CT Senate Leader Plans 100% Tax On Trump’s ‘Anti-Weaponization’ Fund

by Donald Eng

HARTFORD, CT — Just days after the 2026 legislative session, Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff already has a new tax plan for the 2027 session.

The Norwalk Democrat issued a statement this week announcing his intention to explore how Connecticut can legally seize any payments received by state residents from the Trump administration’s $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”

Duff said he intends to introduce legislation in the 2027 legislative session once that legal review is complete, with the goal of imposing a 100% state tax on any such payments received by Connecticut residents.

“Connecticut is not going to let a single one of our residents profit from that corruption,” Duff said. “If you filed a claim with Trump’s slush fund and collected a check, we are going to explore every legal option available to take every penny of it back. We will not allow this state to be a safe harbor for insurrectionist windfalls.”

The fund, announced by the Justice Department earlier this month as part of a settlement resolving Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns, draws from the federal Judgment Fund and operates with no judicial oversight, Duff said. It is intended to pay people who claim to be victims of government “weaponization,” including those who took part in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, when an armed mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election.

Legal experts, government watchdogs, and even some U.S. Senate Republicans have condemned the arrangement as corrupt and unprecedented, Duff said. 

Two Capitol Police officers who defended the building on January 6 sued to block the fund, calling it a “taxpayer-funded slush fund to finance insurrectionists.”

Duff said this was an unprecedented time.

“This regime acts in ways that were previously unthinkable, and their lapdogs on the Supreme Court and in Congress hand them a stamp of approval every single time,” he said. “Connecticut is going to fight back with every tool we have. We are doing the legal work now so that when the 2027 session begins, we are ready to act.”

Reaction to the proposal was varied, and divided along party lines.

Duff’s Republican counterpart, Sen. Stephen Harding of Brookfield, called the proposal pure political theater.

“But what do you expect? Connecticut Democrats won’t talk about how they made your electricity bills so unaffordable. Connecticut Democrats won’t talk about how they made your property taxes and health insurance so unaffordable. Connecticut Democrats won’t talk about the jobs they are driving out,” Harding said. “Nothing will change unless more Republicans are elected in our state.”

Gov. Ned Lamont, though, backed the plan. In a social media post on X, Lamont said, “This is a good idea, @SenatorDuff. And we should invest any revenue into the new fund we created supporting the families of fallen police officers killed in the line of duty. Let’s discuss.”

Though the fund faces numerous legal challenges, other states including California and New York are also planning action to prevent residents of those states from benefitting from the fund should it ever happen.