Using a decisive election victory to take a political risk, Gov. M. Jodi Rell on Wednesday proposed raising Connecticut’s income tax to 5.5 percent from 5 percent to pay for a $3.4 billion increase in education spending over the next five years.
Ms. Rell also proposed increasing the state’s cigarette tax by 49 cents, to $2 a pack, which her assistants said would bring in an additional $169.2 million during the next two years.
In delivering her budget message to the Democratic-controlled State Legislature, Ms. Rell, a Republican, characterized the income tax increase as a “wrenching decision,” but said it was the best way to pay for the record-breaking increase in financing the state’s public schools. But even as she called for increased taxes as part of her $35.8 billion, two-year budget plan, Ms. Rell also proposed eliminating the estate tax and the often-criticized car tax, which local governments assess on automobiles at widely varying rates.