MSNBC’s Morning Joe panel slammed Connecticut and its Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy on Friday for a new tax increase that hurts businesses in the state.
Host Joe Scarborough called it "insane."
"You cannot fundamentally, arithmetically, have a situation where you’re forcing businesses to leave. You’re going to go out of business as a state and as a governor you won’t get reelected," contributor Donny Deutsch said.
General Electric is making moves to get out of Connecticut after Malloy passed another massive tax increase, despite promising there would not be one.
GE has historic roots in Connecticut but CEO Jeff Immelt emailed employees saying that the company was looking to move to a state that had a more pro-business environment.
The state legislature approved a $40 billion budget Wednesday, which raised taxes by $2 billion over two years.
Connecticut has been continually ranked last in job creation and growth since 2008, and is currently ranked as the nation’s third-highest state and local tax burden. It is also one of only a few states currently dwindling in population.
During Malloy’s campaign for reelection in 2014, he promised not to raise taxes and that there would not be a budget deficit.
"I don’t think that there will be a budget deficit and I pledge that there won’t be one. And I have also pledged that there will not be a tax increase," said Malloy during his reelection campaign.
In another speech Malloy walked back his claims that he never took a pledge to raise taxes.