In the past, as Beacon Hill considered
proposals for tax hikes, taxpayer activists would plan
rallies or tea parties. CLT would threaten a
petition drive to repeal the increases.
Times have changed. Reality has set
in. If a Democrat governor and the Legislature are
determined to impose tax increases, rallies and tea
parties won’t stop them. And if citizens place a
petition on the ballot to repeal them, and the repeal is
approved by the voters, the same Democrat governor and
Legislature will trash the election results, repeal or
"freeze" the repeal – if they are the same
governor and Legislature which imposed them.
There is only one thing that anti-tax
hike activists and citizens can do to fight proposed
increases in the gas, sales and income taxes. They
must begin planning immediately for the 2010 election.
Voters must make it clear that they will support the
governor’s opponent in both the primary and general
election. They must pledge that they will support
the opponent of any legislator who votes for tax hikes.
Some of the candidates who ran
unsuccessfully in 2008 are planning to run again.
New candidates will step forward from the ranks of the
private sector and unemployed, or the simply outraged.
CLT’s Political Action Committee will be looking for
them to support. Meanwhile, CLT will be publishing
a rating of all tax votes.
We appreciate our legislative allies who
will be voting "No." We ask them to make sure we
get roll calls on every tax hike vote.
Once we taxpaying voters take The
Taxpayer’s Pledge – "NO RE-ELECTION FOR TAXHIKERS 2010"
– rallies and tea parties which use this as their theme
may get politicians’ attention. But The Taxpayer’s
Pledge must come first.