Politicians are afraid to fix taxes. So 100 citizens tried.

Connecticut’s property tax system, characterized by some of the highest rates in the nation, relies heavily on local funding for schools and services, creating a fragmented and inequitable landscape. To address this long-standing issue, a radical democratic experiment brought together 100 randomly selected citizens to study tax policy and develop reform proposals. While these participants successfully navigated complex financial concepts and built cross-partisan consensus, their efforts faced significant hurdles when confronted with political realities. State officials, concerned about the timing of the proposal relative to the midterm elections, attempted to delay its release, highlighting the inherent friction between citizen-led initiatives and traditional political maneuvering. Ultimately, the assembly produced recommendations including a millionaire’s tax and school district consolidation, though the process underscored the difficulty of translating grassroots collective intelligence into actionable legislative change.