NORWALK – Florida Gov. Rick Scott, elected the same day as Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, said his track record is what is attracting business to the Sunshine State.
“I’ve cut taxes every year since I’ve come into office,” said Scott. “This year, $427 million and last year $500 million.”
While Connecticut’s projected budget deficit sits near $2 billion, Scott said he’s erased a nearly $4 billion deficit since taking office by creating an environment that’s better for business than Connecticut.
“We’ve added 879,000 more jobs in four years and five months, while in Connecticut it’s 60,000 jobs,” said Scott, a Republican.
Malloy proponents said a major reason why Connecticut’s businesses should not leave is because of the education children are afforded here.
“Part of the reason that United Technologies has made its home here is because of our higher education structure, because we have a terrific workforce,” said Lori Pelletier, of the Connecticut AFL-CIO.
Scott said Florida’s quality of education has done an about-face on his watch.
“We had the highest student achievement gains in K-12 education last year for low-income students in the United States,” said Scott.
Bart Shuldman, CEO of TransAct Technologies, who invited Scott to be part of a business forum at the Norwalk Inn and Conference Center, employs approximately 40 people in Hamden, and says his hobby is studying Connecticut’s budget.
“These are the facts. We’ve gonna to run a deficit in 2018,” he said. “Our problem is not going away. Our liabilities are only going to grow.”
Nick Balletto, the Chairman of the Connecticut Democratic Party, who owns a tax accounting firm, said rising taxes aren’t the real problem in Connecticut.
“It’s not government that’s squeezing us. It’s the utilities,” he said. “It’s, all the other extenuating circumstances that we have to deal with in businesses that keep going up and up and up.”
Scott, who said some Connecticut businesses relocated to Florida two years after he issued an open letter to businesses, added that Connecticut’s workforce has grown by 4,000 during Malloy’s term, compared to 334,000 while he’s been on the clock in Tallahassee.
