CLT UPDATE
Thursday, October 21 2010
Revolution 2010 is coming fast!
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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican who
wrested control of the governor's office from Democrats in that
state, will campaign for Republican Charles Baker in Melrose Sunday
morning. Doors open at 10:30 a.m. for a rally at memorial Hall, 590
Main Street.
State House News Service
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Christie to campaign for Baker
Please join us in Melrose for a rally with our
next Governor Charlie Baker and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie!
The Rally will be held on Sunday, October 24th at Memorial Hall
located at 590 Main Street, Melrose MA. Doors open at 10:30am.
Tickets are not required but an RSVP is encouraged:
https://bakerforgov.wufoo.com/forms/rally-with-new-jersey-governor-chris-christie/
A year ago, Governor Christie against all odds,
defeated an incumbent Governor in an overwhelmingly blue state in a
difficult three-way campaign. Sound familiar?
Invitation from the Baker/Tisei Campaign
Retailers and small business owners are
questioning why major Massachusetts health insurers are financing
efforts to oppose a major sales tax cut at a time when small
business health insurance premiums are skyrocketing.
“Small business owners who pay double-digit increases in premiums
are not exactly going to be thrilled to know their money is being
used to keep the sales tax as high as possible,” said Bill Vernon,
state director of the National Federation of Independent
Business....
Other groups funding Question 3 opposition include the Greater
Boston Chamber of Commerce, which contributed $25,000, and
Associated Industries of Massachusetts, which contributed $10,000. A
chamber spokeswoman indicated that other business groups would soon
be signing onto the effort and contributing funds and that the
contributions to date represent “the initial round.” The
spokeswoman, Erin Murphy, declined to identify the companies.
Vernon and Hurst say the state sales tax, which lawmakers raised to
6.25 percent from 5 percent last year, hurts small businesses more
than major businesses that may have out-of-state locations or
internet sales.
State House News Service
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Small biz groups question insurer sending to defeat sales tax cut
The predictions of doom and disaster are well
underway. . .
For those who were around in 1980 when Proposition 2˝ - which
capped property taxes - was on the ballot, the arguments will
all sound familiar. The business and political establishment
opposed that too. The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation was
against it, so was every public employee union in the state,
especially teachers....
And the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation - which, let’s not
forget, opposed Proposition 2˝ and has rarely met a tax hike it
didn’t like, is, of course, predicting the end of civilization
as we know it.
The projected $1 billion cut in revenue this year should the tax
rollback pass would exacerbate a $2 billion “structural
deficit,” Mass. Taxpayers insists.
Any guess how we acquired that “structural deficit?” ...
That’s the message of Question 3. Taxpayers and voters are just
fed up with lawmakers who listen more to special interests, more
to public employee unions, more to advocates than to those
paying the bills.
Sometimes voters have to shout to be heard. This is one of those
times.
A Boston Herald editorial
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Yes on Question 3
Here’s a question for the 70 percent of super
geniuses who voted down Question 1 in 2008: Are your property
taxes today higher or lower than two years ago? And if you vote
against a sales tax cut this year, will they be higher or lower
two years from today?
Exactly.
Here’s the real deal: You live in Massachusetts. Your taxes are
going to go up no matter how you vote on Question 3. And if you
re-elect Gov. Deval “Eight Tax Hikes” Patrick, they’re going to
go up even more. If you vote “no” on Question 3 you’ll be stuck
with the 6.25 percent sales tax. Vote “yes” and at least there’s
a chance - just a chance, mind you - that your sales taxes will
go down a bit.
Are you going to be dumb enough to fall for the same trick two
years later?
The Boston Herald
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Question 3 not foolhardy
By Michael Graham
The state’s $2.5 billion budget deficit could
swell by nearly another $1 billion next year as taxpayers face
the prospect of making up for losses in the pension system....
At stake is how to fund the state’s pension system. Stock market
losses, coupled with a state requirement for 8.25 percent
returns, could force taxpayers to pony up an additional $900
million a year for the 54,000 retirees and their families who
collect pensions from the Bay State.
The Boston Herald
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Budget-buster pensions
Could add $1B to state deficit as pols clash over solutions
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Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
We've been going flat-out here at CLT preparing for
Revolution 2010. As you can see from the photos, Barbara and I
have the "CLT Compound" well-dressed. Today I finally completed a
big project and published REPEAL THE SALES TAX-HIKERS! to the CLT
website. It's a list of all the legislative incumbents who voted
to hike the sales tax last year who are running for reelection -- along
with their challengers when available. If you live in a district
with a challenger, we hope you will Remember in November when you
Vote!
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Barbara's and my front
yard and vehicles, decorated for Revolution 2010. |
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Click above
photos to enlarge. |
REPEAL THE SALES TAX-HIKERS !
Legislative Candidates on the Ballot
Re: Last Year's 25% Sales Tax Hike
CLICK HERE
Barbara and I are real disappointed that we haven't
seen many bumper stickers on vehicles other than ours -- especially
since we mailed out thousands of Revolution 2010 CLT bumper stickers to
you the membership last spring -- thousands, and nary one in sight
anywhere!
We also hope to see you Saturday at the big Baker/Tisei
rally in Melrose -- where the featured speaker will be none other than
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, one of my personal political heroes
of today. Gov. Christie is an inspiration for how government
should and can work, standing up to the public employee unions in New
Jersey with straight talk, slapping them down at every opportunity.
Barbara and CLT
worked with Gov. Christie and his staff earlier this year to advise
and assist New Jersey in adopting a property tax cap similar to our
Proposition 2˝.
If you haven't seen him in action, get your
introduction
here. Gov. Christie is an absolutely refreshing politician,
one of so very few.
The Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Building is located
at 590 Main Street, Melrose MA.
DIRECTIONS/MAP
Besides the usual armada of self-serving
taxpayer-funded government employee unions -- the national and state
teachers unions, etc. -- the Fat-Cat Big-Business cabal is also
pumping huge amounts of cash into defeating Question 3, rolling back the
state sales tax to 3 percent that's killing small businesses especially
on our northern border.
The Boston Herald has endorsed a "YES" vote on
Question 3 -- and along the way accurately noted the longstanding record
of the so-called
Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.
One of the best online political ads this campaign
season has been produced by Arkady Kamenetsky, supporting a YES vote on
Question 3. He recently sent us a a link to it; we think you'll
appreciate is as much as we do:
MA
Spending Gone Wild - Vote Yes on Question 3!
"The state’s $2.5 billion budget deficit could swell
by nearly another $1 billion next year as taxpayers face the prospect of
making up for losses in the pension system," today the Boston Herald
reported.
If you needed any more motivation to vote YES on
Question 3 and cut off the spigot, take the state's hand our of our
pockets, this report should provide it. This alone clearly
explains why the government employee unions keep demanding more, more,
more from us.
If Question 3 is defeated in eleven days, it will
again send Bacon Hill the perverted message that not only are voters
stupid but they want to be kicked in the butt again with higher
taxes -- just like the last time the majority voted against their
self-interest by voting not to repeal the income tax in 2008 when we had
the chance.
Vote YES on Question 3, or bend over for another
quick kick in the butt -- again!
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Chip Ford |
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State House News Service
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Christie to campaign for Baker
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican who wrested control of
the governor's office from Democrats in that state, will campaign
for Republican Charles Baker in Melrose Sunday morning. Doors open
at 10:30 a.m. for a rally at memorial Hall, 590 Main Street.
The rally will be held in the district represented by Baker's
running mate, veteran lawmaker Sen. Richard Tisei. The Wakefield
Republican is promoting Craig Spadafora of Malden as his potential
successor. Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Melrose) is seeking to defeat
Spadafora and take Tisei's seat for the Democrats.
Baker-Tisei field director Matt St. Hilaire, in an email to campaign
supporters Monday, offered, "A year ago, Governor Christie against
all odds, defeated an incumbent Governor in an overwhelmingly blue
state in a difficult three-way campaign. Sound familiar?"
Invitation from the Baker/Tisei
Campaign
Please join us in Melrose for a rally with our next Governor Charlie
Baker and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie! The Rally will be held
on Sunday, October 24th at Memorial Hall located at 590 Main Street,
Melrose MA. Doors open at 10:30am. Tickets are not required but an
RSVP is encouraged:
https://bakerforgov.wufoo.com/forms/rally-with-new-jersey-governor-chris-christie/
A year ago, Governor Christie against all odds, defeated an
incumbent Governor in an overwhelmingly blue state in a difficult
three-way campaign. Sound familiar?
Like Massachusetts, New Jersey was facing a huge budget deficit when
Governor Christie came into office. By reducing state spending and
refusing to raise taxes, Governor Christie has demonstrated fiscal
restraint, has stood up to the special interests and is making a
difference in New Jersey.
With just 2 weeks left until the crucial election that will set the
Commonwealth's course for the next 4 years, this rally is an
incredible opportunity to show the voters of Massachusetts that we
can get back on track with new leadership - and that means more
jobs, lower taxes and streamlined state government that works for
and listens to you.
Doors open at 10:30am and this event is free and open to the public.
Bring your homemade signs -- and make sure your family and friends
don't miss out!
Thanks,
Matt St. Hilaire
Baker-Tisei Field Director
State House News Service
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Small biz groups question insurer sending to defeat sales tax cut
By Kyle Cheney
Retailers and small business owners are questioning why major
Massachusetts health insurers are financing efforts to oppose a
major sales tax cut at a time when small business health insurance
premiums are skyrocketing.
“Small business owners who pay double-digit increases in premiums
are not exactly going to be thrilled to know their money is being
used to keep the sales tax as high as possible,” said Bill Vernon,
state director of the National Federation of Independent Business.
Major Massachusetts businesses this month poured $95,000 into an
effort to oppose a question on next month’s ballot that would cut
the state sales tax to 3 percent from 6.25 percent. The cut would
rip up to $2.5 billion from the state’s tax base, a move opposed by
all four candidates for governor.
On Wednesday, a new group, Business Leaders Against Question 3,
recorded the contributions from major Massachusetts businesses,
including a $50,000 contribution from Blue Cross Blue Shield of
Massachusetts and $10,000 from Tufts Associated HMO.
“Like other businesses in the community, we are concerned about the
impact question three would have on the people who deliver critical
services like teachers, police officers, and firefighters,” said
Blue Cross spokeswoman Tara Murray.
Lora Pellegrini, president of the Massachusetts Association of
Health Plans, called Question 3 “dangerous” and said “it would have
a major impact on the health care system and really start to
destabilize our health reform effort.” MAHP hasn’t helped fund the
effort but has lent its support, she said. Tufts Health Plan is a
member of the association.
Vernon’s group has remained neutral on the question, as has the
Retailers Association of Massachusetts, but both say their members
may be peeved that Blue Cross and Tufts are funding the opposition.
“I don’t understand the connection where big insurers frankly should
be using our premium dollars to take a position for it or against it
– not when we’re seeing double-digit premium increases,” said Jon
Hurst, president of the retailers association. “I think they need to
justify why they need to justify that contribution … I’m trying to
connect the dots here of why they care what the sales tax is when
that directly affects consumers paying the premiums.”
Other groups funding Question 3 opposition include the Greater
Boston Chamber of Commerce, which contributed $25,000, and
Associated Industries of Massachusetts, which contributed $10,000. A
chamber spokeswoman indicated that other business groups would soon
be signing onto the effort and contributing funds and that the
contributions to date represent “the initial round.” The
spokeswoman, Erin Murphy, declined to identify the companies.
Vernon and Hurst say the state sales tax, which lawmakers raised to
6.25 percent from 5 percent last year, hurts small businesses more
than major businesses that may have out-of-state locations or
internet sales.
Supporters of Question 3 have raised about $125,000 this year,
according to campaign finance reports, and have about $13,000 in the
bank going into the final two weeks of campaign season. In contrast,
opponents of the question – primarily teacher and health care
unions, both local and national – raised more than $5 million this
year and had more than $1.6 million in the bank at the beginning of
October.
House Minority Leader Bradley Jones said health insurers may have an
interest in maintaining the sales tax at its current rate because of
concerns that without it, government payment rates could be reduced.
Jones said he hopes the question fails but would like to see the
sales tax returned to 5 percent. However, he said he’s concerned
that some “moonbat wingnuts” might interpret the failure of Question
3 as a sign that “people are okay with higher taxes.”
Jones said that if the sales tax cut went to 5 percent, “this would
be a slam dunk.” Similarly, Hurst and Vernon indicated that a 5
percent rate would likely have coaxed more members to sign onto the
effort.
The Boston Herald
Thursday, October 7, 2010
A Boston Herald editorial
Yes on Question 3
The predictions of doom and disaster are well underway.
Should Question 3 pass - that’s the ballot question which would
reduce the state sales tax from 6.25 percent to 3 percent - there
will be blood in the streets, the oceans will rise and the earth
will quite likely stop spinning on its axis, or something.
For those who were around in 1980 when Proposition 2˝ - which capped
property taxes - was on the ballot, the arguments will all sound
familiar. The business and political establishment opposed that too.
The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation was against it, so was every
public employee union in the state, especially teachers.
The only folks who were for it were the hard-pressed taxpayers who
had tired of watching their tax bills go out of sight.
Flash forward to 2010 and Question 3. Now we too would be far more
comfortable if the ballot question merely repealed the 25 percent
hike in the tax rate enacted by the Legislature. That would be a
no-brainer.
But given the choice between no tax relief at all and a measure that
would likely have to be tweaked later on - well, count us in the Yes
on Question 3 camp.
Sometimes a proposition is known by the enemies it makes - and
lining up against the tax rollback are all the usual suspects.
Unions - mostly public employee unions - have thus far built a $1.3
million kitty to pay for the coming onslaught of radio and TV ads.
The Massachusetts Teachers Association and the National Education
Association alone have already kicked in over $1 million.
Others dependent on taxpayer largess - the Massachusetts Hospital
Association, for example, is creating a campaign committee to oppose
Question 3.
And the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation - which, let’s not
forget, opposed Proposition 2˝ and has rarely met a tax hike it
didn’t like, is, of course, predicting the end of civilization as we
know it.
The projected $1 billion cut in revenue this year should the tax
rollback pass would exacerbate a $2 billion “structural deficit,”
Mass. Taxpayers insists.
Any guess how we acquired that “structural deficit?”
The state spends too much!
What with unemployment high and underemployment even higher, and
people cutting back on things they buy, well, the state has just not
been able to take as much out of taxpayers’ pockets as its wants. So
the Legislature upped the rate.
Well, enough already!
That’s the message of Question 3. Taxpayers and voters are just fed
up with lawmakers who listen more to special interests, more to
public employee unions, more to advocates than to those paying the
bills.
Sometimes voters have to shout to be heard. This is one of those
times.
The Boston Herald
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Question 3 not foolhardy
By Michael Graham
To quote that great logician, George W. Bush, “Fool me once, shame
on me; Fool me twice, er, I mean . . .”
We know what you mean, Mr. President, particularly those of us here
in Massachusetts having deja vu all over again on a ballot
initiative to cut our own taxes.
Two years ago it was the vote to eliminate the state income tax.
Massachusetts taxpayers had the chance to keep that 5.3 percent of
our income in our pockets to save and spend. But if we did, the
teachers’ unions and Patrick administration officials told us,
“schools, and public health programs and even some hospitals” would
be shut down, according to one TV ad. “Local services from schools
to police stations to senior centers would be on the chopping
block,” The Boston Globe-Democrat editorialized in 2008. “Property
taxes - the most unfair and hated of all assessments - would likely
rise.”
According to at least one ad, if we kept our income taxes, people
would actually die. “It would impact emergency personnel saving
people’s lives,” a heart attack survivor warned us.
So 70 percent of Massachusetts voters voted to keep giving Beacon
Hill their money because if they didn’t, taxes would go up, services
would go down and we’d be thrown into massive debt.
And what happened? Gov. Deval Patrick and his pals kept our money,
raised our taxes by $1 billion, shut down Registry of Motor Vehicles
offices across the state, cut local aid by 25 percent and left us in
a $2.5 billion deficit for next year.
Well that worked great . . .
And now those same unions and government workers and political hacks
want us to do it again. Even worse, the terrorized voters of
Taxachusetts may grant their wish. Do you know the Southern saying
that “there’s no education in the second kick of a mule?” Apparently
Massachusetts voters are a two-kick crowd.
It’s embarrassing: I spent a few minutes watching the “Vote No” ads
from 2008 and the “No on Question 3” ads of today, and it’s the same
unions with the same scripts. “Cuts to hospitals, emergency services
and schools,” the ever-present “teacher layoffs and larger class
sizes,” blah, blah, blah. And if we ignorant, mean-spirited voters
do ignore our betters and vote to spend our own money for a change,
the consequence will once again be “higher property taxes,” etc.
The one wrinkle is that the “No on Question 3” crowd is trying to
steal libertarian Carla Howell’s strongest argument, making the
ludicrous claim that cutting sales taxes will kill jobs. Find an
economist anywhere who believes that. Or a single Bay Stater running
a business on the New Hampshire border.
Here’s a question for the 70 percent of super geniuses who voted
down Question 1 in 2008: Are your property taxes today higher or
lower than two years ago? And if you vote against a sales tax cut
this year, will they be higher or lower two years from today?
Exactly.
Here’s the real deal: You live in Massachusetts. Your taxes are
going to go up no matter how you vote on Question 3. And if you
re-elect Gov. Deval “Eight Tax Hikes” Patrick, they’re going to go
up even more. If you vote “no” on Question 3 you’ll be stuck with
the 6.25 percent sales tax. Vote “yes” and at least there’s a chance
- just a chance, mind you - that your sales taxes will go down a
bit.
Are you going to be dumb enough to fall for the same trick two years
later? Or are you going to take George W’s advice and practice some
voter “strategery” by backing Question 3?
The Boston Herald
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Budget-buster pensions
Could add $1B to state deficit as pols clash over solutions
By Thomas Grillo
The state’s $2.5 billion budget deficit could swell by nearly
another $1 billion next year as taxpayers face the prospect of
making up for losses in the pension system.
“This is a real crisis that will have a long duration,” said Michael
Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.
At stake is how to fund the state’s pension system. Stock market
losses, coupled with a state requirement for 8.25 percent returns,
could force taxpayers to pony up an additional $900 million a year
for the 54,000 retirees and their families who collect pensions from
the Bay State.
Widmer said he believes the Legislature will extend the date
required to cover the unfunded liability to 2040 from 2025. But that
alone, he said, won’t solve the problem. He said significant reforms
are needed, including upping the retirement age to as high as 70 and
lowering returns to 5 percent to reflect today’s new economic
realities. “People are living longer and the glory days of earning 8
percent on returns are over,” he said. “The pension should be
preserved, but must be more realistic.”
In a statement, state Secretary of Administration and Finance Jay
Gonzalez said the pension fund took a huge hit during the recession
due to a decline in value of the fund’s investment portfolio. “While
we cannot control the stock market, this administration has proposed
comprehensive pension reform to modernize the system that would save
an estimated $2 billion in costs over the next 30 years,” Gonzalez
said.
Charlie Baker, the Republican candidate for governor, vows to cap
state pensions at $90,000 and end the practice of calculating
pensions based on the maximum salary over three years without regard
to the salary for the remaining years. Baker would also increase the
state pension retirement age to 60, from 55.
State Treasurer Timothy Cahill, an independent candidate for
governor, whose office oversees the Pension Reserves Investment
Management board, said the commonwealth’s retirement system’s funded
ratio increased to 67.5 percent, up from 62.7 percent as of January
2010, while its unfunded liability fell to $19.9 billion from $22.1
billion.
“As long as PRIM continues to operate at a high level and the
commonwealth meets its annual funding obligations, the public
employee retirement system will remain on track to being fully
funded,” Cahill said in a statement.
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Citizens for Limited Taxation ▪
PO Box 1147 ▪ Marblehead, MA 01945
▪ 508-915-3665
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