Tony Hwang is the Republican candidate for, and four-term incumbent representative of, State Senate District 29, which represents Easton, Fairfield, and Newtown. Learn more about Tony and his platform below, as also shared with the Easton Courier:
I live in Fairfield with my wife of 34 years, Grace, where we raised our children, Christina and Peter, both of whom are wonderfully accomplished and caring young adults. The best advice I ever received came from my father, who reminded me to strive and work twice as hard as everyone else to achieve the American Dream for myself and future generations of our family. My parents made tremendous sacrifices and challenged us to do our best to achieve the American dream of economic independence and generational success and independence. They reminded me to never forget the pride and gratitude of being an American and that in our success and good fortune, we need to give back to public service support of our community, state and country. I am a living example of the aspiration my parents had dreamed for their children.
Legislatively, I am the Deputy Senate Republican Leader in the CT General Assembly. I have been appointed the Republican leader on the following committees:
Public Health Committee (cognizance on public health, Covid-19 policies/responses)
Planning and Development Committee (cognizance on municipal interaction, land use & zoning)
Insurance & Real Estate Committee (cognizance on health & long-term care insurance and real estate industry regulations)
Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committee, subcommittee on Bonding (cognizance over bonding allocation from bonding commission)
You can read about my endorsements and accomplishments on www.TonyHwang.org.
I love our state and am so honored and privileged to represent the 28th Senate district for the past 8 years and I hope to continue working for the people of Easton and our Senate district.
As we adapt to a new social and economic “normal” from the Covid-19 pandemic and the tumultuous social upheaval of divisive and stereotypical tone of political partisanship, we will need collaborative, experienced and trusted leaders with proven abilities and accomplishments that can lead during these difficult and challenging times. Affordability and inflationary costs affect all of us, and I have suggested solutions that will help us tackle this taxing problem.
Budgeting is about priorities. We are now battling historic inflation levels and supply chain challenges for food, fuel and material goods that are impacting our lives. Connecticut is unaffordable and growing more unaffordable by the day. At the same time, Connecticut is overtaxing its residents and straining household budgets to the breaking point.
SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS:
Reduce Income Tax for Working & Middle Class Taxpayers. Lower the income tax rate from 5% to 4% for individuals earning less than $75,000 and joint filers earning less than $175,000 annually.
Reduce the Sales Tax & Eliminate Meals Tax. Suspend the 1% meals tax on prepared foods and reduce the sales tax from 6.35% to 5.99% to ease the burden on Taxpayers for goods and services.
Relief from Rising Utility Costs. Demand greater transparency and cost containment and better consumer service response from utilities for energy, telecommunications, and water.
Read about my solutions in detail at www.AffordableConnecticut.com.
Maintaining a balance between Local Governance vs State Mandated One-size-fits-all policies in the areas of:
EDUCATION: Local Education Boards & Parental Input against state education regionalization and top down education mandates. We need to engage all shareholders such as parents and educators.
LAND USE/ZONING (8.30G): State mandated housing laws such as (8-30g) jeopardize our watershed environment & ecology and have not worked in addressing the need for affordable, accessible & diverse housing. We need collaborative solutions from local, state & federal leaders to increase housing availability in our suburbs, rural and urban communities.
TAXES – MOTOR VEHICLE/PROPERTY: Sweeping changes were made to our motor vehicle taxation laws and the impact to taxpayers have yet to be felt and understood. Unfunded state mandated policies are a direct cause of rising local property taxes. These policies must be re-evaluated for their goals and purposes.
We, as a community and individuals, need to engage and learn from each other. Not by defined stereotypes and categorization, but by interacting and listening to each person and celebrating the unique individuals that we are. We can only make these urgent and fundamental changes by learning and trusting together. Nobody is perfect, but we can all work to be better everyday.
I am committed to solutions. The best way to move our state forward is by working together to find common ground and to legislate sensible and sustainable public policies. To find out more about additional areas for much needed dialogue and solutions such as physical & mental health, public safety, and social responsibility – visit my website www.TonyHwang.org.