McWalker: Eliminate Income Taxes For Middle Class Families

News and Events, State Politics36 Comments

Promising to eliminate “income taxes for middle class families” the Republican gubernatorial primary team John McKinney and David Walker has released their latest joint commercial that also promises to shrink state government.

“It’s a good plan … an honest plan that will bring major change to Hartford,” they declare.

The ad directs viewers to www.mckinneyforgovernor.com.

Can they do it?

McKinney’s challenging GOP endorsed Tom Foley in the August 12 primary while Bridgeport resident Walker faces two opponents for lieutenant governor. You make a bold statement about eliminating income taxes and the question arises: how you going to make up the revenue shortage? Shrinking government, okay. What you going to cut?

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36 comments

  1. You talk about the illusion of pulling a rabbit out of a hat, boy these two have done it. They have no numbers, no details, nothing but words and they are going to grow us out of our problems but they don’t tell us how. Who is the “middle class” and who’s paying for the “income taxes for middle-class families?” You can tell when someone is falling way behind when they start “pulling a rabbit out of a hat.”

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    1. Walker will eliminate taxes for wealthy individuals like himself and shift the tax burden to the poor and the struggling middle class by increasing sales taxes. He likes to privatize public services. You could end up paying for privatized fire protection. There are communities in other states that have privatized public services. The only people who have benefited are the companies that provide such services, and the politicians who have approved this turn out to have financial interests in the companies.

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      2. Dave–Dropping the taxes on the wealthy is actually a good thing and helpful to the poor. Let me ‘splain. Right now a guy making $1mil/year pays $50K/year in income tax. Let us say he has a wife and two kids in private school. He pays for private services most of us get from the government, like trash, security, etc. A middle-class family making $93.5/year pays $11.2K/year. He has two kids in public school, a garbage man, and would depend on Medicare and Social security. The ‘rich’ guy pays five time what the middle-class guy pays and uses almost no services (no cost to local, federal or state government).

        You would also have to consider the local jobs that get created by someone who leases a new car every 3-4 years, commonly redecorates, hires a lawn service, has a program of home improvement or just generally buys a lot of stuff.

        State government gets income from a variety of sources. I was wondering what the ‘break even’ income is for the state. The income someone has to make so the income taxes they pay are even to their cost as a state resident. I would have to know how much of the state budget comes from income taxes and divide that number by the population of CT. Then find out what income would pay that much income tax (single, married and married filing separate). This would be interesting because the more people we have above that ‘break even’ amount, the more money we would have to distribute to the people who are under that ‘break even’ number.

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    1. Jennifer Buchanan, I don’t mean any disrespect but that link has nothing to with the State of Connecticut, it has to do with nation. Now if I’m missing something then please point it out but one would think this new plan would be in the media, in mailings to the voters, even on OIB but there is nothing but read David Walker’s book “Come Back America.”

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      1. None taken, Ron! Specifics are on his web site walkerforct.com. A lot of his national policy translates to the state level. The mailers are going out this week, TV and radio ads are being launched. Dave’s strong suit is his success at the national level in reducing government waste and spending. He improved efficiency and reduced government waste saving several million tax dollars while head of the GOA. I know he can do the same in CT. The devil is in the details, and he is a detail expert. Recall, his workers voted and became union members while he was in the GOA. He did not oppose this move and was able to structure a fair-to-all package.

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        1. Jennifer Buchanan, here is Walker’s tax plan, “Taxes and Revenues (Reform the Tax System) – Connecticut has high tax burdens and has the latest Tax Freedom Date of any state in the union. The state relies too heavily on conventional taxes and has resorted to huge retroactive tax increases in recent years. We must not increase the overall level of taxation in Connecticut and we need to take steps to reduce relative tax burdens over time. To do so, Connecticut must engage in comprehensive tax reform that promotes growth and recognizes the economic and demographic realities in the state as well as the competitive challenges facing our state. This includes, among many things, exploring more user fees versus taxes, property tax reform, and the elimination of the many state taxes that cost more to administer than the state collects in revenue.” There NOTHING about Eliminate Income Taxes For Middle Class Families, and where is the John McKinney plan?

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          2. Ron, Chris Shays chose the state medical retirement plan over the Federal plan because the State was far more generous. I worry we as a state have overpromised and underfunded ourselves into the state most people want to leave before the real tax increases and reduced services become a reality.

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          3. Oh Ron, how do you reach socialism from keeping government (public, funded by our tax dollars) earning more salary and receiving more benefits for the same services where applicable than the public (free market, capitalist, private owned business) to help ensure our government does not overspend our hard-earned dollars? Clever of you for sure, but I would have to say wrong. I know you are no fan of the Republican Party, there are more of a couple of issues I have with the party, so I will expect you to push back everything, and will remain a respectful fan of you, even if I disagree with your interpretations from time to time.

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          4. Ron, since this is a closed-primary state, most of the focus is getting information details to registered Republicans. Tomorrow is the public launch of the full details–we will have some detailed plans to discuss after that.

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          3. Jennifer Buchanan, really? What he opposed was paying employees more than private-sector equivalent salaries? So David Walker wants is “SOCIALISM?”
            Definition of SOCIALISM:
            1: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods, a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state.

            Now the state won’t own the company but the state workers all get paid the same as private workers.

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          4. Jennifer Buchanan, I have to ask you because no else is trying give out information for the McWalker team. So how do you pay firefighters in a big city like Bridgeport compared to someone in the private sector and how do you pay for their pensions and health care?

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  5. I sure hope it comes true, but I’d rather see the property taxes eliminated. That would help the people who need it the most, the working poor and poor.

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  6. Working class???

    There are a lot of wealthy people in Fairfield and Trumbull and Monroe who think they are working middle class. It’s such a politically driven description that’s immensely overused.

    Reason I won’t vote for them. My well-off neighbor from the other side of Brooklawn in Fairfield gets a tax break and get wealthier, while my struggling working elderly neighbor in Bridgeport gets his state aid and support cut.

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    1. I am a bit confused. The example you cite has happened under the current administration. You do not seem to like what has happened, yet you are not supporting a change?

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  7. Foley should jump all over this one!
    Mckinney and Walker are promising to eliminate “income taxes for the middle class families?”
    So if the poor middle class wants to know the plan, they have to buy the book?

    You can’t make this stuff up!

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        1. Jim, Do Not MAKE Me Stop This Car! 😉 I posted the free link after that, pay attention! Keep Up! Oh never mind, you will always be you, ever stirring the pot.

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    2. Mckinney and Walker are promising to eliminate “income taxes for the middle class families?” Who is in that group, what is the cutoff amount and what about the poor middle class, what are they to do? With that money no longer coming in how are they going to pay for the tax cut? The voters need more details than what’s on their website, who’s included and who’s out of the tax cut?

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      2. Ron, Dave’s wife is a school teacher, his brother is a retired Fire Marshall in FL, both his grandparents were proud union members–and he sued Dick Cheney. Just an FYI.

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  9. I watched Gov. Malloy this morning on MSNBC “Morning Joe” and what a joke, he’s talking to the governors of New Jersey and New York, he’s saying the polls are tied between him and Foley. He did say he would welcome President Obama to come to Connecticut. Malloy needs to be reaching the voters here in Connecticut and “Morning Joe” is not the place. Malloy does have time to make some moves, but …

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  11. Here is the plan:
    Republican gubernatorial hopeful John McKinney on Thursday proposed ending income taxes for those making less than $75,000 a year.

    McKinney, the state Senate minority leader, said the $746-million cost of the tax break for a million Connecticut residents would be covered by laying off middle-management positions in state government, forcing concessions from state unions and ending the Earned Income Tax Credit for the Connecticut’s poorest residents, among other things. He said he plans to cut more than $1.4 billion from the $19-billion state budget.
    What a joke, take money from the poor and “forcing concessions” from state unions. Let them eat cake, what a Tale of Two Cities.

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