Coupon Users Furious Over Proposed Tax (New CT dem Gov want to tax EVERYTHING)

Courant.com ^ | February 27, 2011 | N/A

[raybbr]

HARTFORD (AP) — Devotees of coupons and discounts are angry at Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's proposal to slap a new sales tax on the original price of a good or service rather than the discounted price.

Ending the sales tax exemptions for coupons, discounts and automobile trade-ins are among tax exemptions Malloy has proposed ending to help close the state's projected $3.5 billion deficit. For example, the tax would be imposed on the $30 price of a blouse, not the $15 sales price.

Gina Juliano learned firsthand after she lost her job in 2009 as a vice principal in the Hartford Public Schools that coupons and sales can help a family make ends meet. She cut her budget for food, toiletries, pet supplies and paper goods from between $200 and $300 a week to $50. [Sample Our Free Connecticut Business Midday Newsletter]

"I turned to coupons because I would have had to lose my house and everything. I wouldn't have been able to survive," said Juliano, who now writes a blog in Connecticut called Gina's Kokopelli that tracks coupons, sales and bargains for other shoppers.

Like many avid couponers, Juliano pays little or nothing for items after matching coupons with sales. For example, she recently used a $3 coupon to buy a bottle of Gain fabric softener that was on sale for $2.99 at Rite Aid.

[Col Frank Slade]

CT won’t go deep red or even mild red.

Believe me, ain’t gonna happen.

Move to TX.

[nutmeg]

Good luck selling your home to get out of this stinkhole state.

Thanks. Believe me, that's a big concern of ours... :-(

Unfortunately we're not able to bail just yet... still at least a couple of years off.

[Betis70]

Yeah the old “Find a box of ballots in a closet” gag.

They did pull a new trick—running out of official ballots (because they ordered too few) and then photocopying ballots and keeping the polls open an extra two hours.