NEWS RELEASE
Tuesday, October 28, 2003
Senate 1827, The People’s Income Tax Rate Rollback
– MEMO
–
To: Members of the Joint Committee on Taxation
October 28, 2003
Re: Senate 1827, The People’s Income Tax Rate Rollback
Once again, CLT is here to support rolling the income tax rate back to 5 percent.
The voters supported the 2000 ballot question by a vote of 59-41, and began the three-year phased-in rollback, which is presently stuck at 5.3 percent. Our bill, filed by Sen. Jo Ann Sprague and Rep. Scott Brown, would lower the rate to 5 percent for Tax Year 2003. Since we know this isn’t going to happen this year, we urge the Committee to support the will of the people for Tax Year 2004, and hope that Governor Romney’s coming FY 2005 budget will reflect the voter-mandated rate.
Then we hope that the Legislature will support Governor Romney’s reforms and will itself propose additional savings that will not only allow the lower income tax rate, but will begin to avoid the next round of overspending that will otherwise again result as the economy recovers.
Living in Massachusetts is like filming "Groundhog Day." Having been through this boom-bust cycle many times in the past decades, we would appreciate a lesson finally learned and another fiscal crisis averted. The only way to accomplish this is to cut taxes before resurging revenues are again spent to a level that is unsustainable during economic slowdowns. Further, with the anticipated Medicaid increases, Massachusetts can no longer afford business-as-usual in the rest of the budget. The time to get spending under control is now. Eric Kriss is correct about addressing Medicaid and other "entitlements" with requirements for recipient contributions.
We expect to be asked the question we are asked every time we attempt to limit taxation: "Where would you cut?" Here, for your convenience, are various responses.
1. It is not our job to tell you what to cut. We taxpayers provide
all the revenues for all state services. It is up to us to tell you what we are willing to pay and how much waste we are willing to tolerate in order to get basic services funded.
2. It is your job to create budgets that fit within the taxpayers’ willingness and ability to pay, to set priorities, to eliminate waste, inefficiencies, and unproductive patronage. Remember, all the money you take comes from taxpayers’ giving.
3. Seriously consider the reforms recommended by Governor Romney, the Pioneer Institute and others. The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation has many good recommendations for savings, though they are rarely adopted because MTF then sabotages its own efforts with support for higher taxes. Go figure.
4. When all these recommendations have been given fair consideration, there will be more, from us and other groups which will have been assured that it’s not a quixotic waste of time to help find savings.
|