Controlling state spending is urgent.(VIEWPOINT) From: Fairfield County Business Journal | Date: March 28, 2005| Author: Gioia, Peter | COPYRIGHT 2005 Westfair Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

When Lowell Weicker was governor in 1992, Connecticut faced a $900 million shortfall on an overall $7 billion state budget. Policy-makers tried to lift the state out of the fiscal hole by increasing taxes, with the promise to reduce state spending in the future.

A significant part of the agreement in 1992 to impose a state income tax was the introduction of a cap on state spending. The constitutional cap, approved overwhelmingly by legislators and voters alike, would ena...