Just a few months back, Jimmy St. George of TEAM (Tax Everything And More) said of our Voluntary
Tax Checkoff bill, "It borders on being an obscene joke." At its hearing before the Taxation
Committee state Rep. Doug Peterson (D-Marblehead) attacked it as "tongue in cheek" and "dripping with sarcasm."
That was in April, when it was proposed by CLT. Here we are in July and today rejecting or giving away
your tax cut has become a celebrated liberal cause.
We've come a long way in just three short months changing
the hearts and minds of America!
With this liberal campaign in full swing, how can the state Legislature in good conscience deny our
proposal.
Our Voluntary Tax Checkoff is in the House budget, but was not included in the Senate's version. Both
budgets are now in conference committee to be reconciled.
There is now no reason whatsoever for it to be not included in the final budget. It would make life so much
easier for those who do not want or need tax relief -- and apparently there are many.
The Legislature should help them out.
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Chip Ford |
Like most people who get financial windfalls, Stephen Pratt
smiles at his good fortune. So when President Bush announced that he and millions of other taxpayers would get a $300
income tax refund, Pratt figured that he had lucked into a wide-screen television or a
payment on the balance of his Visa bill.
But a $3.98 video rental changed his mind.
After watching the movie "Pay It Forward" -- in which a
child tries to change the world by helping three people, then urging them to repay the favor by helping and inspiring three
others to do the same -- Pratt decided recently how to spend his tax refund.
Using the movie as a guide, Pratt is urging his friends to
sign their tax checks over to charity, then persuade three of their friends to follow suit. He also set up a Web site and is
using e-mail to help spread the word.
"I just thought it was amazing that we could do something
simple, but so hard," said Pratt, the chief executive of Eureka Communities, a nonprofit company that advises other nonprofits
on matters like fund-raising and management.
Most people like him could really use the cash, he said.
"It's not easy to just write over the money, but it's taking responsibility to do something."
He's not alone. In recent weeks, dozens of other organizations across the country, from
left-wing political groups to churches and charities, have asked people to use the
tax refund to do good or to make a political statement. Many are using the Internet to make their pitch.
Though the groups differ on their approach, the common goal
is to use the windfall to improve society.
According to a poll in the Christian Science Monitor earlier
this month, about 4 percent of Americans plan to donate their rebate to charity. But a study by the Catalogue for
Philanthropy last year showed that Massachusetts ranked last in average charitable
donations.
The United Church of Christ is calling on its congregants to
donate their money to the poor, including drives in Lee, Worcester, and Townsend. Southern New Hampshire Services, a
nonprofit agency that coordinates community programs in Hillsborough County, is asking its
250 employees for their rebates.
United for a Fair Economy, a Boston-based national organization, launched its Reject the
Rebate Web site last month, and organizers say that nearly 1,000 people have signed
a petition protesting the tax refund. Some are even planning to send their money back to the
government, making checks payable to the Bureau of Public Debt.
Working Assets, a San Francisco information technology
company, is promising to double any donation made to organizations listed on its Web site. Michael
Kieschnick, the company's president, said that each of the dozens of options is
a progessive group and that the company expects to spend its $1 million matching-fund limit.
Tony Adams, a Web site developer in Houston, is boasting
even larger figures on his Web site, www.taxrebatepledge.org.
Nearly 750 taxpayers have promised to donate more than $250,000, Adams said.
"It's a tremendous opportunity for families where $600 is
not that much money," Adams said. "It's a lump sum of money we didn't budget for. There are problems being ignored. This is
the chance to speak up."
While he defines himself politically as left of center,
Pratt said he doesn't mind if donations go to conservative groups.
Others want to use the refund to make a political statement,
loud and clear. The Bush administration "was making choices about our money that we fundamentally oppose," said
Kieschnick of Working Assets.
But Dan Ronayne, a spokesman for the Republican National
Committee, said the refund is supposed to put money back into the economy by giving people more cash to spend and
stimulate new job creation. Although Ronayne said he applauded the idea of paying it
forward, he said he doubted that refund-fueled charity drives and political campaigns would
have a lasting impact.
"At least this way people can put the money wherever they
best see fit," Ronayne said. "The money will still go into the economy. Charities will not just take the money and let it sit
there."
Pratt acknowledged that his campaign may not go far enough
to change the world. The real goal, he said, is to get people thinking about others, instead of themselves.
Chuck Collins, the program director of United for a Fair
Economy, said his group will continue to advocate for social programs and fight against tax relief but that the checks are
coming, like it or not.
"Nobody is saying this money couldn't be useful," Collins
said. "But we are going to lose out in the long run if we don't put the money where it is really needed. There is too much
poverty to ignore and stick the money in our pockets."