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"This is just another burden for folks." Discount IWC jewelers and boat owners, automobile dealers said the proposed luxury tax on vehicles over $50,000 would hurt their business, too. Mary Ellen Hadelman, the owner of family-owned Chase Parkway Volvo and Subaru, said that Malloy's proposed luxury tax would lead to layoffs at dealerships in the state, which currently employ 12,500 workers at an average salary of Discount Jacob&Co each. "It's not well thought-out," Hadelman said. "It's very short-sighted." Jeff Aiosa, owner of the Carriage House luxury car dealership in New London, said that the car dealers provide Discount Jaeger leCoultre in annual new car sales and 13 percent of the total retail sales statewide. The luxury tax, he said, would harm the sales of an important industry in the state. Tim Phelan, chief of the Connecticut Retail Merchants Association, said he was unaware of any other state that has a similar luxury tax as the one that Discount Montblanc was proposing. The surcharge would extend to items of clothing, such as a suit costing more than $1,000. Lawmakers, though, focused more on the automobile, yacht, and jewelry proposals during a public hearing that started at 10:30 a.m. and adjourned about 7:30 p.m. Monday. Through the day, speakers testified against any number of proposed tax increases. No one spoke specifically in favor of the luxury tax, although two union representatives -- Brian Anderson of AFSCME, Council 4, and Paul Filson of the Service Employees International Union -- when talking about the personal income tax, said the rich have had their tax rates cut at times through the years at the state and federal levels.