businesses to move to the state. Fewer regulations and lower taxes would allow businesses to employ more people, improving the state’s tax base, Logan argues.

Read more about their differences on the role of government here, and about a debate that highlighted their disagreements over regulation and the tax burden here.

“Catastrophe”

Murphy did not talk just about taxes Tuesday. He was fresh off a hopeless battle in the U.S. Senate to prevent the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Barrett was sworn in Tuesday morning after a mostly partisan 52 – 48 vote.

With a case coming to the court that could allow the court to strike down the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Murphy and other Democrats have said Barrett’s nomination could be the death knell for the Obama-era healthcare reform.

“We just did the Supreme Court vote,” Murphy said Tuesday in a brief Facebook-lived stump speech delivered at the end of a cul de sac to his two aides, Hamden Democratic Town Committee Chair Sean Grace, and this reporter. ​“This nominee is likely going to strike down the Affordable Care Act, and we’re going to need people in Hartford like Jorge that are going to fight to repair a healthcare system the Supreme Court might break.”

Cabrera said healthcare reform would be one of his top priorities in the Senate. He has advocated for a public option in the state, voicing his support for a bill Sen. Matt Lesser and Rep. Sean Scanlon introduced last year.

If the Supreme Court does end up overturning the ACA, Murphy said, ​“I think there will be limited ability for the legislature to fix the catastrophe” that would result.

He said that at least 200,000 people in the state could lose their healthcare coverage. The legislature’s options, he said, would depend on what the U.S. congress is able to pass.