The legislative Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committee next week will decide on the tax side of the budget, including whether the $55-per-taxpayer rebate will be included in the spending package that starts July 1. Gov. Dan Malloy (it’s Dan again, now that he’s running for re-election) was non-confrontational. “I believe, as I laid out, that when we have a surplus we should pay down our debt, we should catch up on our pension – I’m a guy who inherited a pension system that was about 42 percent funded; I put us on a trajectory to get to full funding and to do that in fairly even steps, but for every $100 million we put into that there is a substantial actuarial gain towards our bottom-line debt…So Rainy Day, pay down the pensions, return a portion to the taxpayers. That’s my message. I believe it’s the right message at the right time. I will work with the Legislature. I have a good working relationship with the chairs of that committee as well. I don’t want to use an off-the-table or settle-matter verbiage with my colleagues in the Legislature. I think they know I believe very stroingly that it should be included in the budget. I believe it will be and we’ll vote.”