CLT
UPDATE
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
6th-last for Tax Freedom Day, a
growing state budget,
and no tax rollback again
Tax Freedom Day® will fall on April 26 in 2006,
according to the Tax Foundation’s annual calculation using the latest
government data on income and taxes.
“Tax freedom will come three days later in 2006 than it did in 2005,”
said Tax Foundation President Scott A. Hodge, “and fully 10 days later
than in 2003 and 2004
Tax Foundation News Release
April 12, 2006
America's Tax Freedom Day Arrives April 26th in
2006,
Three Days Later Than 2005
The House proposed yesterday boosting state spending by 5.7
percent, an increase designed to help cities and towns and to stem a stream of
property tax overrides that has riled constituents across the state.
School officials and budget analysts were unsure yesterday whether the House's
$25.27 billion plan would bring much relief. They said public schools, as well
as cities and towns, are still recovering from crushing budget cuts from 2002 to
2004....
Overall, school systems would receive a nearly 3 percent increase in Chapter 70
funding, the basic state aid for education, or $91.4 million more than the
current fiscal year. Towns and cities could add to school aid with $158 million
from lottery revenues, a result of the Legislature removing a cap on lottery
aid, lawmakers said...
The Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents and the Massachusetts
Teachers Association vowed to lobby for more aid....
The House ignored several of Romney's initiatives, including merit pay for
teachers and lowering the income tax rate. Spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said Romney
would press his initiatives with the Legislature.
The Boston Globe
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
House plan hikes spending by 5.7%
Schools, analysts say it's not enough
The House yesterday filed a $25.3 billion budget plan,
following Gov. Mitt Romney's $25.1 billion effort filed in January.
The good news in the House budget - no tax or fee hikes, but a boost in spending
on local aid, school aid and higher education - a sign of improving times....
As for what's missing? Any sign of a tax cut, of course. House Speaker Sal
DiMasi and Ways and Means Chairman Bob DeLeo say the economy is nowhere near the
point of justifying the tax rollback. So barring a collective
coming-to-their-senses (we won't hold our breath), another year will pass with
the will of the voters unfulfilled....
And the House still dips into the state's rainy-day fund to the tune of $275
million, a figure lower than last year by half but still curious, given the
overall boost in state revenues.
A Boston Herald editorial
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Back to business on Beacon Hill
The $25.3 billion spending plan unveiled by the House Ways
and Means Committee yesterday reflects the increase in revenues over the last
two years, but does not embark on many initiatives in keeping with the modest
rate of economic growth in Massachusetts....
Despite the growth in revenue, the committee would take $275 million from the
rainy-day fund, the state's reserve for emergencies. DeLeo is confident that
revenue growth will more than replenish this contribution. But the need for
rainy-day money shows the wisdom of the committee decision not to lower the
income tax from 5.3 to 5 percent, as the governor recommends. This would cost
the state almost $700 million a year when fully implemented. The state has too
many commitments to afford this luxury.
A Boston Globe editorial
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Cautious budget
It’s almost Tax Day, and once more, the good liberals of
Massachusetts have gone missing.
Yet again they are refusing to pay their state income taxes at the old, more
compassionate higher rate, when all it would take is the mere stroke of a pen,
to hand over to the commonwealth more money ... for the children.
And now the liberals have a new cause.
It’s for ... the ... illegal .. aliens....
Here are the latest numbers from the state Department of Revenue: So far in this
2006 tax season, 2,094,301 residents have filed tax returns.
Of those 2,094,301, exactly 527 have opted to pay higher taxes.
That works out to approximately one-fortieth of 1 percent of all Massachusetts
taxpayers. And yet, in the 2000 election, when the question of cutting the state
income tax rate was on the ballot, more than 1 million residents voted not to
cut their own taxes.
But given a chance to pay voluntarily, 99.9 of those no doubt very sincere
pro-tax liberals have vanished, opting instead to enjoy the tax cut they
ostensibly opposed.
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
It’s time for liberals to pony up, or shut up
By Howie Carr
Chip Ford's CLT Commentary
The Washington-based
Tax Foundation
today issued its annual Tax Freedom Day report, and again Massachusetts
is one of the last to celebrate. We Bay Staters don't stop working
full-time for government until May 2, while nationally Tax Freedom Day
this year falls on April 26, making us the 6th-latest state in the
nation. We'll be issuing a news release later today, and reminding
the House when it soon begins debating the budget it released on Tuesday.
The Massachusetts House of Representatives has
proposed a $25.27 billion state budget for next fiscal year, an increase
of $1.37 billion (5.7%) over last year's budget. And -- surprise,
surprise -- the state still "can't afford" to finally roll back
the income tax to 5 percent, even eighteen years after it was
"temporarily" increased to cover a $12.6 billion budget back then.
Spending will double with next year's budget
over spending in FY'89 when the "promise" was made to raise the income
tax rate only "temporarily"; a promise that still hasn't been kept. It
will have increased by almost $3 billion just since 59 percent of the
voters in 2000 mandated that the income tax rate be rolled back to 5
percent.
The Legislature "froze" the voters' rollback mandate
in 2002, until the economy recovers. Last year there was a budget
surplus of more than a billion dollars, and another billion dollar
surplus is expected this year.
Still, the state "can't afford" to obey and respect
the voters' mandate, the Legislature still thumbs its collective nose at the outcome of a lawful vote
and the majority of voters who cast it.
The Legislature even intends to raid the state's
burgeoning "rainy day fund," again well over a billion dollars
and mounting, for $275
million so it can spend more.
Where are all those liberals, the 41 percent who
vehemently opposed our tax rollback ballot question, the ones who
insisted ad nauseam that they "didn't need or want it"? So far only
527 of them have contributed a whopping total of $51,223 using
CLT's voluntary tax check-off on their income tax returns.
We did it just for them so they too could be winners even in losing. It turns out
that all but 527 tax-and-spenders are just like us:
they too really needed and wanted more of their money after all -- and
are keeping it in growing numbers.
At least we were and remain honest about our
needs and wants, and who that money really belongs to.
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|
Chip Ford |
Tax Foundation
April 12, 2006
News Release
America Celebrates Tax Freedom Day®
America's Tax Freedom Day® Arrives April 26th in 2006,
Three Days Later Than 2005
Tax Freedom Day® will fall on April 26 in 2006, according to the Tax
Foundation’s annual calculation using the latest government data on
income and taxes. (Click
here to read the full study).
“Tax freedom will come three days later in 2006 than it did in 2005,”
said Tax Foundation President Scott A. Hodge, “and fully 10 days later
than in 2003 and 2004 when a combination of slow income growth and tax
cuts caused Tax Freedom Day to arrive comparatively early, on April 16.”
However, 2006’s Tax Freedom Day is still considerably earlier than it
was in 2000, when the economic boom, the tech bubble and higher tax
rates pushed tax burdens to a record high, and Tax Freedom Day was
postponed until May 3.
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The Boston Globe
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
House plan hikes spending by 5.7%
Schools, analysts say it's not enough
By Maria Sacchetti and Andrea Estes, Globe Staff
The House proposed yesterday boosting state spending by 5.7 percent, an
increase designed to help cities and towns and to stem a stream of
property tax overrides that has riled constituents across the state.
School officials and budget analysts were unsure yesterday whether the
House's $25.27 billion plan would bring much relief. They said public
schools, as well as cities and towns, are still recovering from crushing
budget cuts from 2002 to 2004.
House leaders said that although revenues are up, they need to use money
from reserves to balance the budget and could not propose a huge
increase. They said billions have been spent on public schools, and
spending is increasing, but they need to cover pay raises, debts, and
other initiatives such as child care and higher education.
"We have to deal with reality," House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi said
at a State House press conference yesterday. "We make the choices, and
hopefully the public will understand that."
The House blueprint would also boost spending in several areas,
including $25 million to reduce residents' water and sewer bills; $21.2
million for community policing grants; and $42 million in salary and
benefits for court employees, including $14 million in pay raises for
judges and court clerks.
But it was school spending that drew the most attention yesterday.
Overall, school systems would receive a nearly 3 percent increase in
Chapter 70 funding, the basic state aid for education, or $91.4 million
more than the current fiscal year. Towns and cities could add to school
aid with $158 million from lottery revenues, a result of the Legislature
removing a cap on lottery aid, lawmakers said.
"It's not nearly enough. It's really putting tremendous pressure on the
towns," said Peter Holland, school superintendent in Belmont, where a
property tax override failed last week, possibly forcing layoffs in the
3,800-student district.
The unveiling of the House budget is a key step in the annual budget
process that began in January when Governor Mitt Romney filed his plan.
The House plan was released by the House Ways and Means Committee and
will be debated by the full House starting April 24.
The Senate will unveil its budget plan in coming weeks. Then the two
chambers will hammer out a compromise and send it to Romney for
approval. He could veto all or parts of it. Typically the process ends
before July 1, when the next fiscal year starts.
The House budget proposal includes increases in education, health and
human services, housing and public safety. Besides schools and lottery
aid, the budget includes $125 million for the new healthcare plan, which
aims to extend benefits to nearly all of the state's uninsured.
Budget analysts said it was a good sign that the House was restoring
lottery aid to cities and towns, but predicted it would take years to
make up for devastating cuts. "They are under a real squeeze," Michael
Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said of the
communities.
The House tinkered with the state funding formula for schools, proposing
to take into account property values and the level of affluence, based
on income, of a town when deciding how much it could pay for schools.
The plan could bring relief to towns that contend that soaring property
values make them appear wealthier than they are. The House plan would
also gradually ensure that each school system gets at least 15 percent
of its budget from the state. Currently 67 of the 330 school systems,
many of them wealthy, receive less.
The 3 percent increase in state aid to school systems proposed by the
House is less than the governor's plan, which calls for a 5 percent
boost. The Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents and the
Massachusetts Teachers Association vowed to lobby for more aid.
"I'm very disappointed," said Thomas Scott, executive director of the
superintendents association. "I expected a lot more coming out in this
budget proposal."
DiMasi accused Romney of coming up with a larger number by using
"gimmicks and smoke and mirrors."
The House ignored several of Romney's initiatives, including merit pay
for teachers and lowering the income tax rate. Spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom
said Romney would press his initiatives with the Legislature.
Viriato Manuel deMacedo of Plymouth, a Republican member of the Ways and
Means Committee, said he and other House members will seek to add $72
million in local aid to the budget when debate begins.
In the area of higher education, the House proposes boosting funding for
state colleges and universities by more than $60 million, or 7 percent,
according to the state Board of Higher Education.
The budget would provide a $27.9 million increase for the University of
Massachusetts system and $34.7 million increase for state and community
colleges, according to the House proposal.
But the higher education budget would still be adjusted for inflation
below where it was in fiscal year 2001, according to an analysis by the
nonpartisan the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.
Stephen Tocco, chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education,
said the board was disappointed not to receive more.
Sarah Schweitzer of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
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The Boston Herald
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
A Boston Herald editorial
Back to business on Beacon Hill
Amid all the health care hoopla, it's easy to overlook the fact that
lawmakers still have a multi-billion dollar budget to attend to.
The House yesterday filed a $25.3 billion budget plan, following Gov.
Mitt Romney's $25.1 billion effort filed in January.
The good news in the House budget - no tax or fee hikes, but a boost in
spending on local aid, school aid and higher education - a sign of
improving times. And the House builds on last year's major achievement
that limited "outside sections" - a sort of self-imposed ban on making
mischief.
Like Romney, the House lifts the cap on Lottery proceeds that go to
cities and towns; mayors and selectmen have been crying foul over the
diversion of those funds for years. And a modest change in the amount
some state employees pay for their health insurance doesn't go far
enough, but it's a start.
As for what's missing? Any sign of a tax cut, of course. House Speaker
Sal DiMasi and Ways and Means Chairman Bob DeLeo say the economy is
nowhere near the point of justifying the tax rollback. So barring a
collective coming-to-their-senses (we won't hold our breath), another
year will pass with the will of the voters unfulfilled.
The House also proposes spending $72 million less than Romney on Chapter
70 aid to public schools. DeLeo insists Romney's budget relies on false
assumptions to finance a 5 percent increase, while the House believes
only a 3 percent increase is affordable.
And the House still dips into the state's rainy-day fund to the tune of
$275 million, a figure lower than last year by half but still curious,
given the overall boost in state revenues.
The House budget rounds out with $200 million to help pay for the new
health care reform bill, and with good reason, health care has been
capturing all the headlines. But lawmakers still have their day jobs,
and a responsible, balanced budget is at the heart of it. With some
work, the House plan could be a step in that direction.
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The Boston Globe
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
A Boston Globe editorial
Cautious budget
State budgets are slaves to the economy. The $25.3 billion spending plan
unveiled by the House Ways and Means Committee yesterday reflects the
increase in revenues over the last two years, but does not embark on
many initiatives in keeping with the modest rate of economic growth in
Massachusetts.
Extra revenue allowed the committee to redress one of the most unfair
elements of the last three budgets -- the diversion of some lottery
revenues to the state. The committee was right to follow Governor
Romney's recommendation that the full $920 million raised from the
lottery go to local needs. The state has balanced its last few budgets
in part by limiting aid to cities and towns and grabbing some of the
lottery money.
The committee wants to pare $72.2 million from the governor's request
for additional school aid to local communities. It would still raise the
aid by $91 million over the current allotment and it proposes adjusting
the formula to answer the objections of some communities.
By not following the governor's recommendation, the committee gave
itself leeway to provide money for many useful programs. It would allot
$25 million to reduce water and sewer bills, add significant new money
for early childhood education, increase aid to the higher education
system by several million dollars over the governor's request, and
create a $1 million reentry program for released prison inmates, to
lessen recidivism. These are all good programs, and the higher education
increases are still inadequate. In an ideal world, they would not have
to compete with local schools for state aid.
The committee chairman, Robert DeLeo of Winthrop, said at a briefing for
the Globe yesterday that he consulted with almost all 160 House members
before the committee issued its proposals. Before this budget is passed
by the House, the leadership should make sure that any items of limited
appeal are excised in favor of more education aid.
DeLeo continued a welcome practice from last year -- the virtual
elimination of outside sections as a shortcut to policy making. These
sections are tagged on at the end of the budget, and for decades they
have been a lazy Legislature's device to make major changes in state
government without separate hearings. The Ways and Means budget contains
27 outside sections, nearly all of them directly related to the budget
and none with great policy implications.
Despite the growth in revenue, the committee would take $275 million
from the rainy-day fund, the state's reserve for emergencies. DeLeo is
confident that revenue growth will more than replenish this
contribution. But the need for rainy-day money shows the wisdom of the
committee decision not to lower the income tax from 5.3 to 5 percent, as
the governor recommends. This would cost the state almost $700 million a
year when fully implemented. The state has too many commitments to
afford this luxury.
Return to top
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
It’s time for liberals to pony up, or shut up
By Howie Carr
It’s almost Tax Day, and once more, the good liberals of Massachusetts
have gone missing.
Yet again they are refusing to pay their state income taxes at the old,
more compassionate higher rate, when all it would take is the mere
stroke of a pen, to hand over to the commonwealth more money ... for the
children.
And now the liberals have a new cause.
It’s for ... the ... illegal ... aliens.
In case you’re new here, a few years ago the Legislature tired of all
these liberals demanding that everyone pay their "fair share." So when
the tax rate was cut, thanks to the voters, to 5.3 percent, a new law
was written allowing those voters who were so concerned about the
children, the illegal aliens, etc., to pay at the old 5.85 percent rate.
By the way, the solons don’t deserve that much credit, because the
voters wanted the tax rate cut to 5 percent - the solons "froze" it at
5.3 percent. But still, this voluntary tax increase is a good benchmark
to see just how serious the liberals are about "everyone" paying their
fair share.
It turns out, for Massachusetts liberals, "everyone" is "everyone else."
Here are the latest numbers from the state Department of Revenue: So far
in this 2006 tax season, 2,094,301 residents have filed tax returns.
Of those 2,094,301, exactly 527 have opted to pay higher taxes.
That works out to approximately one-fortieth of 1 percent of all
Massachusetts taxpayers. And yet, in the 2000 election, when the
question of cutting the state income tax rate was on the ballot, more
than 1 million residents voted not to cut their own taxes.
But given a chance to pay voluntarily, 99.9 of those no doubt very
sincere pro-tax liberals have vanished, opting instead to enjoy the tax
cut they ostensibly opposed.
Whatever happened to doing the right thing? Whatever happened to quoting
Oliver Wendell Holmes (or some other rich Yankee with a trust fund) that
taxes are the price we pay for civilization?
What about the children?
What about the illegal aliens?
Now, who is going to pick up the tab for the 40,000 illegal aliens -
excuse me, "undocumented workers" - who may soon be cut off the state
Medicaid rolls just for the mere fact that they are foreign layabouts
and criminals? To all of you good Kerry-bumper-sticker-brandishing,
Birkenstock wearers in the Peoples Republics of Brookline, Cambridge,
Arlington and Lincoln - what about your amigos, your compadres?
If you Daily-Kos reading, Bush-lied-people-died chanting potheads don’t
pay at the higher rates, it’ll be on your hands if they have to ... get
a job.
The saddest thing of all is, as the need grows ever greater, after 12,
er 16, no, 17 years of Reagan-Bush-Bush, the number of liberal gringos
willing to walk the walk is declining with every year.
Can someone say hypocrisy?
Since the voluntary higher-tax program started, the numbers at this
point in the tax season have gone from 843 in 2003 to 714 in 2004 to 629
last year to 527.
What is it with these liberals?
They’re all for everyone paying their fair share, except when it’s their
turn to buy a round. They’re very worried about illegal aliens who don’t
pay taxes, period, but they care not a whit about lifelong residents in
their hometowns who are being driven out by the higher property taxes.
The Archdiocese of Boston rolls out the red carpet for foreign
criminals, but gives the bum’s rush to citizens who have paid the bills
for generations and now only desire to keep their churches open.
And now as the check arrives, as it always does at this time of year,
all but 527 liberals in Massachusetts have bolted for the door. Put out
an Amber Alert.
What about the children, the illegal-alien children?
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