CLT
UPDATE
Thursday, May 25, 2006
State Senate
unanimously backhands taxpayers, voters
Again dodges income tax rollback as mandated by voters
The Massachusetts Senate unanimously
approved a plan Wednesday to cut the state income tax rate to 5 percent
over the next three years -- but it comes with a very big "if."
The plan, designed to fulfill a voter mandate and rob Republican Gov.
Mitt Romney of a political cudgel, would only take effect if the state
meets three thresholds on local aid. The Senate's own budget only
crosses two of them.
"This is better than nothing," said Senate Republican leader Brian Lees
of East Longmeadow. "It is a step in the right direction."
The plan would gradually reduce the state income tax rate to 5 percent
by the 2009 fiscal year based on how much money the state sends back to
cities and towns in three key areas: school aid; additional assistance
and lottery aid.
Associated Press
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Senate approves stepped-down cut in state income tax rate
Senate lawmakers voted yesterday to
lower the income tax rate from 5.3 percent to 5 percent if state
spending on education and local aid is restored to levels last seen
before the fiscal crisis of 2002.
The Senate unanimously passed a measure that would trigger a series of
income tax rate reductions to 5 percent over three years beginning as
soon as 2007. But the reductions would take effect only if state
spending on education and other municipal services returns to 2002
levels, adjusted for inflation....
Travaglini, minority leader Brian Lees, and Ways and Means chair Therese
Murray said yesterday that because state tax revenues have been soaring,
the state can afford the reduction in income tax revenue -- $517 million
a year if the rollback is fully phased in.
"We have realized additional revenue that now makes this action
defensible and reasonable, " said Travaglini....
Eric Fehrnstrom, a spokesman for Romney, who included a rollback over
two years in his most recent budget, praised the Senate for moving "in
the right direction," but said lawmakers didn't need to attach strings.
"We will end this year with yet another $1 billion-plus tax revenue
surplus," said Fehrnstrom. "We have the resources to both lower the tax
rate and spend more on priorities like local aid and education."
Travaglini vowed to lobby the House to approve the measure. "When the
[Senate] vote is 39-0," he said, "it sends a powerful message that the
body is behind me."
But it was unclear whether the House would approve it.
James Eisenberg, chief of staff to House Ways and Means chairman Robert
DeLeo, said House lawmakers are satisfied with the 2002 legislation now
in effect that froze the income tax rate at 5.3 percent....
Cam Huff, research director of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a
business-backed government watchdog group, said any tax cut should be
tied to the state's continued economic growth.
"State tax collections have been very strong this fiscal year," he said.
"This is good news. But the question is how long is it going to last and
whether we're going to commit ourselves to tax cuts that could kick in
just as things go sour." ...
During the debate on the Senate floor, Republicans said they approved
the measure with mixed feelings, preferring an immediate return to the 5
percent tax rate.
"It's a little bittersweet here," said Lees. "This is in my mind a
little bit of a chicken's way out. But it's better than nothing. It's a
bittersweet moment, but we'll take any victory we can take."
The Boston Globe
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Mass. Senate endorses tax cut
Rollback hinges on local aid hike
The bipartisan effort included the
adoption of: an incremental income tax rollback ...
Senate President Robert Travaglini (D-Boston), Senate Minority Leader
Brian Lees (R-East Longmeadow) and Senator Therese Murray (D-Plymouth),
Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, applauded today's
actions of the Massachusetts Senate.
Massachusetts Senate
May 24, 2006
News Release
Senate adds tax relief for Massachusetts residents
Reilly's retort was: If not now, when
the state has a budget surplus and is seeing strong revenue numbers,
when would Gabrieli and Patrick support the rollback?
"The voters made it very clear," Reilly said. "This is about keeping a
promise ... This is the time to keep that promise."
The Boston Globe
Thursday, May 25, 2006
In Democrats' debate, Reilly is the target
Beacon Hill doesn’t want gas tax
relief but some of the measure’s biggest critics are collecting
thousands in taxpayer dollars to stave off their own pump pinch, records
show.
"The vast amount of people don’t get compensated to go to and from
work," said House Majority Leader Brad Jones (R-North Reading), who
sponsored the gas tax relief bill. "It creates a certain distance to
relate to what these commuters are going through."
The state Senate yesterday rejected a budget amendment 19-7 that would
have rolled back the state’s 21-cent-a-gallon gas tax between Memorial
Day and Labor Day, a measure first proposed by Jones and backed by Lt.
Gov. Kerry Healey.
The move was hardly unexpected, since leading Democrats put the brakes
on the measure as soon as it was announced this month.
"Where do these Republicans think this money comes from?" said Worcester
state Rep. John Binienda to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.
But Binienda’s commute into town won’t be walloping his wallet - he has
collected $2,376 so far this year in per diem payments, records show.
The per diems are taxpayer-funded reimbursements for driving to and from
work.
State Rep. Joseph Wagner, House chair of the Joint Committee on
Transportation, told another publication that he opposed the gas tax
relief because, "We’re treating a symptom here, not the disease."
Wagner is tied for being the 10th highest collector of per diems so far
this year, taking in $2,760. Wagner, a Chicopee Democrat, collects $60
per diem, which is based on the distance from the State House.
The Boston Herald
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Pump relief for pols as taxpayers get taken for ride
Chip Ford's CLT Commentary
The alleged "Great and General Court" of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts has done it again, backhanded taxpayers,
voters, and democracy itself across the face -- again dodging a rollback
of its 17-year old "temporary" income tax hike, again brashly flashing
the Beacon Hill middle-finger salute at the voters' 2000 mandate.
"This is better than nothing . . . a step in the right
direction," crowed Senate Republican Leader Brian Lees (R-East Longmeadow).
No it's not, senator: it is precisely nothing -- exactly
nothing but another meaningless promise expected to be broken before it ever has a
chance to reach fruition. Senator Lees, this is nothing more than
another stall, another dodge to buy time. Buy the Bacon Hill pols more
time to spend us into the next "fiscal" crisis, the next spending crisis:
the next excuse that the tax rollback is "no longer affordable." Been
there, done that, senator; where were you?
Read the Senate debate on the tax rollback
Senate Republicans submitted four amendments into the budget
for the tax rollback and promised us rollcall votes. They folded after
their first amendment, #10, was rejected and their second amendment, #11, was
subject to an additional amendment by Democrats -- then jumped on the Democrats'
bandwagon, the amendment to their original. The further two promised
amendments never saw the light of day -- but CLT got the rollcall vote that will
be used in its forthcoming Legislative Rating -- the only tax rollback
rollcall vote of the day. All 39 senators (the president customarily
doesn't vote) voted against the rollback as mandated by the voters, their
constituents.
Governor Romney's spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom, yesterday
asserted: "We will end this year with yet another $1 billion-plus tax revenue
surplus. We have the resources to both lower the tax rate and spend more
on priorities like local aid and education."
The governor himself has said: "How we cannot justify a
tax cut to the level that was voted by the citizens is something I can't
understand."
Even Democrat gubernatorial candidate Tom Reilly yesterday
observed: "The voters made it very clear. This is about keeping a promise ...
This is the time to keep that promise."
But in the Legislature that revenue surplus belongs to them,
and by God they're not going to part with it, not a single cent of it, not it
they can avoid it for as long as they can.
Yesterday the state Senate also rejected an amendment which
would have suspended the 21.5¢ per-gallon gas tax from
Memorial Day through Labor Day. The state can't afford it, you know.
"Where do these Republicans think this money comes from?" said Worcester state
Rep. John Binienda, according to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. We know
where Rep. Binienda thinks it comes from: those trees around the State
House!
But the Bacon Hill pols can still find enough green growing
on those trees to keep padding their own income, alleged expenses
under false
pretense ("Shocking, simply shocking.") doubled as recently as 2000.
[See: The Eagle-Tribune, Apr. 12, 2000, "Sows
at the public trough; Legislators are seeking to line their own pockets at our
expense"] Must have been another "unmet need."
We thought we had a chance to repeal the despicable nursing
home tax, amendment #16, because we had bi-partisan support. So the Senate
leadership "consolidated" our amendment into a clump of other amendments it
doesn’t support, and none of them will be debated at all, ever see the light of
day either.
Legislators file amendments so they can tell their constituents that they filed
them, then they sit there like bumps on a log as their amendments are rejected
out of hand by leadership staffers. Senator Brown told Chip Faulkner, who was at
the State House for the "debate," that Senate rules do not allow members to pull
their amendments out of the reject pile.
Keep in mind that these issues are filed as budget amendments because the
leadership won’t bring them up for a separate vote during the rest of the
session -- when they're idle. The question is, why do we need state legislators
at all? Why not just fire them all but the leadership, and save some money?
We taxpayers are paying far too much for bumps on logs.
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Chip Ford |
Associated Press
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Senate approves stepped-down cut in state income tax rate
By Steve LeBlanc
The Massachusetts Senate unanimously approved a plan Wednesday to cut
the state income tax rate to 5 percent over the next three years -- but
it comes with a very big "if."
The plan, designed to fulfill a voter mandate and rob Republican Gov.
Mitt Romney of a political cudgel, would only take effect if the state
meets three thresholds on local aid. The Senate's own budget only
crosses two of them.
"This is better than nothing," said Senate Republican leader Brian Lees
of East Longmeadow. "It is a step in the right direction."
The plan would gradually reduce the state income tax rate to 5 percent
by the 2009 fiscal year based on how much money the state sends back to
cities and towns in three key areas: school aid; additional assistance
and lottery aid. The tax rate is currently 5.3 percent.
The Senate's own budget fall short on the "additional assistance"
category. That means the cut would not take effect under the Senate's
own spending plan for the new year.
Sen. Steven C. Panagiotakos, D-Lowell, said the amendment balances the
desire to cut taxes for individuals while also ensuring communities have
enough money to take care of local needs.
Some Senate Republicans who have pushed for an immediate tax cut voted
for the amendment grudgingly.
But Democrats said the amendment shows that the Senate is serious about
reducing the tax rate.
"We will get to 5 percent," said Sen. Mark Montigny, D-New Bedford.
The income tax is a perennial political football in Massachusetts with
Romney and his Republican predecessors in the governor's office
regularly chastising the Democrat-controlled House and Senate for
balking at reducing the income tax rate.
In 2000, former Republican Gov. Paul Cellucci backed a ballot question
overwhelming approved by voters to reduce the tax rate from 5.95 percent
to 5 percent, but Democratic lawmakers froze that at 5.3 percent when
the state's economy tumbled.
Romney called Senate leaders on the carpet as recently as last week for
not including an immediate income tax rate cut in their budget plan.
"How we cannot justify a tax cut to the level that was voted by the
citizens is something I can't understand," Romney said.
Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said the state will end the year with a
$1 billion surplus.
"We can afford to honor the vote of the people and lower the tax rate
without new caveats and restrictions," he said Wednesday.
For the cut to go through each year under the Senate plan, the state
must reach 2002 spending levels in school aid, additional assistance and
lottery aid.
The tax cut would cost the state about $88 million in lost revenue in
the first year, $323 million in the second and $517 million in the
third.
Return to top
The Boston Globe
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Mass. Senate endorses tax cut
Rollback hinges on local aid hike
By Andrea Estes, Globe Staff
Senate lawmakers voted yesterday to lower the income tax rate from 5.3
percent to 5 percent if state spending on education and local aid is
restored to levels last seen before the fiscal crisis of 2002.
The Senate unanimously passed a measure that would trigger a series of
income tax rate reductions to 5 percent over three years beginning as
soon as 2007. But the reductions would take effect only if state
spending on education and other municipal services returns to 2002
levels, adjusted for inflation.
The Senate also approved a sales tax holiday for Aug. 12 and 13, a
measure allowing cities and towns to reduce seniors' property taxes,
another giving communities the power to increase the property tax
exemption for veterans, a proposal allowing taxpayers to deduct commuter
expenses from their income tax, and a tax credit for businesses that
hire welfare recipients. The tax measures were all contained in
amendments to the proposed budget for next year.
"This action dispels the notion the Democrats are averse to tax cuts,"
Senate President Robert E. Travaglini told the Globe. "Senior taxes, the
income tax rollback, veterans tax, sales tax holiday -- all in the first
hour and a half."
Travaglini, minority leader Brian Lees, and Ways and Means chair Therese
Murray said yesterday that because state tax revenues have been soaring,
the state can afford the reduction in income tax revenue -- $517 million
a year if the rollback is fully phased in.
"We have realized additional revenue that now makes this action
defensible and reasonable, " said Travaglini.
Senate leaders also said they believe the state can restore local aid to
sufficient levels for the tax cuts to kick in.
"We're not playing pretend, " said Travaglini. "This is not an exercise
that is disingenuous. I think the thresholds that we've set are
achievable. We're getting close and potentially can get it."
In 2000, voters approved a gradual lowering of the income tax rate,
which was 5.85 percent at the time, to 5 percent.
But in the depths of the state's fiscal crisis in 2002, the Legislature
froze the rate at 5.3 percent. Last year, after repeated calls for tax
relief by Governor Romney, the Senate passed a rollback measure, but the
House balked.
Travaglini acknowledged that yesterday's action was "in response to the
administration's continued call for a tax cut," but denied lawmakers
were seeking to exploit a politically popular issue in an election year,
eliminating it as a Republican campaign weapon. Lieutenant Governor
Kerry Healey and two of the three Democrats running for governor support
lowering the income tax rate.
"Our actions are not driven by a political agenda," Travaglini said.
Eric Fehrnstrom, a spokesman for Romney, who included a rollback over
two years in his most recent budget, praised the Senate for moving "in
the right direction," but said lawmakers didn't need to attach strings.
"We will end this year with yet another $1 billion-plus tax revenue
surplus," said Fehrnstrom. "We have the resources to both lower the tax
rate and spend more on priorities like local aid and education."
Travaglini vowed to lobby the House to approve the measure. "When the
[Senate] vote is 39-0," he said, "it sends a powerful message that the
body is behind me."
But it was unclear whether the House would approve it.
James Eisenberg, chief of staff to House Ways and Means chairman Robert
DeLeo, said House lawmakers are satisfied with the 2002 legislation now
in effect that froze the income tax rate at 5.3 percent.
That legislation includes provisions to gradually ease the income tax
burden on taxpayers starting in 2010, when the tax rate would begin to
decline by .05 percent each year for six years until it was back to 5
percent. Those rollbacks would be triggered only if certain economic
conditions are met.
"There are references to tax cuts in the House budget; most have to do
with studying the issue," Eisenberg said. "A lot of that was in
recognition of the fact we have a tax-cut trigger in place on the books,
and it is working the way it is supposed to work."
Cam Huff, research director of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a
business-backed government watchdog group, said any tax cut should be
tied to the state's continued economic growth.
"State tax collections have been very strong this fiscal year," he said.
"This is good news. But the question is how long is it going to last and
whether we're going to commit ourselves to tax cuts that could kick in
just as things go sour."
Much of the current revenue growth is due to increases in capital gains
taxes and other "volatile" revenue sources, which could drop off again,
Huff said.
Geoffrey Beckwith, executive director of the Massachusetts Municipal
Association, which represents cities and towns, said the Senate
amendment was acceptable because it kicks in only when local aid is
restored.
"Restoring local aid first before consideration of a tax cut is in the
right order," he said, adding that the state should devise a
revenue-sharing plan to give communities a piece of state tax receipts,
to reduce their reliance on property taxes.
"If the state just cut taxes now without restoring local aid, the fiscal
mess at the local level would just continue," he said.
During the debate on the Senate floor, Republicans said they approved
the measure with mixed feelings, preferring an immediate return to the 5
percent tax rate.
"It's a little bittersweet here," said Lees. "This is in my mind a
little bit of a chicken's way out. But it's better than nothing. It's a
bittersweet moment, but we'll take any victory we can take."
Return to top
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Massachusetts Senate
May 24, 2006
News Release
Senate adds tax relief for Massachusetts residents
(BOSTON, MA) - In the first hour and a half of debate, the Massachusetts
Senate overwhelmingly approved several tax relief measures to include in
the Senate's budget for fiscal year 2007. The bipartisan effort included
the adoption of: an incremental income tax rollback, property tax relief
for seniors and veterans, and a sales tax holiday weekend. By including
these amendments, the Senate stays true to its goal to focus on
communities, residents, and the future of the Commonwealth.
Senate President Robert Travaglini (D-Boston), Senate Minority Leader
Brian Lees (R-East Longmeadow) and Senator Therese Murray (D-Plymouth),
Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, applauded today's
actions of the Massachusetts Senate.
"Today's actions are the most recent in a series of tax cuts that the
Senate has passed over the last three years. We have initiated and
enacted 16 different types of tax relief to benefit the individuals and
businesses of this state," said Senate President Travaglini. "These
initiatives show that the Senate is willing to come together for the
good of the residents of the Commonwealth."
"These tax relief efforts are a real positive step for the taxpayers of
the Commonwealth," said Senate Minority Leader Lees. "Today, the Senate
has once again shown that we are serious about passing measures that
will benefit the taxpayers."
"By approving these measure we continue to craft a careful and
responsible approach to bring tax relief to the residents of the
Commonwealth," said Murray, the Senate's budget chief. "While our
economy has not fully recovered, the Senate understands the need for tax
relief and has taken the steps within this budget and throughout the
last several years to answer that call in a financially responsible
manner."
During the Senate's debate several tax measures were approved that will
directly effect the Commonwealth's residents. These measures include:
* State Income Tax Rollback: The amendment would trigger an incremental
income tax roll back to five percent if each of the local aid accounts
(Chapter 70, lottery aid, and additional assistance) reaches 2002
levels, adjusted for inflation. If the funding levels are met in fiscal
year 2008, the income tax would be reduced 5.2% for calendar year 2007,
to 5.1% for 2008, and to 5% beginning in 2009 and
thereafter.
* Senior Property Tax Relief: This amendment gives municipalities the
option, by a town or citywide referendum, to exempt their low-income
senior citizens who are at least 70 years old from property tax
amounting to 5% of the average assessed value of all residential parcels
in the community. Once adopted, it also gives municipalities the option
to increase the exemption amount to as much as 20% of the average
assessed value and to reduce eligibility age to 65 years.
* Veterans Property Tax Relief: This amendment would allow town or city
councils to increase the allowable property tax exemption amount for
veterans from $250 to up to $1,000.
* Sales Tax Holiday: This amendment would, for a third year, create a
sales tax holiday. This year's sales tax holiday would be the weekend of
August 12 and 13. Similar to last year, exceptions to the exemption
include: vehicles, motorized boats, tobacco, meals and utilities.
Along with the amendments approved during the debate, two tax relief
initiatives were included in the Committee's budget recommendations. The
first will enable commuters to deduct at least $150 and no more than
$750 from their income taxes as a portion of the expense associated with
FastLane tolls and MBTA and commuter rail passes.
The second would help facilitate the transition from welfare to work,
through a Work Opportunity Tax Credit of up to $2,400 for employers who
employ welfare recipients for at least 400 hours. It would also provide
bonuses to employers who create long-term positions. The credit
supplements the federal Welfare-to-Work Tax Credit and is designed as an
incentive for businesses to provide these residents with a steady job.
These tax relief initiatives mark the most recent efforts by the
Massachusetts Senate, working in a bipartisan manner to provide targeted
relief for businesses and individuals through: heating energy
assistance, senior tax relief, increasing the personal tax exemption,
expanding research and development tax credit, extending the Brownfields
tax credit, and new tax credits and incentives for the movie industry.
###
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The Boston Globe
Thursday, May 25, 2006
In Democrats' debate, Reilly is the target
By Scott Helman, Globe Staff
[Excerpt]
The second question in the debate, which was taped at the WB56 studios
and which will air at 10:30 tonight, was about taxes. Gabrieli, a former
venture capitalist and the party's 2002 candidate for lieutenant
governor, said that although he believes the income tax rate should
eventually be lowered from 5.3 to 5 percent, it was pure politics to
say, as Reilly has, that it should drop now.
"I think it's a mistake that just because it's an election year people
are stepping up and suddenly saying, `Let's cut taxes today to that,' "
Gabrieli said.
Patrick, a former civil rights prosecutor and corporate executive, does
not support the rollback because, he says, it would send property taxes
higher. He went after Reilly, too, saying Reilly last year opposed a
rollback.
"You were right then, and you were courageous about it then," Patrick
said. "I just think you're paying more attention today to the poll
numbers than the revenue numbers, and I think that's not leadership."
Reilly's retort was: If not now, when the state has a budget surplus and
is seeing strong revenue numbers, when would Gabrieli and Patrick
support the rollback?
"The voters made it very clear," Reilly said. "This is about keeping a
promise ... This is the time to keep that promise."
Return to top
The Boston Herald
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Pump relief for pols as taxpayers get taken for ride
By Kevin Rothstein
Beacon Hill doesn’t want gas tax relief but some of the measure’s
biggest critics are collecting thousands in taxpayer dollars to stave
off their own pump pinch, records show.
"The vast amount of people don’t get compensated to go to and from
work," said House Majority Leader Brad Jones (R-North Reading), who
sponsored the gas tax relief bill. "It creates a certain distance to
relate to what these commuters are going through."
The state Senate yesterday rejected a budget amendment 19-7 that would
have rolled back the state’s 21-cent-a-gallon gas tax between Memorial
Day and Labor Day, a measure first proposed by Jones and backed by Lt.
Gov. Kerry Healey.
The move was hardly unexpected, since leading Democrats put the brakes
on the measure as soon as it was announced this month.
"Where do these Republicans think this money comes from?" said Worcester
state Rep. John Binienda to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.
But Binienda’s commute into town won’t be walloping his wallet - he has
collected $2,376 so far this year in per diem payments, records show.
The per diems are taxpayer-funded reimbursements for driving to and from
work.
State Rep. Joseph Wagner, House chair of the Joint Committee on
Transportation, told another publication that he opposed the gas tax
relief because, "We’re treating a symptom here, not the disease."
Wagner is tied for being the 10th highest collector of per diems so far
this year, taking in $2,760. Wagner, a Chicopee Democrat, collects $60
per diem, which is based on the distance from the State House.
Western Massachusetts lawmakers collected the most, but even Boston
state senators Dianne Wilkerson and Marian Walsh collected $10 per day
as did state representatives Marty Walsh, Jack Hart, Marie St. Fleur,
Brian Wallace and Kevin Honan.
State Rep. Daniel Bosley (D-North Adams) defended his $6,030 per diem
payout even as he opposes gas tax relief, which would cost an estimated
$200 million. He said the tax holiday would defer needed road repairs.
"It’s not hypocritical," he said. "In my side of the state we have a lot
of roads and bridges that need to be done."
Amy Lambiaso, a spokeswoman for Healey’s gubernatorial campaign, said,
"The Beacon Hill crowd needs to stop taking taxpayers for a ride and
give working families the relief they need at the pump."
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