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Page 34

Connecticut

John G. Rowland, Republican

Legislature: Democratic

Took Office: 1/95

Grade: A

John Rowland has shone as Connecticut's governor, help-

ing clean up the wreckage left by the catastrophic policies

of his one-term predecessor Lowell Weicker.  In 1991 Weicker

signed into law Connecticut's first income tax and used the

revenues to finance a massive budget buildup from 1991

through 1994.  By contrast, Rowland has been one of Amer-

ica's most tight-fisted governors over the past four years.

He has enacted tough welfare-to-work requirements, frozen

the state government workforce, held overall expenditure

growth to below the inflation rate, and converted the $500

million budget deficit he inherited into a nearly $1 billion

four-year surplus.  This year he called for giving back $125

million of that surplus to taxpayers in the form of a one-

time rebate.  During his tenure he has aggressively cut

taxes.  He has cut the personal income tax, the corporate

tax, the gas tax, and the property tax.  Under Rowland, Con-

necticut has recovered all of the nearly 100,000 jobs that

were lost during the bleak Weicker years.  The state now has

an unemployment rate of just 4.3 percent.  One troubling

sign is that Rowland's latest budget was by far his worst.

The Hartford Courant wrote that "Rowland proposes pouring

money into traditional Democratic programs--education, the

environment, children's programs, and rent and nursing home

subsidies for the elderly."  Even with the spate of tax cut-

ting, Connecticut's tax burden is still the sixth highest in

the nation.  Also troubling is that Rowland has backed away

from his earlier goal of repealing the hated income tax--

without which Connecticut survived for 200 years.  Repeal

should be the state's number-one economic priority.

Score

Grade

Rank

Overall Fiscal Policy Score

74

A

2

Spending Score

85

A

2

Revenue and Tax Rate Score

69

B

2

Amount

-1.7%

Average Annual Change in Real Per Capita Direct General Spending through 1996

-5.2%

Average Annual Change in Direct General Spending Per $1,000 Personal Income through 1996

-1.8%

Average Annual Recommended Change in Real Per Capita General Fund Spending through 1999

-2.7%

Average Annual Change in General Fund Spending Per $1,000 Personal Income 1996-98

1.7%

Average Annual Change in Real Per Capita Tax Revenue through 1997

-1.3%

Average Annual Change in Tax Revenue Per $1,000 Personal Income through 1997

-5.2%

Average Annual Recommended Change in General Fund Revenue Per $1,000 Personal Income through 1999

-1.1%

Average Annual Change in Real Per Capita General Fund Revenue 1996-98

-1.3%

Average Annual Recommended Tax Changes as % of Prior Year's Spending through 1999

0.0

Change in Top Personal Income Tax Rate, proposed and/or enacted (% points)

-3.0

Change in Top Corporate Income Tax Rate, proposed and/or enacted (% points)

14.0

1998 Combined Top Income Tax Rates (Personal plus Corporate) (*0.5)

0.0

Change in Sales Tax Rate, proposed and/or enacted (% points)

0.0

Change in Gas Tax Rate, proposed and/or enacted (cents per gallon) (*0.5)