Boughton pushes for state income tax repeal
Mark Boughton is molding himself as the anti-Lowell Weicker Jr.
The longtime Danbury mayor — trying to separate himself from a pack of Republicans with gubernatorial ambitions — wants to abolish the state income tax ushered in by Weicker a quarter-century ago.
Connecticut has a spending problem, not a revenue problem, said Boughton, who blamed the income tax for the exodus of residents and businesses to other states. Since it came onto the books, he said, the state has lost $13.7 billion in net adjusted gross income.
Boughton would offset lost income-tax revenue with a downsizing of state government and regionalization of some municipal services.
“Obviously, one only has to look at companies like Aetna and GE,” he said. “I recently met with some portfolio managers in lower Fairfield County. Probably 70 to 80 percent of them are leaving.”
