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CLT UPDATE
Monday, February 13, 2012
Dodging Duval's Tax Bullets?
|
Grover Norquist, the national anti-tax advocate
whose no-new-taxes pledges have infuriated the left and captivated
the right, trained fire on Gov. Deval Patrick this week, calling his
recently unveiled proposal to raise the state cigarette tax a
job-killer and as likely to worsen smoking problems as it is to
solve them.
“A particularly misguided aspect of the
governor’s executive budget is the bevy of lifestyle tax increases
that will adversely impact the state’s economy, hurt small
businesses, and frankly, serve as a unnecessary annoyance that Bay
State residents will remember as they head to the voting booths
later this year,” Norquist, the president of
Americans for Tax Reform,
wrote in a recent letter to Bay State lawmakers [House
/
Senate].
Patrick batted back the assertion Monday, telling
reporters that his tax proposals are sound and well-supported by
Massachusetts residents....
Norquist’s barbs come as Patrick plans to play an
increasingly public role in President Barack Obama’s reelection
campaign and has traveled the country touting Massachusetts’s
economic strengths while slamming national Republicans and urging
Democrats to show “backbone.”
State House News Service
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Patrick, anti-tobacco lobby refute Norquist's claims on taxes
House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo took a firm stand
against new taxes — and staked out a position opposite Gov. Deval
Patrick — in his annual address to fellow state representatives
yesterday.
“For the past two years, this House has rejected
balancing the budget with new taxes and fees,” DeLeo said from the
House rostrum. “Any changes to revenue policy should be approached
with extreme caution and should never be done piecemeal. As such we
will release a budget from the House Committee on Ways & Means that
does not rely on new taxes and fees.”
The Boston Herald
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Robert DeLeo: Taxes not way out of $$ woes
Known primarily for his aggressive push to
legalize expanded gambling in Massachusetts, House Speaker Robert
DeLeo on Wednesday sought to assure his critics that his focus on
job creation extends beyond the casino floor.
“As I meet with business leaders across the
state, increasingly I am hearing about us losing the innovation
battle to other states. Too often, I’m learning that our innovators
and entrepreneurs are packing up and leaving. I don’t like seeing
Massachusetts finish second to any other state,” DeLeo said during
his annual address to the House, which he offered with six months
remaining for formal legislative sessions....
DeLeo also ruled out using any new taxes or fees
to balance next year's budget, an approach that could scuttle the
cigarette tax hike and other targeted fee increases recommended by
Gov. Deval Patrick.
The comments drew applause from the chamber,
including a standing ovation from a handful of House Republicans,
and immediate praise from the local chapter of the National
Federation of Independent Business.
However, Administration and Finance Secretary Jay
Gonzalez said the “small amount of targeted tax increases” on
tobacco, soda and candy helped avoid cuts to education, Medicaid and
local aid.
“None of our proposals hurt our economic
competitiveness. The budget is about choices and we’ll wait to see
what choices the House of Representatives makes in lieu of these
proposals,” Gonzalez said in a statement.
DeLeo said any changes to revenue policy "should
be approached with extreme caution and should never be done
piecemeal," suggesting changes to the tax code, if any, should be
part of a broader package vetted by the Legislature.
State House News Service
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
In speech, DeLeo stakes out ground on jobs, taxes, health care,
higher ed
House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo rejected yesterday
Governor Deval Patrick’s proposal to raise $260 million in new
revenue with various taxes and fees, including a tax on candy and
soda, an increase in cigarette taxes, and a new deposit requirement
for bottled water.
DeLeo, delivering his annual address laying out
his priorities for the year, renewed his argument that business
leaders need predictability and consistency in the tax code.
The Boston Globe
Thursday, February 9, 2012
DeLeo rejects Patrick’s tax proposals
A day after House Speaker Robert DeLeo ruled out
a budget emerging from the House Ways and Means Committee with new
taxes or fees, comments from Senate President Therese Murray on
Thursday underscored why DeLeo’s proclamation was so important....
“The Speaker speaks for the House,” Murray said,
when asked whether she agreed with DeLeo. DeLeo staked out his
position on taxes during a speech to the House on Wednesday. And as
for the Senate? “We can’t do it,” Murray said.
The Senate clerk confirmed that the Senate is
prohibited by the state Constitution from voting on tax code changes
unless the House first sends the upper branch a so-called “money
bill” with tax changes included....
Unless the House overrides DeLeo’s preferred
approach to taxes, the House budget will arrive in the Senate devoid
of tax law changes.
State House News Service
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Senate prez mum on tax law preferences
Once again House Speaker Robert DeLeo has proven
to be the voice of reason on Beacon Hill — rejecting a host of tax
hike proposals from the governor that ranged from the silly to the
job-killing....
Secretary of Administration and Finance Jay
Gonzalez, apparently the administration’s designated “bad cop” on
the budget, issued a statement saying the proposed tax hikes would
“help us avoid cuts to education funding, safety net programs and
local aid.”
How pathetic is that? Yes, without that candy bar
tax the “safety net” will be shredded.
“None of our proposals hurt our economic
competitiveness,” he insisted.
Well, he might want to run that by merchants in
border communities....
So when you have a guy in the Corner Office who
year after year keeps coming up with one tax hike after another,
well, that doesn’t do the state’s business climate much good....
The speaker is off to a good start. We can’t wait
to hear more.
A Boston Herald editorial
Friday, February 10, 2012
Speaker gets it right
House Speaker Robert DeLeo, in calling
Wednesday for a budget that does not include Governor Patrick's
proposed tax hikes on cigarettes, candy and soda, appears to be
parroting anti-tax activist Grover Norquist, who was selling the
same message in the state a day earlier. Mr. Norquist, however,
has responsibility only to the wealthy donors who fund his
Americans for Tax Reform. Mr. DeLeo is responsible to all of the
constituents of the state, which includes the poor, disabled,
elderly and children who are usually the victims of budget
cuts....
Mr. Norquist parachuted in from Washington to
decry these "lifestyle" taxes and suggest that legislators cut
fat from the budget instead. As is the case with most cutters of
fat he could offer no examples, and we suspect he doesn't have
the slightest idea of what is actually in the Massachusetts
budget....
Mr. Norquist is part of a mean-spirited
movement that maintains Americans have no responsibility to the
elderly, the poor, the sick and the young. That is not who we
are in Massachusetts, and Speaker DeLeo should know that.
A Berkshire Eagle editorial
Friday, February 10, 2012
DeLeo heeds bad advice
|
|
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
We taxpayers seem to have dodged Gov. Deval
Patrick's latest fusillade of tax-hike bullets at least for the
moment. In his address to his House colleagues this past
Wednesday, Speaker Robert DeLeo (D-Winthrop) summarily rejected tax
hikes in his upcoming legislative agenda. As we know, what the
speaker wants the speaker usually gets. This time it works for us.
In a news release by the state chapter of the
National Federation of Independent Business, its director, Bill
Vernon, said:
“Local merchants would have been hurt by the
tax increase and that’s not what Massachusetts needs right now.
We have to abandon the notion that we can raise taxes on small
businesses and consumers every time state revenues fall short. A
better approach is to look at the structural imbalance in the
budget and eliminate or reform the programs that can’t or
shouldn’t be sustained in their current form.”
Senate President Therese Murray (D-Plymouth)
conceded that the Senate cannot originate a tax bill; it must first
be adopted in the House. If the House doesn't send a tax hike bill
to the Senate, there won't be a tax hike.
In the Jan. 27 CLT news release (Taxation
by Polling? So roll back the income and sales taxes.) we noted:
Governor Patrick’s $32.3 billion budget
proposal is almost two billion more than this fiscal year's –
before "supplemental budgets" are considered. Already many
hundreds of millions have been added to the $30.6 billion FY12
budget. How much more will be added to his proposed $32.3
billion?
The governor’s latest budget bill continues the tradition of
ever more taxes to support increasingly unsustainable
spending....
Last year smokers paid over half a billion dollars in state
excise and sales tax alone for their cigarettes. As the
immutable “law of diminishing returns” continues to reduce the
number of smokers – the stated goal – maintaining this vast
revenue source requires perpetual tax increases on that
dwindling target, as long as any smokers remain.
Government shouldn’t rely on tobacco revenues for essential
services. If state taxes and programs discourage smoking – a
good thing – the revenue collected from smokers will vanish, and
other taxpayers will be expected to pick up the slack.
A few days later our friend and ally in
Washington, Grover Norquist, president of
Americans for Tax Reform,
sent letters to the Massachusetts
House and
Senate members condemning Gov. Patrick's proposed tax-hike
scheme.
The far-left-wing Berkshire Eagle in its Friday
editorial ("DeLeo heeds bad advice") ignorantly ranted:
Mr. Norquist parachuted in from Washington to
decry these "lifestyle" taxes and suggest that legislators cut
fat from the budget instead. As is the case with most cutters of
fat he could offer no examples, and we suspect he doesn't have
the slightest idea of what is actually in the Massachusetts
budget.
Apparently, consumed by angst, they didn't bother
to check the facts, or read our executive director Barbara
Anderson's column of Nov. 16, "Friend,
fellow activist provides perspective on D.C.'s deficit debate"
— or they would have known better.
Grover Norquist is a Bay State native, grew up in Weston, worked as
a CLT volunteer while receiving his BA and MBA from Harvard
University. As Barbara related:
I've known him since he dropped by the office
of Citizens for Limited Taxation in 1978 when I was its
secretary; he was 22 years old, still at Harvard and active with
the College Republicans.
Later, I became CLT's executive director, and he the executive
director of the National Taxpayers Union, from where he helped
fund a third CLT employee to run the Proposition 2½ ballot
campaign.
In 1985, Grover was asked by President Reagan to form Americans
for Tax Reform (ATR), with the mission of reducing the
percentage of the GDP consumed by the federal government. ATR
"opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle," which is
why his organization sponsors the "no new taxes" pledge ...
We'll never accuse a good lefty of letting facts
get in the way even if the Berkshire Eagle editorial board doesn't have "the slightest idea" what
they're pontificating about.
And it's not as though Grover began the kerfuffle
with Gov. Patrick, as the State House News Service noted. In his
Washington Post column last Jun. 30 our governor took the opening
shot. Deval Patrick wrote ("How
Grover Norquist hypnotized the GOP"):
Taxes — a dirty word thanks to Norquist’s “no
new taxes” gimmick — are made to seem beyond the pale, even as
the burden of paying for our society shifts disproportionately
to the middle class and working poor. It is the height of fiscal
folly. It is also not who we are as a country....
I remember sitting in the Dunster House dining hall at Harvard
with Norquist when we were sophomores or juniors in college,
while he explained his view of government, or lack thereof. It
sounded logical — the notion that we could live independently of
each other, making our own decisions in our own self-interest.
But then who puts out the fires? Who answers the calls to 911?
Who educates poor children? Who helps people with disabilities?
I’d like to think that the most prosperous nation in human
history can have both freedom and security. I think we have
reached a point where my personal success is not threatened by a
program to help our parents retire with dignity. Voters are
smart enough to see that taxes are one of the ways we get those
things. They are the price we pay for civilization.
"It is also not who we are as a country," the
governor asserted.
"That is not who we are in Massachusetts," the
Berkshire Eagle editorial echoed.
As faithful sidekick Tonto replied to the Lone
Ranger, "Who is 'we' Kemosabe?"
ATR is working similarly with many state taxpayer
organizations like CLT, which holds a monthly
Friday Morning Group meeting of center-right state
organizations. Modeled after ATR's Wednesday Morning Group, it's
consistently one of the most successful among the states.
Americans for Tax
Reform works with state-based center-right groups to help
replicate ATR’s national Wednesday Meeting in the states.
Currently, there are over 50 meetings in 45 states. These
meetings bring together a broad cross section of the
center-right community, taxpayer groups, social conservative
groups, business groups, legislators, etc., to promote limited
government ideals.
Patrick Gleason, ATR's Director of State Affairs,
attended and spoke at our February meeting last week. Along with
over 60 activists, also attending was Boston Globe reporter Neil
Swidey, who is writing a profile on Grover for the
The Boston Globe Magazine.
A "mean-spirited" Grover Norquist didn't just
"parachute in from Washington" — but
then, we who know him know better.
And those who don't are running scared.
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Chip Ford |
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State House News Service
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Patrick, anti-tobacco lobby refute Norquist's claims on taxes
By Kyle Cheney
Grover Norquist, the national anti-tax advocate whose no-new-taxes
pledges have infuriated the left and captivated the right, trained
fire on Gov. Deval Patrick this week, calling his recently unveiled
proposal to raise the state cigarette tax a job-killer and as likely
to worsen smoking problems as it is to solve them.
“A particularly misguided aspect of the governor’s executive budget
is the bevy of lifestyle tax increases that will adversely impact
the state’s economy, hurt small businesses, and frankly, serve as a
unnecessary annoyance that Bay State residents will remember as they
head to the voting booths later this year,” Norquist, the president
of Americans for Tax Reform, wrote in a recent letter [House
/
Senate] to Bay State lawmakers.
Patrick batted back the assertion Monday, telling reporters that his
tax proposals are sound and well-supported by Massachusetts
residents.
“I know of Grover’s longstanding opposition to any tax and how much
evidence there is to refute claims just like that,” he said before a
State House meeting with legislative leaders. “We’ve made these
proposals before. We’re making them now because they’re reasonable,
they’re very popular among the general public and they help us deal
with the cost of public health and other kinds of services that
people need.”
Patrick’s gentle rebuke of Norquist comes six months after the
governor blasted him in a Washington Post op-ed, calling him “the
brain and able spokesman for the radical right” and labeling his
anti-tax pledge a “gimmick.”
Patrick’s budget, filed in January, calls for a 20 percent increase
in the state cigarette tax to $3.01 per pack, as well as an
expansion of the tax to cover products like smokeless tobacco. His
budget also calls for an end to the sales tax exemption for candy
and soda. Both measures, the governor has argued, promote public
health by discouraging unhealthy behavior.
Norquist’s barbs come as Patrick plans to play an increasingly
public role in President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign and has
traveled the country touting Massachusetts’s economic strengths
while slamming national Republicans and urging Democrats to show
“backbone.”
Norquist ripped both proposals, arguing that they would drive
business across state lines, and he said experiences in South
Carolina, Washington D.C. and Chicago proved his point. In fact, he
said, expanding the cigarette tax to other tobacco products would
inappropriately send a message that those products are as dangerous
to health as traditional cigarettes and could worsen smoking
problems in Massachusetts.
“Nicotine is addictive but it poses no serious health risks. Thus,
the use of smokeless tobacco is proven to be a safer alternative to
smoking,” he wrote. “Smokeless tobacco has similar nicotine levels
as cigarettes but is 98 percent safer – smokeless tobacco poses no
risk for emphysema, lung cancer or heart disease. Though there is
still a risk for mouth cancer, it is significantly lower than
smoking.”
But anti-smoking advocates described significant public health
benefits that could be derived from an increase in the cigarette
tax, contending that health care costs related to smoking cost
consumers $3.54 billion a year, in addition to a $1.05 billion
Medicaid expenditure. According to the American Cancer Society and
the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, smoking costs in Massachusetts
amount to $19.49 per pack, compared to the current $2.51-per-pack
cigarette tax, which is the ninth highest in the country.
Although Patrick has called for a 50-cent increase, both groups are
seeking a $1.25-cent-per-pack hike, arguing that it would raise
$141.8 million to aid the state’s public health efforts. Expanding
that tax to other tobacco products would raise another $13.5
million, they argue.
In addition, the groups project that youth smoking would decrease by
11 percent, health care programs would see a relief from cost
pressures and 23,700 adults would quit smoking.
“Small tax increase amounts do not produce significant public health
benefits or cost savings because the cigarette companies can easily
offset the beneficial impact of such small increases with temporary
price cuts, coupons, and other promotional discounting,” the groups
argued in a letter that will be distributed to Bay State lawmakers
Tuesday morning.
Lawmakers opposed to cigarette tax increases argue, like Norquist,
that raising the excise tax would send Massachusetts residents over
the border to sales-tax-free New Hampshire to purchase cigarettes,
as well as to make other ancillary purchases. Even Vermont, with a
lower cigarette tax could see a boost in sales, they argue.
In addition, Massachusetts Republicans have questioned the
motivation behind the cigarette tax increase, contending that if the
governor were really interested in public health, he would push an
all out ban on cigarette smoking in Massachusetts. Similar measures
have been rejected by lawmakers as draconian, although the
Legislature and the governor supported increasing the cigarette tax
$1 per pack in 2008, bringing it to its current level.
In her letter, Susan Liss, executive director of the Campaign for
Tobacco-Free Kids, refuted the economic arguments made by cigarette
tax hike opponents. “Money spent currently on cigarettes will not
disappear when smoking declines after a cigarette tax increase,”
Liss said. “Smokers who quit or cut back will spend the money in
other ways – and those alternative uses may produce more jobs or
more productive economic activity than spending on cigarettes.”
The Boston Herald
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Robert DeLeo: Taxes not way out of $$ woes
By Chris Cassidy
House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo took a firm stand against new taxes —
and staked out a position opposite Gov. Deval Patrick — in his
annual address to fellow state representatives yesterday.
“For the past two years, this House has rejected balancing the
budget with new taxes and fees,” DeLeo said from the House rostrum.
“Any changes to revenue policy should be approached with extreme
caution and should never be done piecemeal. As such we will release
a budget from the House Committee on Ways & Means that does not rely
on new taxes and fees.”
Earlier this year, Patrick proposed taxes on candy and soda,
increased taxes on tobacco products and an expansion of the state’s
bottle bill.
Administration & Finance Secretary Jay Gonzalez said yesterday the
extra revenue is necessary to avoid painful cuts to schools, public
safety and revenue to cities and towns.
“None of our proposals hurt our economic competitiveness,” Gonzalez
said in a statement. “The budget is about choices and we’ll wait to
see what choices the House of Representatives makes in lieu of these
proposals.”
DeLeo stressed a need to “create the most competitive economic
climate.”
“I was struck with a sense of lost opportunity, when I heard
comments from Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, saying if he
had it to do over again, he would have kept his innovative company
in Massachusetts,” DeLeo said. “To Mark Zuckerberg, and other
leaders of new companies, we want you here.”
In a statement, Patrick focused on his areas of agreement with DeLeo
and steered clear of taxes.
“Time and again the Legislature has given me tools to meet our
generational responsibility to build a better, stronger
Commonwealth,” he said. “I am confident that they will again respond
to the Speaker’s call for action and send me bills that create jobs,
close the skills gap and reduce health care costs for the long
term.”
State House News Service
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
In speech, DeLeo stakes out ground on jobs, taxes, health care,
higher ed
By Matt Murphy
Known primarily for his aggressive push to legalize expanded
gambling in Massachusetts, House Speaker Robert DeLeo on Wednesday
sought to assure his critics that his focus on job creation extends
beyond the casino floor.
“As I meet with business leaders across the state, increasingly I am
hearing about us losing the innovation battle to other states. Too
often, I’m learning that our innovators and entrepreneurs are
packing up and leaving. I don’t like seeing Massachusetts finish
second to any other state,” DeLeo said during his annual address to
the House, which he offered with six months remaining for formal
legislative sessions.
DeLeo, hoarse from battling a cold, told House members that he would
look to find opportunities “to create a friendlier, better climate
for the creation of new jobs.”
Specifically mentioning how Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg caught
his attention by saying he might have stayed in Massachusetts if he
could change his decision to leave Harvard for California, DeLeo
sent a message to future, young entrepreneurs.
“To Mark Zuckerberg, and other leaders of new companies, we want you
here," DeLeo said.
House Republicans recently have expressed frustration with the pace
of House initiatives aimed at job creation, and Wednesday was no
different. Minority Leader Rep. Brad Jones expressed hope that the
speaker will be receptive to a jobs bill they plan to outline next
week.
“Hopefully there will be an opportunity for both sides of the aisle
to work together for what I think is the most important issue facing
the Commonwealth and the country,” Jones told reporters.
Rep. Daniel Winslow, a Norfolk Republican, also said he was pleased
with the themes in DeLeo’s speech, but said it remained to be seen
whether they would be translated into action.
“I agreed with the sentiment that this is no time to rest and we
need to do everything in our power to improve the economic climate.
I was somewhat disheartened that the first vote we took after the
speech was organ donations. The good news is you can now sell your
kidney to pay the rent if you don’t have a job,” Winslow said.
DeLeo also ruled out using any new taxes or fees to balance next
year's budget, an approach that could scuttle the cigarette tax hike
and other targeted fee increases recommended by Gov. Deval Patrick.
The comments drew applause from the chamber, including a standing
ovation from a handful of House Republicans, and immediate praise
from the local chapter of the National Federation of Independent
Business.
However, Administration and Finance Secretary Jay Gonzalez said the
“small amount of targeted tax increases” on tobacco, soda and candy
helped avoid cuts to education, Medicaid and local aid.
“None of our proposals hurt our economic competitiveness. The budget
is about choices and we’ll wait to see what choices the House of
Representatives makes in lieu of these proposals,” Gonzalez said in
a statement.
DeLeo said any changes to revenue policy "should be approached with
extreme caution and should never be done piecemeal," suggesting
changes to the tax code, if any, should be part of a broader package
vetted by the Legislature.
Senate President Therese Murray has not issued a direct a
denunciation of new taxes, but the Senate cannot initiate revenue
proposals. Murray’s office did not immediately respond to a request
for comment on the speaker’s position."I hear time and time again
from business leaders that predictability and consistency in the tax
code are what's most important," DeLeo said.
Patrick's budget proposal for fiscal 2013 includes $260 million in
new revenue from a 50-cent increase in the cigarette tax, the
application of the sales tax to candy and soda, an expansion of the
bottle bill and other revenue-generating proposals.
“Speaker DeLeo shares my commitment to strengthening our innovation
sectors, making our community college system an integral part of the
Commonwealth’s economic development strategy and reforming the way
we pay for health care. Time and again the Legislature has given me
tools to meet our generational responsibility to build a better,
stronger Commonwealth. I am confident that they will again respond
to the Speaker’s call for action and send me bills that create jobs,
close the skills gap and reduce health care costs for the long
term,” Patrick said in a statement after the speech.
DeLeo also broadly committed to working with the Patrick
administration to better align the state’s community college system
with the needs of Bay State employers, though he did not
specifically stake out a position on the governor’s call to
consolidate oversight of the 15 campuses under the Board of Higher
Education.
The other major section of his speech focused on high cost of health
care and his belief that consensus can be reached this session to
overhaul the payment system without jeopardizing access to the
highest quality care for patients.
Emerging from a difficult period for the House after a year in which
its former leader Salvatore DiMasi was put on trial and convicted of
selling his office for kickbacks, DeLeo made no direct mention
during his remarks of that scandal or the ongoing federal
investigation into patronage at the Probation Department that has
had lawmakers nervous for weeks about who might be targeted.
“In the coming weeks, we will all be challenged again. Once again, I
am confident that we will meet that challenge and we will thrive,”
DeLeo said at the end of his speech, an allusion his staff later
explained was a reference to the budget challenges looming.
Rep. Jennifer Benson (D-Lunenburg) credited the speaker with
charting a course for the House: “I think he hit on obviously all
the important points he needed to, including history to this point
how we got to where we are, and what we need to be focusing on
moving forward.”
Benson said with the economy still rebounding she agreed with the
speaker’s no-new-taxes pledge.
“I am certainly, in a general sense, not a fan of raising new
revenue at a time when people are still recovering and gaining their
footing. I think we have to focus attention on raising revenue
through job creation,” Benson said.
Benson said further health care reform efforts should improve the
business environment. “Obviously more money saved for business is
money they can put toward payroll,” Benson said.
Rep. David Sullivan said he understood why raising revenues at this
time might be difficult, but he also expressed concern about the
state’s ability to fund other sections of the budget.
“I’m just concerned about the funding of programs that serve the
most vulnerable and how we’re going to be able to maintain and
sustain those services,” Sullivan said, suggesting the lawmakers
could “maybe redistribute the resources we have.”
The Boston Globe
Thursday, February 9, 2012
DeLeo rejects Patrick’s tax proposals
By Noah Bierman
House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo rejected yesterday Governor Deval
Patrick’s proposal to raise $260 million in new revenue with various
taxes and fees, including a tax on candy and soda, an increase in
cigarette taxes, and a new deposit requirement for bottled water.
DeLeo, delivering his annual address laying out his priorities for
the year, renewed his argument that business leaders need
predictability and consistency in the tax code.
“For the past two years, this House has rejected balancing the
budget with new taxes and fees,’’ said DeLeo, who like Patrick is a
Democrat. “Any changes to revenue policy should be approached with
extreme caution and should never be done piecemeal. As such, we will
release a budget from the House Committee on Ways and Means that
does not rely on any new taxes and any new fees.’’
DeLeo’s office would not say what further cuts his office would make
in state spending to compensate for the lack of new taxes, saying
details would be included when the House releases its full budget
proposal in April.
The governor’s budget chief, Jay Gonzalez, responded to DeLeo’s
remarks in a statement that challenged DeLeo and called Patrick’s
tax and fee proposals “a small amount of targeted tax increases on
tobacco, soda, and candy and in a few other areas that help us avoid
cuts to education funding, safety net programs, and local aid.’’
“None of our proposals hurt our economic competitiveness,’’ Gonzalez
added. “The budget is about choices, and we’ll wait to see what
choices the House of Representatives makes in lieu of these
proposals.’’
DeLeo spoke broadly yesterday about jobs, education, and health care
in his annual address, but offered few specifics.
He made his speech as many on Beacon Hill are preoccupied by concern
over who among current and former lawmakers may be under criminal
investigation. The Globe reported this week that DeLeo’s
predecessor, Salvatore F. DiMasi, is being transported from federal
prison in Kentucky to testify before a federal grand jury in
Worcester. Federal officials have been investigating widespread
patronage in the state Probation Department.
“It’s a scandal that’s going to continue to be a cloud over’’ the
Legislature’s work, said Representative Bradley H. Jones, Jr., the
Republican leader from North Reading.
“I’m confident there are a lot of nervous people in the building,’’
he added. “I’m happy that I’m not one of them.’’
Jones praised DeLeo’s speech, but several of the speaker’s fellow
Democrats have become so press shy in the current environment that
they declined even to discuss the address.
DeLeo did not discuss the investigation directly in his remarks, but
said lawmakers have “turned our attention to restoring public trust
on Beacon Hill.’’
He pointed to several recent legislative accomplishments - among
them reductions in the cost of state employee health benefits and
pension plans - that have been praised by civic groups as reforms.
He also mentioned the lawmakers’ plan to redraw the state’s
legislative and congressional districts, which was passed last year
and received widespread praise.
DeLeo signaled that he is prepared to accelerate efforts to pass
measures to cut the cost of health care by changing the way patients
and insurers pay for it.
Patrick is proposing a plan to shift from a fee-for-service payment
system to “global payments,’’ where providers would get a fixed
budget for each patient.
“We can, I believe, reach broad agreement to significantly cut the
cost growth of our health care sector, while improving upon our
already extremely high standards of quality care and innovation,’’
DeLeo said.
The speaker also indicated he is open to Patrick’s plan to
reorganize the state’s community college system, but he made no
commitments in the speech as to how he would do so.
The speaker is expected to outline more specific goals for the
coming year within the next few weeks, when he addresses the Greater
Boston Chamber of Commerce.
State House News Service
Thursday, February 9, 2012
State Capitol Briefs
Senate prez mum on tax law preferences
A day after House Speaker Robert DeLeo ruled out a budget emerging
from the House Ways and Means Committee with new taxes or fees,
comments from Senate President Therese Murray on Thursday
underscored why DeLeo’s proclamation was so important. Murray
stopped short of taking DeLeo’s side on the tax question, which put
the speaker at odds with Gov. Deval Patrick, whose budget proposal
includes $260 million in new revenue from targeted tax increases to
the cigarette tax and others.
“The Speaker speaks for the House,” Murray said, when asked whether
she agreed with DeLeo. DeLeo staked out his position on taxes during
a speech to the House on Wednesday. And as for the Senate? “We can’t
do it,” Murray said.
The Senate clerk confirmed that the Senate is prohibited by the
state Constitution from voting on tax code changes unless the House
first sends the upper branch a so-called “money bill” with tax
changes included. The annual state budget is considered an
appropriations bill because it dispenses money from the general
fund, and does not add or subtract from the account.
The House traditionally debates its budget in April and amendments
calling for tax law changes have historically been offered at the
outset of that debate. Unless the House overrides DeLeo’s preferred
approach to taxes, the House budget will arrive in the Senate devoid
of tax law changes.
The Boston Herald
Friday, February 10, 2012
A Boston Herald editorial
Speaker gets it right
Once again House Speaker Robert DeLeo has proven to be the voice of
reason on Beacon Hill — rejecting a host of tax hike proposals from
the governor that ranged from the silly to the job-killing.
Addressing House members this week, the speaker said, “For the past
two years, this House has rejected balancing the budget with new
taxes and fees. Any changes to revenue policy should be approached
with extreme caution and should never be done piecemeal. As such, we
will release a budget from the House Committee on Ways and Means
that does not rely on new taxes and fees.”
Gov. Deval Patrick proposed $260 million in tax and fee hikes,
including a 50-cent increase per pack in the cost of cigarettes, a
tax on candy and soft drinks, and a broadening of the bottle bill in
the hope that some $22 million in unclaimed deposits on bottled
water, coffee, tea and sports drinks would find its way into state
coffers.
Secretary of Administration and Finance Jay Gonzalez, apparently the
administration’s designated “bad cop” on the budget, issued a
statement saying the proposed tax hikes would “help us avoid cuts to
education funding, safety net programs and local aid.”
How pathetic is that? Yes, without that candy bar tax the “safety
net” will be shredded.
“None of our proposals hurt our economic competitiveness,” he
insisted.
Well, he might want to run that by merchants in border communities.
Beyond rejecting the governor’s usual tax hike hit list, DeLeo
showed that he truly gets the bigger picture.
“I hear time and time again from business leaders that
predictability and consistency in the tax code are what’s most
important,” he told the House.
Precisely. So when you have a guy in the Corner Office who year
after year keeps coming up with one tax hike after another, well,
that doesn’t do the state’s business climate much good.
“Too often, I’m learning that our innovators and entrepreneurs are
packing up and leaving,” DeLeo said, adding that he was committed to
“do everything we can to create the most competitive economic
climate.”
The speaker is off to a good start. We can’t wait to hear more.
The Berkshire Eagle
Friday, February 10, 2012
A Berkshire Eagle editorial
DeLeo heeds bad advice
House Speaker Robert DeLeo, in calling Wednesday for a budget that
does not include Governor Patrick's proposed tax hikes on
cigarettes, candy and soda, appears to be parroting anti-tax
activist Grover Norquist, who was selling the same message in the
state a day earlier. Mr. Norquist, however, has responsibility only
to the wealthy donors who fund his Americans for Tax Reform. Mr.
DeLeo is responsible to all of the constituents of the state, which
includes the poor, disabled, elderly and children who are usually
the victims of budget cuts.
The governor has proposed raising more than $130 million in new
revenue by hiking the cigarette tax by 50 cents a pack and applying
the state's 6.25 percent sales tax to candy and soda. This will fund
health insurance for the legal immigrants the Legislature
ill-advisedly tried to bump from Commonwealth Care and provide
revenue for local aid and education. The tax hikes have the huge
additional benefit of discouraging people from smoking and
contracting costly to treat diseases like lung cancer and emphysema,
and will address the state's obesity epidemic, particularly in
children, which also escalates health care costs for everyone.
Mr. Norquist parachuted in from Washington to decry these
"lifestyle" taxes and suggest that legislators cut fat from the
budget instead. As is the case with most cutters of fat he could
offer no examples, and we suspect he doesn't have the slightest idea
of what is actually in the Massachusetts budget.
What is not in the budget is $1.5 million in funding for Meals on
Wheels, the elder nutrition program the governor proposes cutting.
Representative Tricia Farley-Bouvier, a Pittsfield Democrat and
member of the Legislature's Elder Affairs Committee, is fighting to
restore funds whose absence will cause the estimated loss of about a
fourth of the 1,000 free meals produced every day in the Berkshires.
It certainly makes far more sense to protect meals for the elderly
than it does the "lifestyles" of those who smoke or indulge in too
much sugar at the state's ultimate expense.
Mr. Norquist is part of a mean-spirited movement that maintains
Americans have no responsibility to the elderly, the poor, the sick
and the young. That is not who we are in Massachusetts, and Speaker
DeLeo should know that.
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