TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/071591/0715103.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 3.9 KB | 84 lines

                                                                                NATION, Page 24

CONNECTICUT

Weicker Goes His Own Way


By TOM CURRY


    In Connecticut, Fourth of July celebrations began with
all the pizazz of a damp firecracker. As dawn broke over Ham
monasset Beach State Park last Tuesday, rangers routed campers
out of their tents and ordered them to leave. In Hartford a few
hours later, agencies ranging from the department of banking to
the board of pardons failed to open their doors as 20,000 state
employees began an indefinite furlough.

    For some campers, the holiday disruption caused by the
state's fiscal crisis turned out to be mercifully brief. Three
Connecticut companies chipped in $43,000 to keep Hammonasset and
two other state beaches open through the weekend. But how soon
state employees will return to work depends on how quickly
Governor Lowell Weicker can hammer out his differences with the
legislature over his plan to create a state income tax.

    Imposing income taxes in a state that has shunned them for
more than two centuries would be a daunting political challenge
for any Governor. It is especially difficult for Weicker
because he has so few cards to play. One of two Governors
elected last November as independents (the other is Walter
Hickel of Alaska), Weicker does not have many allies among
either the Democrats who control the legislature or the
Republicans from whose ranks he defected last year.

    All sides agree that Connecticut must raise more revenues.
The state is faced with a $2.7 billion deficit in its $7.8
billion budget, proportionately the largest of any state's. With
no income tax, Connecticut relies on an 8% sales tax on such
consumer durables as cars, television sets and furniture --
exactly the sort of products consumers stop buying in an
economic slowdown. When the current recession hit last summer,
state revenues declined.

    There is little disagreement on the need to curb spending.
Though Connecticut's population grew only 5.8% during the past
decade, outlays for government programs more than doubled. State
funding helped boost the pay of Connecticut teachers 53% in the
1980s, giving them average salaries of $40,496, second highest
in the nation. The state created new programs for the mentally
handicapped and embarked on a costly prison-building program.

    To Weicker, who earned a reputation as a stubborn and
short-tempered maverick during three terms in the U.S. Senate,
the solution was obvious: cut the sales levy and impose a 6%
income tax. Addressing the legislature in February, Weicker
argued that without tax reform, "our Connecticut, as we envision
it, would slip away." But the lack of party ties that made it
possible for Weicker to conceive a tax that neither Democrats
nor Republicans would propose doomed the idea. With no partisan
motive for aiding Weicker, the leaders of both parties helped
defeat his plan last month.

    Then, having run out of alternatives as the July 1
deadline for approving a budget neared, the lower house of the
legislature reversed course and approved an income tax of 4.75%.
But hours later, it was voted down in the state senate. Instead,
the legislature tried to extend the sales tax to everything from
haircuts to boat-slip rentals. Declaring that "it's up to me to
harbor the resources of the state as best I can," Weicker vetoed
the legislature's budget and suspended nonessential services.

    Since there is enough money in the state treasury to pay
workers for several weeks, Weicker's shutdown was mainly
designed to pressure lawmakers during round-the-clock
negotiations that continued into the weekend. But the Governor
will get the reform he has championed only when legislators
become convinced that a more balanced tax system is the best way
to end the boom-and-bust cycles of state budgetmaking.