Vote 2026: Ryan Fazio promises historic $2,500 tax cut. Gov. Lamont’s campaign, calls it ‘fantasy’
The Republican candidate promised an unprecedented $2.5 billion in tax relief, but Gov. Ned Lamont said it relies on fuzzy math and would gut services for working families.
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Want to cut your tax bill by $2,500 a year? That’s what Republican Ryan Fazio is promising in the race for governor.
But Gov. Ned Lamont called it an empty promise that relies on vague assumptions – and deep cuts that would hurt working families and be dead-on-arrival in the Democratic-controlled General Assembly.
“LARGEST MIDDLE-CLASS TAX CUT”
With voters focused on the skyrocketing cost of living, Fazio called for “ambitious” tax relief.
“We’re here to announce the largest middle-class tax cut in Connecticut state history,” Fazio told reporters in Stratford.
The average taxpayer would save around $2,500 each year, he said – but only those earning up to $250,000. Fazio would eliminate the bottom 2% tax bracket and reduce the next three rates by 1 to 2%.
$2.5 BILLION PRICE TAG
Fazio’s tax cuts come with a $2.5 billion price tag.
To pay for it, the GOP candidate would overhaul HUSKY Medicaid by eliminating unspecified fraud, ending health coverage for undocumented immigrants and shifting to a controversial “managed care” system where the private sector administers the program.
Fazio estimated the changes could save $1.1 billion over the next five years.
He also pledged to stop state agencies from “overbudgeting,” while vowing to slash borrowing and legislative “earmarks” that pay for hundreds of local projects across the state.
Fazio argued that the money belongs in people’s pockets.
“The governor has no plan for tax relief. He has no plan for affordability. He’s running on more of the same,” Fazio said. “As governor, I’ll reverse the high cost, high tax policies of Gov. Lamont.”
To make up for lost revenue, Fazio would force private colleges like Yale University to pay capital gains and dividends taxes. He estimated it would raise nearly $500,000,000 per year.
“Not the small colleges and universities, but the large, multibillion-dollar universities that should have to pay something to contribute in our state,” Fazio said.
“FANTASY BUDGET”
Lamont’s campaign dismissed Fazio’s plan.
“Ryan Fazio's tax plan is as serious as his portrayal of Superman in a campaign ad,” said campaign spokesman Rob Blanchard. “His fantasy budget counts on union concessions that haven’t been negotiated, guts the childcare endowment fund for working families and spends one-time, volatile revenue as if it were permanent – all while betting Connecticut’s finances on a lawsuit against New York that hasn’t even been decided and quietly cutting healthcare and Medicaid to make the math work.”
For example, Fazio is counting on $300 million from people like Jason Rubin, of Ridgefield, who pay income taxes to New York - even when they work from home in Connecticut – successfully suing of New York state.
“I don’t know that it will work for people that are of lower income. It would probably cost them more to fight their tax bill than what their tax bill actually is,” Rubin told News 12 in June 2025.
Lamont argued that his tax cuts are sustainable.
He signed modest decreases in sales and income taxes plus expanded the Earned Income Tax Credit – but also approved a new meals tax, a “highway use fee” for big-rig trucks and a 0.5% payroll deduction to fund the state’s Paid Family Medical Leave program.
“It’s sort of idle talk,” Lamont said of Fazio’s proposal. “Let’s cap spending here; let’s, you know, arbitrarily cut here. Details to follow. That works in a campaign but doesn't work when you’re governor.”
Lamont also said cutting Medicaid coverage for undocumented immigrants would actually cost more money.
“It’s not a cost saving idea,” the governor said. “He wants to make it tougher on the hospitals. He wants to put a tax on the hospitals and have more uninsured people.”
