House and Senate Republican leaders Monday unveiled a tax cutting alternative to the state budget which provides relief to motorists, ends a nuisance tax on business, provides new alternatives for elderly care and plans for the future with an optional state employee retirement program.

“There is a better way,” said House Republican Leader Larry Cafero, R-Norwalk. “We cannot afford to do nothing.”

Cafero, along with Senate Leader John McKinney,  R-Southport, held an extrordinary press conference at the Legislative Office Building, which was attended by every media outlet in the state and continued for over an hour.

Repubicans called for budget adjustments, all validated by the non-partisan Office of Fiscal Analysis, which would give motorists a 10 cent per gallon holiday on gasoline for two months this summer while capping the gross receipts tax at seven percent. Republicans also want a final curtain call on the Estate Tax and the Corporate Entity Tax, the latter of which assessing businesses $250 annually. The end of the “death tax”  cliffs would save estates $24 million in value and keep many families in Connecticut, rather than heading to warmer climates where no estate tax exists, which often saddle heirs wtih punishing costs.

But the real demarkation came with the GOP plan to tackle long-rang deficits by offering an early retirement plan for 11,600 state employees which would save taxpayers $163 million in the first year alone.  This would begin to thin the ranks of high-salaried long-term employees and balance out the payroll projections of the state’s work force.

Typically, House Speaker James Amann, D-Milford, defended the status quo, saying the state couldn’t afford to lose such valuable, experienced personnel. First, it isn’t Amann decision whether people who are eligible for retirement want to take the buy out, and second, valuable state employees that are unreplacable? The ERIIP has been offered twice in the last 10 years and has met its cost savings targets.

As for the health care options, the Republicans would allow 700 seniors to move from nursing home care to home care under a federal program which would pay 75 percent of the cost. This would save $17 million through the Money Follows the Person option,

So, the Republicans are on the move again, leading the debate and offering tax relief up front and where it counts. They also have put down a workable option to save money in the next few years as the darkening clouds of the recession gather. The Democrats are offering their own excuses as usual - it is too late, it can’t be done or more impotantly, it isn’t their idea.

But this has been the difference since the House and Senate caucuses have come under new management with Cafero and McKinney. They take their jobs seriously, think outside the box and aren’t afraid to lead when it the moment demands it.

Connecticut can go either way - singing by the graveyard or step up to the reality that businesses and people are voting with their feet and we better starting grabbing at their ankles or call it a day.