Yankee Institute

08/31/2026

Forty-one states charge EV owners an additional registration fee to help offset the gasoline taxes they do not pay.

Connecticut charges no such fee — and offers qualifying EV buyers rebates of up to $5,000.

Should Connecticut keep subsidizing EV purchases while declining to charge the additional fee imposed by most states?

08/28/2026

CSCU had a spending problem. Now it wants a 19-person audit division with nearly $1.9 million in salaries.

Stronger oversight makes sense. But taxpayers should still get an answer to a pretty basic question: Why 19?

The state required auditing. It did not require this staffing level.
Read the piece and tell us what you think — is 19 justified, or does CSCU need to show its math first?

A spending controversy involving Connecticut’s public college system prompted investigations, new purchasing-card rules and legislation aimed at tightening financial controls. Now Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) is considering another response: a 19-person Internal Audit Divisio...

08/27/2026

EV owners use the same roads as everyone else, but they do not pay gasoline taxes.

Forty-one states have decided they should still contribute something toward the roads they use.

Connecticut instead offers EV buyers purchase rebates of up to $5,000 and charges no additional EV fee. Gas-powered drivers continue paying into the transportation fund at the pump - and help finance EV purchase rebates through Clean Air Act fees.

Connecticut offers residents as much as $5,000 to buy an electric vehicle (EV), then allows them to use state roads without paying gasoline taxes or any additional fee to make up for the lost revenue. Most states have already recognized the problem and imposed additional fees on EVs. Connecticut has...

08/27/2026

When CT state employee unions call for undoing pension reform does that mean CT will become less affordable and less efficient?

State employee unions want changes to Tier IV — the pension plan created in the 2017 SEBAC agreement for employees hired after the deal took effect.

Back then, Sen. Bob Duff praised the agreement as “the latest step toward making government more affordable and more efficient.”

Now that unions want Tier IV back on the bargaining table, taxpayers might want to know what the “fix” is going to cost.

08/26/2026

The Connecticut General Assembly tells towns and school districts what they must do - but it doesn’t always send enough money to do it.

A review of state mandate reports from 2020 through 2025 found at least 104 act entries that appear to leave local governments responsible for some or all of the cost and staff time needed to comply.

That means local taxpayers and town employees are left cleaning up the mess.
Read more 👇

08/25/2026

State employee unions in 2017: We approve pension reform.

State employee unions in 2026: Hear us out — what if we roll it back and call it a “fix”?

In 2017, state employee unions agreed to a deal that created a less costly pension plan for newly hired workers. Now they want to make that plan more generous and leave taxpayers with the bill.
Full story in the comments 👇

08/24/2026

Connecticut drivers were hit with the nation’s biggest car insurance increase in the first half of 2026, according to Insurify. Full-coverage premiums rose 10.5 percent and they’re expected to climb another 4.2 percent before the year is over.

https://insurify.com/car-insurance/report/

08/24/2026

Connecticut’s July jobs report delivered a new payroll record, with employers adding 2,800 jobs.

But the broader labor market remains a concern: fewer residents are working, the labor force continues to shrink, and unemployment remains above the national rate.

The topline number is encouraging. The underlying workforce trends deserve just as much attention.

Connecticut employers added 2,800 jobs in July, pushing the state's payroll count to a record 1.73 million. The Connecticut Department of Labor (CTDOL) also reported that the state's unemployment rate remained at 5.2 percent. Buried deeper in the same report, however, is a very different set of numb...

08/21/2026

Connecticut has a process for identifying the cost of state mandates on towns. What it doesn’t have is a general requirement to actually cover those costs.

Six years of state mandate reports point to at least 104 public and special act entries that left local governments responsible for some of the cost or resources needed to comply.

Some came with multimillion-dollar price tags. Others came in the form of staff time, reporting requirements and new procedures.

At some point, adding another local obligation should require more than simply identifying the cost.

Connecticut has a law requiring the state to estimate the local cost of mandates before lawmakers pass them. It has another law requiring the state to keep track of those mandates after they pass. What it does not have is a general requirement that Hartford help towns cover the costs of the mandates...

08/18/2026

💸 How much more are Connecticut families paying?

The average Connecticut household spends roughly $700+ more per year on electricity than the average U.S. household.

That's a real premium just for living and keeping the lights on here.