HARTFORD - An estimated 750 tea partiers descended upon the state Capitol Friday to complain about Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's $1.9 billion tax package.
Carrying signs and flags, the protestors complained loudly about Malloy's proposed increases in the income, sales, corporation, gasoline, and cigarette taxes. They gathered on the north side of the Capitol - a traditional gathering place for protests through the years.
"No more taxes. Period!'' said Tom Scott, a former state senator and longtime tax opponent who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1994. "We are not here to compromise.''
Scott told the crowd that they need more state senators like the Republicans who had gathered under the north portico of the Capitol.
"If Len Suzio can win in Meriden, Connecticut ... there is hope for the future of Connecticut,'' Scott said of the Democratic-leaning city. "Imagine 19 senators like Joe Markley and Len Suzio. It is doable.''
Senate Republican leader John McKinney of Fairfield also attended the rally, saying he was there to listen and not to address the crowd. While Malloy has referred to the tax increases for the past two months as $1.5 billion in the first year, McKinney said the real number is $1.9 billion because it should include about $300 million in taxes on hospitals and additional increases for rental cars and hotel rooms that towns would be allowed to impose.
Despite strong Republican opposition, McKinney predicted that the tax increases would likely be approved because of the large margins that Democrats hold in each chamber. The Democrats have 99 House members, but they need only 76 votes in the 151-member chamber to pass the tax increases. In the Senate, Democrats have 22 members, but only 18 votes are needed. If there is a tie in the 36-member Senate, Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman would break it in favor of the tax package.
"They've got the votes to pass it,'' McKinney told Capitol Watch.
The official crowd estimate by the Capitol police, which has handled the estimates for decades at both liberal and conservative protests, was 750 people. Some of the Tea Party supporters thought the number was even higher, which often happens from members in the crowd.
Roy Occhiogrosso, Malloy's senior advisor, said he had not heard any of the speeches from his Capitol office, but he added that the protestors have the right to assemble.
"To the extent they're exercising their right to free speech, of course the governor supports that,'' Occhiogrosso said. "The governor supports people's right to speak their mind and knows there's a lot of opposition to the tax plan.''
Concerning the appearance of Republican legislators at the rally, Occhiogrosso said, "I don't think the Tea Party has been a positive influence on the Republican Party, but that's up to them to decide. They have every right to support the Tea Party.''
Despite stronger results nationally, Occhiogrosso noted that Republicans did not perform well in last November's election in Connecticut, where they lost all five Congressional races, the governor's office, and all statewide constitutional offices.
Malloy heard extensive complaints about his tax-increase plan during 17 town hall meetings that stretched from Greenwich to New London and Norwich. This week, he dropped his plan to eliminate the $500 property tax credit and is now instead calling for a maximum credit of $300 for families earning up to $130,000 annually.
Sources say that the tax-writing finance committee will reduce Malloy's plans to create an earned income tax credit for the first time in state history at 30 percent of the federal rate. That number would be dropped by legislators to 15 percent to help pay for the millions needed to fund the property tax credit.
Occhiogrosso would not confirm or deny the 15 percent figure on the earned income tax credit.
"We'll have to wait and see what happens,'' he said.
State Rep. Patricia Widlitz, the co-chairwoman of the tax committee, also would not confirm or deny the proposed change in the EITC.
The New Haven-based Voices For Children has strongly supported the EITC, saying that it is a key proposal for the poor in order to offset the increases in sales taxes that Malloy has proposed.