STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, OCT. 25, 2000 ... With the election now less than two weeks
away and tax cut rhetoric heating up, money is pouring in over the transoms and being shoveled back out on both sides of two controversial ballot campaigns.
Question 4 cuts the state's income tax from 5.85 percent to 5 percent over three years. Question 6 grants tax credits for auto excise taxes and tolls paid on the Mass. Turnpike, Tobin Bridge and harbor tunnels.
With custody of roughly $2 billion in combined tax and toll payments made every year in Massachusetts at stake, campaigns on both sides of the two questions raised an average of $73,333 during the first two weeks of October and spent $93,333 a day during that period.
In the first two weeks of October, heading into the home stretch, proponents and opponents of the two questions raised a combined $1.1 million and spent a combined $1.4 million, according to the most recent filings with the Office of Campaign and Political Finance. On both sides of both issues, most of the money is paying for TV and radio commercials designed to reach broad groups of potential voters.
The Campaign for Massachusetts' Future, which is leading the fight against both ballot questions, raised $684,040 in the first two weeks of October, according to OCPF. The coalition spent $749,457 during those two weeks, with $715,800 going toward advertising.
Tax Equity Alliance of Massachusetts Executive Director Jim St. George said opponents are blitzing "every community of any size" with literature urging a "no" vote on both referenda. In the last three weekends leading up to the election, the opposition expects to drop 1 million pieces of literature statewide, conduct standouts "morning and night," and crank up its ad machine, he said. "We're still raising money," St. George said. "As much as we can raise, every penny of it we're putting into
television at this point."
Unions have stepped up to the plate with large cash contributions.
The Massachusetts Teachers Association gave $425,000, of which $350,000 came from its parent union, the National Education Association. The Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts gave $50,000; the Massachusetts Laborers' Council gave $40,000; and the
Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association kicked in $25,000.
Another group called "Healthy Massachusetts," comprising mostly health care professionals, is also opposing both the income tax cut and the tolls/excise rebate. Healthy Massachusetts raised $200,000 and spent $52,020 in the first two weeks of October, according to OCPF. A third group, called "Gallan Against 4 and 6," raised $1,195 and spent nothing.
While the union-backed opposition forces are outspending the supporters of the income tax cut, it's not by much. The Tax Rollback Committee, backed by Gov. Paul Cellucci's political machine, only raised $46,125 in the first two weeks of October, but spent $515,992 it had already bankrolled. Like the opposition, the bulk of the money ($490,000) went toward advertising, according to
OCPF.
Businesses have flocked to support the income tax rollback. Big donors during this reporting period include North Andover-based Giant Glass Company ($10,000), TransMed USA of Billerica ($10,000), and the Entwistle Company of Hudson ($1,500). Individuals making large contributions include Jonathan Lee of Brookline ($5,000) and David Mugar ($1,000).
The ballot committee "A Promise to Keep: 5%," backed by Citizens for Limited Taxation, raised $29,061 in the first two weeks of October and spent $6,760. A third group formed to support Question 4 and oppose Question 5 (health care reforms), raised $140,125 in those two weeks and spent $60,000.
Tax Rollback Committee spokesman Bobby Matthews said it's "outrageous" that unions are "bilking" their members, and promised rank-and-file union members they could have their "wasted dues" back if the income tax cut passes. The most recent University of Massachusetts poll in late September showed 74 percent of the public in favor of the income tax cut, and 17 percent opposed, he said.
Even though the polls show strong support, Matthews said the half-million dollars of advertising in two weeks was necessary to counter the opposition's spending. "We're running this race to win and we don't want to take for granted what the polls have indicated," Matthews said. "We will be competitive on the airwaves through election day."
The "Free the Pike" initiative is the subject of less lavish spending, but has attracted an eclectic mix of unlikely allies in both the pro-business and pro-labor sectors. Representatives of about 30 area groups - including the Mass. Taxpayers Foundation, the Mass. AFL-CIO, the Environmental League of Mass. and the Pioneer Institute -- gathered on the State House steps today to denounce Question 6.
The coalition said the excise/toll question would cut local road and bridge funding, increase traffic and air pollution, force taxpayers to subsidize heavy road users, sacrifice important economic growth investments, and jeopardize state finances by taking $700 million a year out of the revenue stream. "Sometimes the easy thing to do isn't the appropriate thing," said ELM President Jim Gomes.
When the assembled group was asked if it planned to run ads against the question, no one stepped forward. OCPF records seem to bear that out. The Campaign for Massachusetts' Future, while organized to oppose both tax cuts, is primarily focused on Cellucci's income tax cut. The "Free the Pike" coalition did not raise any money in the first two weeks of October, and spent only $1,000.
Free the Pike spokesman Harold Hubschman said the questions "true" cost is between $400 million and $550 million, depending on how many people take the tax credit. The referendum would be funded out of general state revenues and wouldn't jeopardize the Big Dig or local projects funded by excise taxes, he said. "This is the last death gasp of the Turnpike Authority," Hubschman said. "We're not taking away toll revenues. We're not taking away excise revenues. What we are doing is cutting the income tax by an amount equal to what you pay in tolls and excise taxes. This is a tax cut just like Gov. Cellucci's tax cut."
The opposition to Question 6 has been giving out increasingly large estimates of how much the toll/excise rebate will cost the state. Up until a few weeks ago, the typically stated figure was $600 million. Then a Mass. Taxpayers Foundation report estimated it at $623 million in the first year, growing to $846 million by fiscal 2006. Today, opponents averaged the two figures and pegged the tax hit at $700 million.