Connecticut’s budget and spending policies, coupled with poor industry labor practices and high property taxes, are draining its economic vitality, a study shows.
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) ranks Connecticut 36th in economic outlook in its 2010 Rich States, Poor States economic study, down four places from last year’s ranking. In 2008, ALEC ranked Connecticut No. 40.
Also, Connecticut ranks 45th in economic performance in the latest study from the council, which describes itself as a nonpartisan association of senior state legislators who advocate a free-market system.
“We cannot spend, borrow, or tax our way into prosperity,” State Sen. Kevin Witkos, ALEC’s Connecticut state chairman, said in a statement Wednesday accompanying the study. “State government must learn to live within its means as we continually look for ways to make our great state more competitive and cultivate a business climate that will produce jobs.”
Witkos, a first-term Republican in the 8th District, represents Avon, Simsbury, Canton, New Hartford, Barkhamsted, Hartland, Colebrook, Norfolk, Granby, Torrington, and Harwinton.
Among neighboring New England states, Rhode Island’s economic outlook ranks 45th and Massachusetts ranks 32nd.
Utah, Colorado, Arizona, South Dakota and Florida, in order, are the five top five states with a positive economic outlook in the 2010 survey.
The bottom five, in descending order, are California, Illinois, New Jersey, Vermont and New York.
Noted economist Arthur B. Laffer co-authored the ALEC study, Stephen Moore, senior economics writer at The Wall Street Journal, and Jonathan Williams, director of ALEC’s Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force. Together, they analyzed how economic competitiveness drives income, population, and job growth in the states.
“Our research shows that states with responsible spending and competitive tax rates enjoy the best economic outlook,” Williams said. “States do not enact changes in a vacuum – every time they increase the cost of doing business in their state, their state brand immediately loses value.”
