Connecticut is paying 100 random residents $1,200 each to fix its property tax problem. One idea: a new tax on millionaires

More than two weeks later, the Connecticut Citizens’ Assembly on Property Taxes released 10 recommendations. One of the recommendations was that anyone with taxable income over $1 million would pay at least 1 percentage point more. The extra money would go to education, healthcare and childcare so towns could ease property taxes.

The two major-party candidates for governor think higher rates on top earners would push many of them out of Connecticut. Ahead of the midterm elections, Gov. Ned Lamont, the Democratic incumbent, and Republican Ryan Fazio both oppose the idea, the CT Mirror reported.

Why Connecticut turned to random residents on property taxes

Connecticut’s towns get more money from property taxes than anywhere else. The fiscal 2022 total came to $12.5 billion, according to the state Department of Revenue Services.

That same year, the poorest 10% of families paid 40.08% of their income in state and local taxes, the department’s tax study found. The richest 10% paid 10.64%. Some of those lower-income families have money the study can’t see, like SNAP benefits, so the department admitted their real share is probably lower.

State comptroller Sean Scanlon backed the experiment from start to finish, after a group brought him the idea in 2025.

“Every few years, somebody like me comes along, and what happens is they write a report, that report gets a couple days of press, and then it collects dust on a shelf,” Scanlon told NPR.

Researchers from Yale and the University of Connecticut organized the panel with Scanlon’s office and the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities. The bipartisan collective, based in New Haven, counts 168 cities and towns as members.

Members were picked at random, but independents turned down their seats more often than anyone else. That helped push Democrats to 57% of the group, against 46% of adults statewide.

How the proposed millionaire tax would work

A tax on wealth was on the table, but valuing some assets is hard, the report says. Taxing income instead would go easier on a 401(k) saver, a small business owner or a farmer whose land is worth a lot.

Family ties and work tend to keep millionaires rooted, the report said, citing one contributor. They often relocate less than the average resident. It also argued that higher taxes on top earners haven’t wrecked the tax base in New Jersey, New York or Massachusetts; three states that already have wealth taxes. The panel added that wealthier residents are more apt to pick up and leave for a lower-tax state.

For what it’s worth, 76% of voters in a Wesleyan University poll backed “increasing taxes on millionaires and billionaires.” YouGov surveyed more than 1,000 voters from Sept. 22 to Oct. 7 for the Middletown school. The Connecticut Project, a Connecticut nonprofit whose spokesperson says its sole purpose is “making Connecticut work for working class people,” helped shape the questions.

At the Capitol, opposition spans both parties, with the Republican minority joined by many moderate Democrats, CT Mirror reports. Connecticut Republican Party Chairman Ben Proto has blamed Massachusetts’ millionaires tax for wealthy residents leaving that state.

Beyond the tax, the panel wants highway tolls and a state takeover of special education costs. Local taxpayers foot nearly two-thirds of the special education bill, which totaled about $3.26 billion in the 2024 to 2025 school year.

What it means for your property tax bill

Making the case for these policy changes now falls on the panel members that Scanlon is convening. It’ll keep pressing lawmakers until the 2027 legislative session wraps, and leaders from both parties’ caucuses have committed to working with them.