SEN. SAMPSON: CONNECTICUT RESIDENTS DESERVE THE WHOLE STORY ON AFFORDABILITY

The following information was released by the Connecticut State Senate Republicans:

State Sen. Rob Sampson (R-16) joined Connecticut Senate and House Republicans today as they outlined their "A More Affordable Connecticut" plan aimed at providing tax, energy, health insurance, and other cost-of-living relief to Connecticut residents.

Connecticut Republicans will seek to return money back to taxpayers in the following ways:

Income tax reductions beginning on January 1, 2028

Eliminate the Highway Use Tax on July 1, 2027

Eliminate Sales Tax on Meals sold at Grocery Stores

Implement a One Year Gas Tax Holiday beginning on July 1, 2027

Incentivize Municipalities to Offer Homestead Exemptions

Implement Association Health Plans in order to reduce insurance premiums by 15% to 30%

Eliminate the Public Benefits Charge on electricity bills

Sen. Sampson pointed to years of Republican affordability proposals and called on the media to give Connecticut residents the full story about what happens at the State Capitol, including the tax relief Republicans have proposed and how lawmakers have voted.

Sen. Sampson issued the following statement:

"This is not the first time this year that we have held a press conference to discuss the direction Connecticut needs to go to become more affordable.

We've been doing it year after year after year.

It's a frustration. It's an election season and a lot of us are spending time meeting with constituents, going door to door, and we're hearing the same frustrations. People are very concerned about being able to pay their bills.

There are people facing difficult decisions about whether they're going to buy their medication or whether they're going to pay their Eversource bill. We need better.

But the other thing people tell me is that they have no idea about what's going on here in the State Capitol. They don't realize what the majority party is doing. They don't realize the efforts that I'm making and my colleagues are making.

It is very, very important, and frankly incumbent upon the press, to make sure that the whole story is told. Instead of simply saying, 'Well, the Democrats said this and the Republicans said that,' how about we tell the true story?

How about we tell them about what happened when we stood up and offered an amendment to cut income taxes, to cut payroll taxes and to cut car taxes? The vote in the Senate was 25 to 11. Twenty-five noes on cutting those taxes and only 11 yeses.

We came back later this year to do a budget adjustment. We offered another amendment that would have cut the three lowest income tax rates and other taxes. Ultimately, the Office of Fiscal Analysis said that it would result in significant savings to Connecticut taxpayers. And you know what the vote was? Again, 11 Republican yeses to 25 Democrat noes.

We can't keep going on like this, and we can't keep going on without the people of Connecticut realizing who's actually working for them.

So I'm going to ask my friends in the press: Please tell this story. Make sure that people know they have an actual choice.

I hear my Democratic colleagues out there campaigning every day on the subject of affordability as if they just discovered it now. It's absurd.

The people of Connecticut deserve to know the whole story."