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Progressive Connecticut lawmakers are proposing a higher tax rate on capital gains earnings for wealthy taxpayers and higher personal income tax rates for millionaires.

“We need to ensure that the wealthiest in our state truly pay what they owe and not expect working families across our state to continue to subsidize their share,” said state Rep. Kate Farrar, a deputy majority leader in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives.

Connecticut’s proposal is just one of several floating up in Democrat-held state legislatures nationwide this year. Yet, despite optimism expressed by liberal lawmakers that 2023 could be the year, many of these proposals face an uphill battle.

“This ‘tax the rich’ has been around before and it’s present again. And quite frankly, it never got traction before and I seriously doubt there’s an appetite for it now,” said Gary Rose, professor of political science at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield.

A lot of people, he said, don’t resent the rich as much as some progressive Democrats.

“I think if you polled the American people, a lot of people want to get rich themselves and it’s part of, if you will, the American Dream,” Rose said. “We’ve never really had in this country a tremendous appetite for taxing the rich because getting rich … is really part of who we are and what separates this country from many Democratic socialist countries.”

One obstacle to such proposals is that some states where the idea might be popular are currently running budget surpluses, meaning there is little pressure to raise revenue.

Connecticut is expected to end its fiscal year with a $3 billion surplus. And Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont, a multimillionaire, says he wants to focus his second term on reducing taxes rather than raising them.