Friday Facts

Governor Lamont Presents his Budget to General Assembly

Not A lot to Like for Retailers or Consumers

Other News and Notes from the State Capitol

Legislative Committee to hold Conference Call Next Week

Retail News and Notes

On Wednesday of this week, Governor Lamont presented his two-year budget to state lawmakers.
This is the first budget that the Governor has had to prepare, and it is already met with skepticism by many observers.
Among the many controversial parts of the Governor’s proposed budget is his proposal to implement tolls for both trucks AND passengers motor vehicles. The inclusion of tolls for passenger motor vehicles is a reversal for the Governor. During the campaign he said he supported only tolls for trucks.
In addition to tolls, the Governor proposed what he refers to a as a “modernization” of sales tax. So, while he doesn’t increase the overall rate, he proposes to eliminate services now currently exempted from sales taxes while increasing some to the current level of 6.35%.
The Governor also left out from his budget a couple of big-ticket issues, legalizing recreational marijuana and sports betting.
He did mention them in the speech, urging lawmakers to take up the issues and send them to him so that he could sign it and then collect the sales tax on them as well.
The Governor’s proposed budget now goes thru the legislative process where it is sure to get picked apart by members on both sides of the aisle.
We will keep you updated along the way.

Not A lot to Like for Retailers or Consumers

As we listened to the Governor’s speech and then looked at his actual budget documents, we couldn’t help but walk away thinking there was not a lot to like for retailers and consumers in the budget.
In his budget the Governor proposes the following:
Implementing tolls
Eliminating the Sales Tax Holiday
Imposing a $.10 fee on the use of a plastic bag
Sales tax must now be charged, collected and remitted for dry cleaning, barbers, hairdressers, laundry mats (including coin operated ones).
If you are retailer that uses accounting and legal services, those will now also be subject to sales tax.
And if this wasn’t tough enough for retailers, large and small, the Governor is strongly supporting increasing the minimum wage and instituting a paid family medical leave act that impacts retailers who employ 2 or more employees!
CRMA is ready to go to work on your behalf, but we are going to need your help.
Please be ready to contact your State Rep or State Senator to let them know the impact on all these issues.
We have our work cut out for us for sure, but we know that together we are stronger.
If you know a retailer or a supporter of retailers who will be impacted by any of these issues, and they are not members, please help us by telling them to become members.
Have them call us TODAY – (860)527-1044 or have them visit our website crmaonline.com and join us.

Other News and Notes from the State Capitol

No question that the Governor’s budget dominated this week at the State Capitol.
As expected, our friends at the CT Mirror do a great job of breaking down the Governor’s budget address and reaction to it by key lawmakers.
You can go here to review that.
Mark Pazniokas of the CT Mirror also has a great story on how the new administration is working thru some early missteps.
The Committee process is in full swing now with Public Hearings scheduled virtually every day. Earlier this week, we testified before the Banking and General Law Committee’s on gift card bills and submitted written testimony to the Energy Committee on a bad privacy bill.
As we mentioned earlier, we know that beyond just the budget issues there are a number of other issues that will impact retailers and the border business community.
Those issues will be ongoing from now until adjournment day, June 5^th.

Legislative Committee to hold Conference Call Next Week

The CRMA Legislative Committee will hold our next conference call next Thursday, February 28^th at 10:00 est.
All members of CRMA are welcome to participate on this call.
If you are interested in getting more information about the Legislative Committee, please contact Cathy in our office by emailing her at cathy@crmaononline.com or calling the office at 860-527-1044

Retail News and Notes

Walgreens to court Chinese tourists with Alipay

Walgreens will now accept Alipay as a payment option at its more than 7,000 US stores, making it easier for tourists from China to pay for their purchases. Upwards of two-thirds of China’s residents used mobile phones to pay for purchases while traveling last year, according to Nielsen. MediaPost Communications (19 Feb.)

Walmart and Target were highlighted in Internet Retailer’s 2019 Omnichannel Report for executing superior omnichannel experiences, with smooth systems and innovative features during mystery shopper visits. The retailers were also cited for modifying their store locations with features like package towers, which help with pickup and delivery. Internet Retailer (free registration) (2/19)

Digital payments might grow to total as much as $100 trillion, PayPal CEO Dan Schulman says. The solid growth of PayPal’s mobile service Venmo is a major contributor to Schulman’s view that “There’s an explosion in digital commerce, and we’re riding that wave. CNBC (2/20)

Friday Facts – February 22, 2019