The Democrat-controlled Appropriations and Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committees have wrapped-up their budget packages for the next two years, with unanimous Republican opposition to the two bills that increase funding for special education costs and create a child tax credit while also slightly increasing taxes on Connecticut’s wealthiest 1%.
“Last week’s budget votes showed that the Republican minority party stands with millionaires while Democrats stand with middle-class families and children,” said Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff. “How else do you explain Republicans rejecting a tax break to help half a million Connecticut kids while opposing a tax change that impacts less than 1% of our richest taxpayers? It’s time for Connecticut Republicans to quit protecting the millionaires at the expense of everyday families.”
The Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committee bill Senate Bill 1246 contains several provisions, two of the most important of which are $165 million in child tax credits that would benefit 553,000 children in the state, and a new surcharge on capital gains and other earnings for couples making over $2 million a year that would affect less than 1% of Connecticut taxpayers.
Republicans voted unanimously against that bill, with one Republican legislator complaining that reading the bill made him “sick” while another Republican legislator complained generically that “the people in this state have had enough tax increases.”
Just a day earlier, Democrats on the Appropriations Committee proposed a $49.1 billion General Fund budget for FY 2026-27 which was amended at the last moment to include another $84 million in special education funding in each year of the two-year budget. The amendment passed 45-6 with broad bipartisan support from both Republicans and Democrats.
But when Republicans proposed to pay for the extra special education funding by cutting $84 million out of the budgets for UConn and the state university system, Democrats opposed them. When the final vote on the amended biennial state budget was taken, every single Republican voted against it.
