Rell has also at last provided her Republican colleagues a reason to live and maybe even a means to finally thrive again in the state should Democrats continue to belittle her proposal.
For most of Connecticut, the defining issue for voters is the ever-increasing total tax burden - a burden that Rell proposed to exacerbate with a major increase in the income tax to fund increased education spending.
Point of reference: According to the Tax Foundation, Connecticut residents will be the last in the country to achieve "tax freedom" when, on May 20, they finally begin working for themselves instead of the governments.
Rell's municipal tax cap was immediately and wrongly ridiculed by House Speaker James Amman, who claimed it would lead to "chaos." We hope that Amann, usually a sensible voice from his side of the aisle, will rethink his position.
Massachusetts has lived with Proposition 21/2, which similarly limits municipal budget growth, for more than 20 years since taxpayers demanded the plan by referendum - a constitutional process not allowed in Connecticut. Today it is Connecticut that is more heavily taxed than the Commonwealth then derisively known as Taxachusetts.
We urge Rell and her allies to fight for this proposal to win for Connecticut a future of economic stability and growth.
