Conn. Governor Dannel Malloy is proposing a 3 percent tax on jewelry over $5,000 in his latest budget.

The tax, revealed on page 35 of the budget introduction, would only apply to amounts over the $5,000 threshold.

The luxury tax also applies to automobiles over $50,000, boats over $100,000, and clothing over $1,000.

Jewelers of America chief operating officer Robert Headley says his group opposes the tax because such levies “just don’t work.”

“The government may be well-meaning, they are trying raise revenue, that is fair,” he tells JCK. “What is not fair is that this tax will end up hurting our members. Consumers will end up not buying jewelry over $5,000, or buying it at a neighboring state where there is no luxury tax. We have tried luxury taxes over and over again in this country, and they simply do not raise revenue.”

Headley says Connecticut jewelers can contact the governor’s office and their legislators through JA’s Legislative Action Center, which can be accessed here.

In 2009, Illinois and New York both proposed luxury taxes on jewelry. Those proposals were eventually defeated.

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