Yankee Institute Offers Take On Economic Recovery

Don’t raise taxes. Pause the minimum wage increase. Entice remote workers to Connecticut.

These measures will help Connecticut chart a path out of the pandemic-related recession, in the view of Yankee Institute Policy Director Ken Girardin.

The conservative state think tank promotes shrinking government control over business in general and especially during the pandemic.

“State government needs to — first and foremost — send some clear signals to the business community that the state’s business climate is not going to get worse,” he said. ​“Pausing the minimum wage increase scheduled for later this year would be a good signal. The governor’s already made a good signal by saying that he’s going to resist further tax increases.”

Girardin discussed these policy ideas on the Municipal Voice, a co-production of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and WNHH.

He lauded Gov. Ned Lamont’s plan not to raise taxes over the next two years. Girardin would rather solve state revenue woes with more taxpayers instead.

For example, Connecticut could incentivize people moving to the state as a good place to remote work.

“There’s a great opportunity as people become more and more remote for Connecticut to capture a bigger share of those folks,” Girardin says.

Girardin offered his takes on a variety of upcoming initiatives and legislation as well.

Girardin said that the regional Transportation Climate Initiative is going to become problematic over time. At least one state—New Hampshire—has dropped out of the initiative, which Girardin sees as a sign of the cap-and-invest pact’s doom.

The money that would otherwise go to fixing bridges and highways will now create a big pot of money, 35% of which would have to be spent on climate justice matters in very specific communities, he said. Those funds would be better off directed specifically to failing bridges and highways through an already existent fund – that ​“reduces the pressure for us to take other taxes, sales taxes, income taxes, and plow that money over there.”

Girardin also objected to the collective bargaining changes in S.B. 908, a bill sponsored by New Haven State Sen. Martin Looney. Girardin fears that ​“plainly unconstitutional” parts of the bill will land town and city leaders across the state in court rooms, incurring tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees.

Instead, Girardin would like to see more power transferred from the state to cities and towns.

“We would really like to see structural reforms that make it easier for local governments to control their own costs, place more decision making at the local level, and basically embrace the fact that we have all these people who are more in tune with their community needs and can often do a better job making decisions about services should be delivered,” Girardin said.