In many ways, Gov. Malloy’s plans to defeat Connecticut deficit with increased taxes and lowered spending mirrors strategies that Republicans are trying to block on a federal level.
Malloy’s advice to his party rivals on Capitol Hill?
“Grow up, quite frankly,” said Malloy on Wednesday’s edition of CNBC’s Squawk Box.
The governor was on the morning talk show to discuss his plans for job creation. Frequently criticizing state republicans for passing a large deficit to him, Malloy had no kinder words for his party opponents when the conversation turned national.
“This whole thing about the debt position is a bunch of people not wanting to take responsibility for decisions that they made or their party made in the past,” said Malloy.
His full comments can be found below, with the section regarding national policy at the 5:40 mark.
Malloy defended his economic plan of increasing taxes, cutting spending and creating incentive packets; he pointed to Cigna’s plans to move their HQ to Bloomfield as proof of an expanding job market.
Publisher and former presidential candidate Steve Forbes was also on the program, and criticized Malloy for focusing on large businesses rather than small businesses. Forbes argued that raising Connecticut tax rates would only make states more attractive.
Malloy rebutted the criticism saying that tax rates were still lower than New Jersey or New York; states he said were unable to meet their pension obligations as Connecticut could.
The only moment the governor seemed to falter was when he was asked about a carried interest tax. At first dismissing that such a tax would not happen, Malloy demurred when pressed on his personal stance.
Carried interest is the share of profits gained by the manager of a private equity or hedge fund. Usually considered a capitol gains tax, there has been talk of considering it as direct income, which may as much as double taxes to those managers.