They Promised It Would Stay Low
In 1991, Connecticut became the last state in New England to adopt a broad-based income tax. The rate was 4.5%. Supporters said it would close a budget gap, relieve pressure on property taxes, and put the state on stable fiscal footing.
Thirty-four years later, the rate has climbed to 6.99%. Property taxes rank 49th out of 50 states according to the Tax Foundation. The state carries $79 billion in long-term debt. Major corporations have fled. Population grew just 8.8% over three decades while New Hampshire grew 24%. And the budget is three and a half times larger than it was the day the tax was signed.
Connecticut ran the experiment. The results are in.
Before the Tax
Before 1991, Connecticut had no broad-based income tax. Like New Hampshire today, it relied on other revenue sources: an 8% sales tax (the highest in the nation at the time), a capital gains tax, taxes on interest and dividends, and a 13.8% corporate tax rate (also the nation's highest). Property taxes were already high.
The late 1980s brought a spending boom fueled by defense contracts, insurance, and financial services. When the 1990-91 recession hit, the bubble popped. Connecticut's recession began earlier and ran deeper than almost any other state. The state faced a $963 million budget deficit and had run five consecutive end-of-year shortfalls.
The Man Who Promised "No"
Lowell Weicker won the 1990 governor's race as an independent, running under his own "A Connecticut Party" label. During the campaign, he said implementing an income tax during a recession would be like "pouring gasoline on a fire."
Voters heard that as a pledge. It wasn't. Within months of taking office, Weicker reversed course. He said his decision was "driven by the numbers." On February 13, 1991, he proposed a 6% income tax paired with a cut to the sales tax.
What followed was one of the most contentious legislative battles in Connecticut history.
The Vote
Weicker vetoed three budgets that didn't include an income tax. He shut down state government, keeping Connecticut's state parks closed over the Fourth of July. On August 22, 1991, after 17 hours of continuous debate and 53 days into the fiscal year with no budget, the legislature voted.
The Senate tied 18-18. Lieutenant Governor Eunice Groark cast the deciding vote. The House passed it 75-73. The income tax became law by the slimmest margins possible.
The final rate: a flat 4.5%. The sales tax was cut from 8% to 6%.
“It lets the genie out of the bottle. Once it's out, it ain't never going back in.”Rep. J. Peter Fusscas (R-Marlborough), during the 1991 House debate
40,000 People Said No
On October 5, 1991, an estimated 40,000 to 65,000 people descended on the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford. It was one of the largest protests in the state's history. Aerial photographs showed a crowd so thick the Capitol lawn was no longer visible.
Protesters burned Weicker in effigy. They erected a "Wall of Shame" listing every legislator who voted yes. They pinned tea bags to their clothes. Signs read "Taxation without representation." When Weicker walked into the crowd, people spit at him and cursed him until state police pulled him back inside.
The tax was not repealed.
The Rate Creep
The 4.5% flat tax lasted five years. In 1996, Connecticut converted it to a progressive system. Then the brackets multiplied. The rates climbed. Every few years, a "temporary" increase or a "small adjustment" pushed the number higher.
| Year | What Changed | Top Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Income tax enacted | 4.5% |
| 1996 | Converted to progressive brackets | 4.5% |
| 2003 | Top bracket raised | 5.0% |
| 2009 | New bracket added for high earners | 6.5% |
| 2011 | Expanded to six brackets | 6.7% |
| 2015 | Seventh bracket added | 6.99% |
From a single flat rate of 4.5%, Connecticut now has seven brackets with a top rate of 6.99%. That is a 55% increase in the top rate over 34 years. The brackets aren't adjusted for inflation, so more taxpayers get pushed into higher brackets every year. And thanks to a "recapture provision," high earners effectively pay 6.99% on all of their income, not just the top bracket. The Tax Foundation calls it "one of the most complex and least neutral individual income tax systems in the nation."
The corporate side is no better. Connecticut's baseline corporate income tax rate is 7.5%, and businesses with gross proceeds over $100 million pay an additional 10% surtax on top of that. The state doesn't allow federal bonus depreciation. It caps net operating loss deductions. No wonder GE left.
Rep. Fusscas was right. The genie never went back in the bottle.
The Property Tax Lie
Supporters sold the income tax partly as a way to lower property taxes. That was the deal. Take the burden off homeowners. Shift it to a broader, "fairer" base.
Here's what happened.
Tax Foundation, 2026
Connecticut's effective property tax rate is 1.92%, according to the Yankee Institute. That is higher than New York (1.60%), Massachusetts (1.11%), and Rhode Island (1.32%). The state's response to high property taxes? A property tax credit against the income tax worth up to $300. That is the "relief" residents got in exchange for a 6.99% income tax.
Thirty-four years after the income tax was supposed to fix property taxes, Connecticut has both. The income tax didn't replace the property tax. It was added on top of it.
Where the Money Went
If the income tax didn't lower property taxes, where did the money go?
CT Mirror
State spending grew 71% faster than inflation between 1991 and 2014. "Non-functional" spending on pensions, retiree benefits, and debt service went from 17% of the budget to 31%. Connecticut's pension system is funded at just 52%, ranking 48th out of 50 states. The bonded debt per capita is $7,988, more than four times the national average and the highest in the country.
“The income tax in Connecticut did not bring spending restraint, an end to fiscal crises, stability, economic growth, fairness, better schools, uncongested roads or an end to exploding pension liabilities.”Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform, 2016
Connecticut adopted a constitutional spending cap in 1992 to accompany the income tax. The legislature has exceeded it at least eight times. Lawmakers learned to reclassify spending, move pension payments off the books, and redirect costs through municipalities to avoid the cap. The cap was supposed to be the guardrail. It was a speed bump.
The Exodus
Connecticut's population tells the story. According to the Federal Reserve's FRED database, Connecticut went from 3,289,000 people in 1990 to 3,580,000 in 2020. That is 8.8% growth in 30 years. From 2010 to 2020, Connecticut's population was essentially flat, growing by 0.01%. Over the same 1990-2020 period, New Hampshire grew from 1,112,000 to 1,379,000, a gain of 24%. The nation grew by over 20%.
The wealthy left first. Hedge fund managers who made Greenwich the financial capital of the Northeast relocated to Florida one by one: Edward Lampert, Paul Tudor Jones, David Tepper, Thomas Peterffy, Leon Cooperman. They took billions in taxable income with them.
Then the corporations followed. General Electric left Fairfield for Boston in 2016, citing state tax policy. Aetna moved to New York in 2017, calling out Connecticut's "lack of fiscal order." Alexion Pharmaceuticals left New Haven for Boston. Tax revenue from the state's top 100 highest-paying taxpayers dropped 45% in a single year.
IRS data shows Connecticut lost 6,467 residents and $1.06 billion in adjusted gross income on net in 2021-22. Florida alone absorbed nearly 10,000 Connecticut residents, taking $1.53 billion in income. The only states sending significant numbers of people to Connecticut were other high-tax states: New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey.
The Scorecard
Thirty-four years after enacting an income tax to solve its fiscal problems, here is where Connecticut stands:
| Metric | Connecticut | New Hampshire |
|---|---|---|
| Income tax | 2% - 6.99% (7 brackets) | None |
| Sales tax | 6.35% | None |
| Overall tax competitiveness | 47th (score: 4.17) | 3rd (score: 7.23) |
| Individual income tax rank | 46th | 1st |
| Sales tax rank | 19th | 1st |
| Property tax rank | 49th | 44th |
| Population growth (1990-2020) | ~10% | ~25% |
| Poverty rate | ~10% | 7.2% (lowest) |
| Bonded debt per capita | $7,988 (highest in US) | Below national avg ($1,808) |
| Pension funding | 52% (48th) | Funded |
Source: Tax Foundation, 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index
The Tax Foundation ranks Connecticut 47th overall and 46th on individual income taxes. It calls Connecticut's system "one of the most complex and least neutral individual income tax systems in the nation." The recapture provision effectively taxes all income at the highest marginal rate for high earners. The brackets aren't even adjusted for inflation.
New Hampshire ranks 3rd overall, 1st in individual income taxes, and 1st in sales taxes. Both states rank poorly on property taxes (CT 49th, NH 44th). But NH compensates by not taxing income or sales at all. Connecticut taxes everything and still ranks near the bottom.
Connecticut got the income tax. New Hampshire didn't. Look at the scoreboard.
The Pattern
Connecticut is not an outlier. The pattern repeats everywhere.
Delaware created a personal income tax in 1917 at 1%. It tripled to 3% in five years. Hit 6.25% by 1949. Reached 11% by 1962. Peaked at 19.8% in 1974. That is a 1,880% increase in 57 years.
California passed Proposition 30 in 2012 as a "temporary" increase to the top rate, pushing it to 13.3%. It remains the highest state income tax rate in America today.
Connecticut itself tried this before. In 1971, the legislature passed an income tax during a fiscal crisis. After massive public protests, they repealed it 42 days later. Twenty years later, they did it again. This time the protests didn't work.
The lesson is simple: income taxes start small and grow. Always. The political incentive to spend is permanent. The "temporary" label never survives the first budget cycle.
The Warning for New Hampshire
In March 2026, advocates in New Hampshire proposed the "3-3 Tax Savings Plan": a 3% income tax and $3 per $1,000 property tax, projected to raise $2 billion per year for education. The plan was denounced by leaders of both parties. But the idea is out there now, and it will come back.
This is exactly the Connecticut playbook. A fiscal "crisis." A modest rate. A promise of property tax relief. A pledge that it won't grow. Connecticut heard all of this in 1991. Every word of it turned out to be wrong.
The Josiah Bartlett Center published an analysis this month using Connecticut and Delaware as direct cautionary examples for New Hampshire. Their conclusion: once an income tax exists, it never stays where it started.
New Hampshire's property taxes are high. That is real, and it matters. But the Connecticut experiment proves that an income tax does not lower property taxes. It funds new spending. It creates new obligations. It gives politicians a new tool to expand government. And once that tool exists, every future budget shortfall becomes an excuse to raise the rate.
Connecticut started at 4.5%. They're at 6.99% now, with seven brackets and the highest debt per capita in the nation. Their property taxes are still among the worst in the country. Their corporations are leaving. Their people are leaving.
New Hampshire has the chance to learn from that. Or it can repeat it.
The people who moved to this state from Connecticut already made their choice. They chose no income tax. They chose New Hampshire. The question is whether we're going to keep the thing that brought them here, or destroy it with the same policy they ran from.
Stay in the Fight
Get updates on New Hampshire freedom. No spam. Just facts.