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CLT UPDATE
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Gimme Lobby:
Tax Reform = "Substantial New Revenue by Increasing Taxes"
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On March 28th, the Boston City Council
unanimously passed a resolution asking the Governor and state
legislature to implement tax reform that raises significant new
revenue while protecting low and middle-income families and seniors
from big increases. Such revenue is needed to invest in the
locally-provided services that make Boston a world class city....
Members of the coalition supporting the Campaign
for Our Communities have been talking with Boston City Councilors
about this important initiative for the past two weeks. Mass Senior
Action Council took a leadership role in this effort and received
critical support from the Boston Teachers Union, Progressive Mass,
SEIU, Mass Alliance, and the Greater Boston Labor Council.
Campaign for Our Communities
March 29, 2012
Boston City Council Unanimously Passes Resolution
Supporting Investment in Our Communities!
The [Springfield] City Council passed a
resolution Monday night that urges the state Legislature and
Governor to raise more revenue and provide more funds for services
by increasing taxes on upper income people.
The vote was applauded by many residents and
community activists who overflowed the City Council Chambers and
conducted a rally on the front steps of City Hall just prior to the
council meeting....
No one spoke against the resolution.
An Act to Invest in Our Communities, before the
Legislature, would increase the income tax rate but would raise the
personal exemption for single and married taxpayers, according to a
summary. It would also increase the tax rate on investment income,
but with certain exemptions, the summary states....
Kyreem Tabar of Springfield, also of the
community action group, said more money should be invested in the
community for needed programs. Springfield Education Association
President Timothy Collins also urged passage, saying tax reform is
needed.
The Springfield Republican
Monday, March 19, 2012
Springfield City Council urges state tax reform
to restore community funding, programs, services
Massachusetts spent nearly $1 billion more on
state and local government employees in 2011 than in 2010 even
as half of states cut labor costs, a Herald review shows.
U.S. Commerce Department figures reveal that
Massachusetts state and municipal workers raked in $799 million
more in salary and benefits last year.
That’s significantly more than any other
state. In fact, state and local governments collectively cut
workforce costs by $3.4 billion nationwide last year....
“Instead of leading the nation in job
creation, it looks like Massachusetts is leading the pack in
fattening state payrolls,” state GOP spokesman Tim Buckley said.
“It is easy to spend more when the Patrick-Murray administration
has no qualms hitting up taxpayers again and again.”
Massachusetts’ higher tab came at a time when
the District of Columbia and 24 states actually cut labor costs.
The Boston Herald
Friday, March 30, 2012
Bay State spending spree
Governments here buck trend
State tax collections over the first half of
March rose 5.7 percent compared to the same period in March
2011, according to DOR. The state’s collection benchmark for the
full month is $1.831 billion, an increase of $57 million or 3.2
percent over last year.
Collections totaled $890 million, up $48
million over the first half of March 2011.
State House News Service
Advances – Week of April 1, 2012
Tax Collections
In this election year, state officials appear
reluctant to tackle the larger politically challenging issues
that require generating new revenues while the economy is only
slowly recovering. It appears the governor and legislative
leaders will wait until next year to take a run at the massive
transportation funding problems identified six years ago by a
special commission and dented since through savings-minded
reforms and an infusion of funds from the 2009 increase in the
sales tax to 6.25 percent.
State House News Service
Advances – Week of April 1, 2012
Governor Deval Patrick said today he cannot
envision a scenario for fixing the MBTA’s financing problems
long term that doesn’t include new revenues from a gas tax
increase or some other fix.
“I can’t see how you do that,” the Democrat
said this morning during his monthly appearance on WTKK-FM. It
is his most extensive interview each month.
The Boston Globe
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Deval Patrick says he ‘can’t see how’ to fix T finance problems
without revenue hike
And for his next trick, Richard Davey, the
fresh-faced frontman of the Massachusetts transportation system,
will wriggle out of a straitjacket while suspended upside-down
from the Longfellow Bridge.
Of course, if that were true, it would be a
fitting end to a week in which Davey – fond of declaring that
the state’s transportation bureaucracy has “no more rabbits” to
pull from its budget-balancing hat – revealed he had been
holding the Easter Bunny captive in an MBTA broom closet.
Because three months after the MBTA whipped
riders into a frenzy over the prospect of bone-deep service cuts
and astronomical fare hikes, Davey revealed with Houdini-like
confidence that, all along, the state has a Motor Vehicle
Inspection Trust Fund with a $51 million surplus just sitting
there....
In addition, Patrick used the announcement to
remind residents that his proposed $500-million-a-year gas tax
hike was shot down in 2009 – and might seem like a pittance
compared to the financial restructuring and tax hikes that could
be on the docket once lawmakers are safely ensconced in a
non-election year.
State House News Service
Friday, March 30, 2012
Weekly Roundup – T TIME
Lawmakers from both major parties on Thursday
criticized the final report approved by a special commission
studying the use of electronic cash welfare benefits, calling
the recommendations “rushed” and inadequate to address the root
causes of fraud in the system.
“I really had high hopes for the commission,
I think, to restore the integrity to this program. To protect
the people who are on the program, we need to put in place some
restrictions and some oversight and I think we failed to do that
and by failing to do that we failed the people that are
collecting this money and we failed the taxpayers,” said Rep.
Shaunna O’Connell, a Taunton Republican....
Created in December, the commission did not
meet for the first time until Feb. 15 and held five meetings
before Thursday’s draft final report was presented. O’Connell
was the only commission member to vote against the final
recommendations....
After a disorganized and contentious final
meeting, O’Connell and Rep. Russell Holmes (D-Dorchester) said
the report failed to address the issue of allowing recipients to
draw their benefits in cash and spend that money on anything
they want, including when traveling out of state.
Several of the members were confused as to
what they were being asked to support, and no one could provide
cost estimates for the recommendations, despite Department of
Transitional Assistance Commissioner Daniel Curley repeatedly
stressing his concern over his agency’s capacity to handle
additional work....
O’Connell questioned the spending of $3
million in cash benefits outside of New England.
“I have a problem with them being in Florida
for two months and spending their benefits there and I think
those are the things that really ruin the integrity of the
program. We want a program that really helps people, that lifts
them up, that lifts them off assistance and not having any
restrictions or oversight does not do that,” O’Connell said....
The report found that from October through
December of last year, 85 percent of benefits were accessed in
cash through ATM withdrawals....
Holmes previously proposed making up to 50
percent of a beneficiary’s monthly allowance available in cash,
but that idea was defeated on a 4-4 vote.
“The DTA is not transitional. It does not
transition anyone. It just keeps people poor and that’s the
challenge I’ve had,” Holmes said.
State House News Service
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Panel recommendation won't address welfare system fraud, critics
say
Strip clubs, tattoo parlors, nail salons, gun
shops and casinos would be banned from accepting taxpayer-funded
EBT cards under a blue-ribbon panel’s report slated to be
unveiled today — but Republicans warn the so-called reforms will
hardly put a dent in rampant abuse of the taxpayer-funded
system.
“The report is woefully inadequate to address
any of the problems we were charged with addressing,” said state
Rep. Shaunna O’Connell (R-Taunton), who originally called for
the commission’s creation.
“It’s probably the least reform we could do
and say that something got done.” ...
The commission will recommend that lawmakers
file legislation banning liquor stores, nail salons, tattoo
parlors, bars, smoke shops, gambling palaces, strip clubs and
spas from accepting EBT cards or letting cardholders snag cash
from ATMs on the premises.
But the commission refused to stop similar
practices at jewelry stores, health clubs, rent-a-centers — and
cruise liners.
“We couldn’t even get cruise ships added to
the list,” said state Sen. Robert Hedlund, a member of the
commission. “You could use an EBT card in an ATM on a cruise
ship and walk into a casino on the cruise ship and then go to
the bar and buy booze....
Republicans argued the reforms don’t get to
the root of the problem, because EBT card recipients can still
use their cards at ATMs to access cash, which is then nearly
impossible to trace.
“Nothing is stopping a person from going in
an ATM across the street, taking cash, walking into a tattoo
parlor and buying a tattoo with cash taken out from an ATM with
your EBT card,” Hedlund said.
The Boston Herald
Thursday, March 29, 2012
GOP blasts ‘inadequate’ EBT reform
A touchy Gov. Deval Patrick yesterday accused
the Herald of whipping up a public fury in the wake of a
front-page story spotlighting administration reforms — meant to
curb abuses of taxpayer-funded EBT cards — that critics said
fell far short of the mark.
“I think the Herald is in the business of
making sure you’re angry,” Patrick said yesterday amid a
freewheeling discussion of state pensions, paychecks and EBT
cards during his monthly appearance on Margery Eagan’s WTKK
(96.9 FM) radio show....
Patrick insisted the EBT card system is
“worthy and important” and that proposed reforms shouldn’t be
“viewed as an indictment of the program itself.”
However, two Democrats on the eight-member
panel joined Republicans in slamming the report, saying the
reforms were rushed and barely scratch the surface of abuses in
a system that at worst amounts to a taxpayer-funded ATM machine.
In fact, the lawmakers said they were accused
of bias against the poor when they suggested even the simplest
of reforms.
The Boston Herald
Friday, March 30, 2012
Deval Patrick attacks Herald for ‘making sure you’re angry’
Something we said, gov?
Gov. Deval Patrick is putting his trust in an
eight-member panel to root out municipal employee abuse of
jobless insurance — a direct response to a series of Herald
exposes on outrageous payouts on the taxpayers’ dime.
Two mayors, two Beacon Hill lawmakers, two
union reps, a retired judge and a taxpayers’ advocate make up
the team, which now has the reins on reforming the system....
Elected officials on the panel include Newton
Mayor Setti Warren, Salem Mayor Kimberley Driscoll, state Sen.
Dan Wolf -(D-Harwich) and state Rep. David Torrisi (D-North
Andover). Others include Massachusetts Teachers Association
President Paul Toner, Jennifer Springer of the Massachusetts
AFL-CIO, Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President Michael
Widmer and retired Appeals Court Judge Raya Dreben....
“These are important issues, and it’s well
past time they surfaced,” Widmer, a longtime member of an
unemployment department advisory board, said. “My experience
over the years is that common sense does not prevail, and that
things may be legal, but they make no sense at all.”
The Boston Herald
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Gov relies on panel for jobless reforms
Halting the tax breaks doled out annually by
state government would repair Massachusetts’s finances for a
generation and could pave the way for reduced or simplified tax
rates, Gov. Deval Patrick hypothesized Thursday, while
emphasizing he is not making that proposal.
“You can conceive of a world – and really
this is purely hypothetical – but if you suspended all of that
for one year, we could fix the state’s fiscal situation for a
generation,” he said during an appearance on WTKK. “Let me be
clear. I’m not proposing that. I’m just saying there are ways to
think about how to simplify the code and maybe even reduce
rates.”
Patrick also said he was unsure whether $26
billion in annual breaks, credits and deductions authorized by
the state – known as the “tax expenditure budget” – should be
reviewed annually....
The tax expenditure budget, typically placed
on file each year by the governor with little scrutiny or
discussion, includes any tax revenue foregone as a result of
state tax laws. For example, Massachusetts residents pay no
sales taxes on most services, including the hiring of
accountants, lawyers or barbers. Residents also enjoy a sales
tax exemption on clothing purchases under $125. Overall the
sales tax exemption on services is expected to amount to $9.5
billion next fiscal year....
Although legislative leaders have sworn off
new tax or fee increases in the fiscal 2013 budget, they’ve said
little about changing the state’s tax credit policies, deferring
instead to the work of the commission.
State House News Service
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Patrick lays out different ways to think about Mass. tax breaks
The state’s Tax Expenditure Commission plans
to meet [on Tuesday] to vote on recommendations presented at the
last meeting by Secretary of Administration and Finance Jay
Gonzalez relative to sunsets and periodic reviews of certain
breaks in the tax code, as well as whether to require clawback
provisions as an enforcement mechanism to ensure the tax
expenditures have their desired impact.
State House News Service
Advances – Week of April 1, 2012
Tax Expenditure Commission
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Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
As you can see just wading through the above news
highlights, there's been a lot going on over the past week
that affects us taxpayers. I expect it opens your eyes to see it
presented all in one place like this. Overwhelming as it might be,
we can't defeat higher taxes — or fewer
exemptions, a new target today — alone.
Without you being kept aware of what's going on, none of us stands a
chance.
*
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The Gimme Lobby quietly plods along beneath the
radar building support one cohort at a time from the usual lineup of
Takers, ginning up support for another massive income tax increase.
The redefinition of terms spreads.
Last week it was the
Tax Expenditure Commission, calling tax exemptions, "doled out
annually by state government," "tax expenditures," as if
letting us keep some our hard-earned income costs the government.
This week, still pushing its "Act to Invest in
Our Communities" (H2553/S1416),
the tax-borrow-and-spend crowd is attempting to hijack the
definition of "tax reform" — a
popular concept even among us, long overdue. The Gimme Lobby is
corrupting it to mean "substantial new revenue by increasing taxes,"
as in "tax reform that results in additional aid from the state for
community needs."
*
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"U.S. Commerce Department figures reveal that
Massachusetts state and municipal workers raked in $799 million more
in salary and benefits last year . . . significantly more than any
other state. In fact, state and local governments collectively cut
workforce costs by $3.4 billion nationwide last year."
If you wonder why there is such a powerful if
quiet undercurrent for more revenue (aka, higher taxes), you need
not look much further.
The political tides are changing all around Massachusetts, bringing
in critical reforms — but somehow our waters remain stagnant and
polluted.
*
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"State tax collections over the first half of
March rose 5.7 percent compared to the same period in March 2011,
according to DOR — Collections totaled
$890 million, up $48 million over the first half of March 2011."
Nope, still not enough. More Is Never Enough
(MINE) and never will be.
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Never, ever enough. Since hiking the fee for
annual motor vehicle inspections (The Boston Herald, Feb. 28, 2010,
"House
mulls hiking car inspection fee"), we now learn the results:
"Because three months after the MBTA whipped
riders into a frenzy over the prospect of bone-deep service cuts and
astronomical fare hikes, Davey revealed with Houdini-like confidence
that, all along, the state has a Motor Vehicle Inspection Trust Fund
with a $51 million surplus just sitting there."
Just sitting there . . . waiting to be spent.
*
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“I really had high hopes for the commission, I
think, to restore the integrity to this program," a disappointed
freshman Republican state Rep. Shaunna O’Connell observed at the
final product of the commission she'd pushed for to investigate
rampant welfare fraud, egregious misuse of EBT cards. The scandal
and ensuing media exposure that launched this investigation shook
Beacon Hill at the time. In its Dec. 15, 2011 editorial, "Tame
the EBT beast," the Boston Herald opined:
Abuse of the Electronic Benefits Transfer
cards that are issued to needy families in Massachusetts is
apparently so rampant that we won’t be surprised if drug dealers
start hanging “We Accept EBT!” signs in their car windows.
The latest scam was revealed this week, with prosecutors
alleging that employees of four Lynn convenience stores allowed
customers to withdraw hundreds of dollars from their EBT
accounts, which was then used to buy crack cocaine. The stores
kept half the withdrawn cash as a fee, authorities allege.
This racket is surely not confined to Lynn. But while police and
prosecutors are doing their job to root out abuse, it’s time
Beacon Hill joined the fight.
After all, every dollar of public assistance that gets snorted
or smoked is a dollar that isn’t being spent on groceries, shoes
or diapers. And we’re talking serious money here. Massachusetts
taxpayers coughed up $392 million to finance welfare payments to
eligible individuals last year....
And while the Patrick administration cites
the $4 million it recovered in fraudulent spending last year,
clearly there’s more to be done.
Rep. Shaunna O’Connell (R-Taunton), who has
pushed for changes to the system, said, “I want to see major
reform here.” Indeed, anything short of major reform is an
insult to law-abiding taxpayers.
You need to be a first-term legislator to cling
to high hopes. She tried, and she's learning fast.
"'The report is woefully inadequate to
address any of the problems we were charged with addressing,'
said state Rep. Shaunna O’Connell (R-Taunton), who originally
called for the commission’s creation," the Herald reported on
Thursday. "'It’s probably the least reform we could do and say
that something got done.'"
Your tax dollars at work, and the state needs
more, more, ever more. It's not difficult to understand why, is it?
But that's the results of just that one
commission. More taxpayer-funded commissions are ongoing or in the
works, such as the Tax Expenditure Commission.
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In her last column, "Beware
Beacon Hill's charge of tax-and-spenders' brigade," Barbara
wrote:
I appreciate that Speaker of the House Robert
DeLeo has said there will be no new taxes this year and has
stated his opposition to Gov. Deval Patrick's proposal to tax
candy and soda. The speaker has earned some credibility from
Massachusetts citizens because of his support for public
employee health care and pension reforms. I think he is sincere
in his "no new taxes" message.
But as Lord Tennyson observed, "Knowledge comes, but wisdom
lingers." I have seen this movie before.
If you haven't read it yet, I highly
recommend that you do so now —
while there's still time.
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Chip Ford |
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Campaign for Our Communities
March 29, 2012
Boston City Council Unanimously Passes Resolution
Supporting Investment in Our Communities!
On March 28th, the Boston City Council unanimously passed a
resolution asking the Governor and state legislature to implement
tax reform that raises significant new revenue while protecting low
and middle-income families and seniors from big increases. Such
revenue is needed to invest in the locally-provided services that
make Boston a world class city.
The resolution was sponsored by At-Large Councilor Felix Arroyo
(pictured at right), with City Council President Stephen Murphy as
the first co-sponsor. Members of the coalition supporting the
Campaign for Our Communities have been talking with Boston City
Councilors about this important initiative for the past two weeks.
Mass Senior Action Council took a leadership role in this effort and
received critical support from the Boston Teachers Union,
Progressive Mass, SEIU, Mass Alliance, and the Greater Boston Labor
Council.
Congratulations to all of those who worked so hard on this effort,
and congratulations to the members of the Boston City Council, who
clearly understand the need for more revenue to invest in our
communities!
More:
http://ourcommunities.org/entries/81
The Springfield Republican
Monday, March 19, 2012
Springfield City Council urges state tax reform
to restore community funding, programs, services
By Peter Goonan
SPRINGFIELD – The City Council passed a resolution Monday night that
urges the state Legislature and Governor to raise more revenue and
provide more funds for services by increasing taxes on upper income
people.
The vote was applauded by many residents and community activists who
overflowed the City Council Chambers and conducted a rally on the
front steps of City Hall just prior to the council meeting.
The resolution, sponsored by several councilors led by Michael A.
Fenton, stated that Massachusetts “has made $3 billion in cuts to
essential programs since the current recession began, including cuts
to K-12 education, higher education, local aid, services for
seniors, public safety, human services and other programs.” Funding
is also needed for “critical services” such as police and fire
protection and road repairs, garbage collection, playgrounds and
libraries, the resolution states.
The resolution urges the governor and Legislature to “invest in our
communities, to strengthen our economy, and to improve the quality
of life of Massachusetts residents by passing legislation, such as
the Act to Invest in Our Communities, that raises substantial new
revenue by increasing taxes on upper income filers while decreasing
taxes on lower income filers.”
No one spoke against the resolution.
An Act to Invest in Our Communities, before the Legislature, would
increase the income tax rate but would raise the personal exemption
for single and married taxpayers, according to a summary. It would
also increase the tax rate on investment income, but with certain
exemptions, the summary states.
Fenton said the council, in its vote, does not specifically endorse
the act, but supports tax reform that results in additional aid from
the state for community needs, but with the stipulation that it
“should not do it on the backs of the people with the fewest
resources.”
Community activists said Monday that the tax code is unfair, saying
it favors the highest income taxpayers.
Elsie Sanchez of Springfield, an organizer with Neighbor to
Neighbor, said there are members of her organization who choose
between paying for dental care out of pocket or paying for other
needs. Increasing the personal tax exemption would help the middle
income and low income, she said.
“We’re broke, all over the country and all over the state,” said
Calvin Feliciano of Springfield, of the Service Employees
International Union Community Action. “Big classrooms, less police,
less health care workers. It’s just ridiculous.”
Kyreem Tabar of Springfield, also of the community action group,
said more money should be invested in the community for needed
programs. Springfield Education Association President Timothy
Collins also urged passage, saying tax reform is needed.
Council President James J. Ferrera III said he believes “government
needs to respond to its citizens and in order to do so, has to have
proper resources to respond.”
The Boston Herald
Friday, March 30, 2012
Bay State spending spree
Governments here buck trend
By Jerry Kronenberg
Massachusetts spent nearly $1 billion more on state and local
government employees in 2011 than in 2010 even as half of states cut
labor costs, a Herald review shows.
U.S. Commerce Department figures reveal that Massachusetts state and
municipal workers raked in $799 million more in salary and benefits
last year.
That’s significantly more than any other state. In fact, state and
local governments collectively cut workforce costs by $3.4 billion
nationwide last year.
Massachusetts Republicans slammed the Bay State’s higher numbers.
“Instead of leading the nation in job creation, it looks like
Massachusetts is leading the pack in fattening state payrolls,”
state GOP spokesman Tim Buckley said. “It is easy to spend more when
the Patrick-Murray administration has no qualms hitting up taxpayers
again and again.”
Massachusetts’ higher tab came at a time when the District of
Columbia and 24 states actually cut labor costs.
Recession-wracked Michigan slashed its employment bill the most,
reducing expenses by $964 million, or 2.84 percent.
The District of Columbia cut labor costs the deepest in percentage
terms, dropping spending by 6.42 percent.
By contrast, Massachusetts’ spending rose 3.26 percent, trailing
only Rhode Island and North Dakota in percentage terms.
The bill went up even though Massachusetts state and local
government head counts fell. The latest available figures show that
Bay State cities and towns cut 2,868 government jobs in the 12
months ended Sept. 30, more than offsetting a 809-worker gain by the
state.
Patrick administration spokeswoman Alex Zaroulis said the state has
shed a net of 6,000 jobs since 2008.
“We have been working to do more with less,” she said.
Geoff Beckwith of the Massachusetts Municipal Association blames
higher labor spending on rising health-care premiums and lump-sum
payouts that laid-off government workers get for things such as
unused vacation time.
But Wells Fargo economist Mark Vitner said that with Massachusetts’
economy recovering faster than the nation’s as a whole, governments
simply have more money to spend here than elsewhere.
For instance, Vitner said home values “seem to have bottomed out
sooner in Massachusetts than in other parts of the country” —
boosting property taxes.
State House News Service
Advances – Week of April 1, 2012
Tax Collections
With the House preparing to release its budget in two weeks and
fiscal 2012 more than three-quarters gone, the Department of Revenue
this week will released tax collection data for the month of March
giving an indication of how the economy is faring heading into the
biggest revenue collection month of the year.
State tax collections over the first half of March rose 5.7 percent
compared to the same period in March 2011, according to DOR. The
state’s collection benchmark for the full month is $1.831 billion,
an increase of $57 million or 3.2 percent over last year.
Collections totaled $890 million, up $48 million over the first half
of March 2011. With three months left in the fiscal year, tax
collections are up 2.5 percent from the same eight-month period in
fiscal 2011 and are running $58 million below benchmark through
February at $12.9 billion.
Officials built the fiscal 2012 budget on a revenue collection
estimate of $21.01 billion.
State House News Service
Advances – Week of April 1, 2012
Days after Gov. Deval Patrick described the MBTA’s finance as broken
and with a lack of enthusiasm among state officials for ideas to
address larger transportation financing gaps, a state board this
week is poised to sign off on fare hikes that will hit MBTA
customers with an average 23 percent increase on expenses. . . .
But the fare hikes and a series of other fixes requiring legislative
approval are expected to keep the MBTA in the black only through
June 30, 2013 - administration officials who announced the fare hike
plans this week simultaneously projected a $110 million budget gap
at the MBTA for fiscal 2014.
In this election year, state officials appear reluctant to tackle
the larger politically challenging issues that require generating
new revenues while the economy is only slowly recovering. It appears
the governor and legislative leaders will wait until next year to
take a run at the massive transportation funding problems identified
six years ago by a special commission and dented since through
savings-minded reforms and an infusion of funds from the 2009
increase in the sales tax to 6.25 percent.
The Boston Globe
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Deval Patrick says he ‘can’t see how’ to fix T finance problems
without revenue hike
By Noah Bierman
Governor Deval Patrick said today he cannot envision a scenario for
fixing the MBTA’s financing problems long term that doesn’t include
new revenues from a gas tax increase or some other fix.
“I can’t see how you do that,” the Democrat said this morning during
his monthly appearance on WTKK-FM. It is his most extensive
interview each month.
Under a budget balancing plan announced Wednesday, a trip on the
subway would cost many riders an extra 30 cents, bus fares would
climb 25 cents, and some commuter rail tickets could exceed $10 for
the first time.
While widespread service cuts were largely avoided, weekend service
would vanish on three commuter rail lines - two on the South Shore -
and four bus routes would be eliminated.
During the interview, Patrick emphasized that the fare hikes and
service cuts likely to start July 1 create a one-year fix for a $185
million budget shortfall. But next year’s gap could exceed $50
million, and heavy debt from the Big Dig project has left the T with
a structural debt running into the billions.
State House News Service
Friday, March 30, 2012
Weekly Roundup – T TIME
By Kyle Cheney
And for his next trick, Richard Davey, the fresh-faced frontman of
the Massachusetts transportation system, will wriggle out of a
straitjacket while suspended upside-down from the Longfellow Bridge.
Of course, if that were true, it would be a fitting end to a week in
which Davey – fond of declaring that the state’s transportation
bureaucracy has “no more rabbits” to pull from its budget-balancing
hat – revealed he had been holding the Easter Bunny captive in an
MBTA broom closet.
Because three months after the MBTA whipped riders into a frenzy
over the prospect of bone-deep service cuts and astronomical fare
hikes, Davey revealed with Houdini-like confidence that, all along,
the state has a Motor Vehicle Inspection Trust Fund with a $51
million surplus just sitting there.
Fare hikes still appear to be in the offing to help the T fill a
$159 million budget hole next year, but the proposal to grab that
trust fund surplus to partially close the gap may portend additional
legislative magic tricks to spare riders from vanishing bus routes
or levitating transit costs.
The T’s latest plan, a 23 percent fare hike and modest service
reductions, won Gov. Deval Patrick’s endorsement Wednesday as a
prudent measure that asks less of riders than two draconian measures
proposed by the MBTA in January – apparently a clever
expectations-management move that made the 23 percent hike and
smaller service cuts seem, to some at least, like an express ride on
the Red Line.
In addition, Patrick used the announcement to remind residents that
his proposed $500-million-a-year gas tax hike was shot down in 2009
– and might seem like a pittance compared to the financial
restructuring and tax hikes that could be on the docket once
lawmakers are safely ensconced in a non-election year.
“We have a broken transportation system. It was broken when we
inherited it five years ago, it was disorganized, mismanaged and
inefficient in many respects,” Patrick said during a press
conference outside his capitol office, adding, “The system remains
underfunded. I think everyone knows that.”
State House News Service
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Panel recommendation won't address welfare system fraud, critics say
By Matt Murphy
Lawmakers from both major parties on Thursday criticized the final
report approved by a special commission studying the use of
electronic cash welfare benefits, calling the recommendations
“rushed” and inadequate to address the root causes of fraud in the
system.
“I really had high hopes for the commission, I think, to restore the
integrity to this program. To protect the people who are on the
program, we need to put in place some restrictions and some
oversight and I think we failed to do that and by failing to do that
we failed the people that are collecting this money and we failed
the taxpayers,” said Rep. Shaunna O’Connell, a Taunton Republican.
The eight-member Electronic Benefit Transfer Card Commission voted
on Thursday to approve a final report before its April 1 deadline
that recommended banning the use of EBT cards at nail salons, tattoo
parlors, firearm dealers, bars, smoke shops or spas.
“We’re under a timeframe to get some recommendations done by April
1. This is going to go well beyond April 1,” said Sen. Jennifer
Flanagan, stressing the importance of allowing further study before
making “premature decisions.”
“It’s not perceived. Let’s make no mistake about it. There is
inappropriate use. Our job is to find that inappropriate use and
rectify it,” Flanagan said.
Created in December, the commission did not meet for the first time
until Feb. 15 and held five meetings before Thursday’s draft final
report was presented. O’Connell was the only commission member to
vote against the final recommendations. Sen. Robert Hedlund
(R-Weymouth) did not attend the meeting.
Moving forward, Inspector General Gregory Sullivan plans to complete
a “deep forensic review” of the program to determine how frequently
applicants falsify information to qualify for benefits, and he
proposed a pilot a program to use new technology at the time of
application to verify eligibility.
After a disorganized and contentious final meeting, O’Connell and
Rep. Russell Holmes (D-Dorchester) said the report failed to address
the issue of allowing recipients to draw their benefits in cash and
spend that money on anything they want, including when traveling out
of state.
Several of the members were confused as to what they were being
asked to support, and no one could provide cost estimates for the
recommendations, despite Department of Transitional Assistance
Commissioner Daniel Curley repeatedly stressing his concern over his
agency’s capacity to handle additional work.
“I believe the system is open for abuse, and it’s not just a state
issue. When you go out and take out cash no one knows how you spend
that cash so that is really the big concern I’ve heard and it is not
addressed in this commission,” Holmes said.
According to the commission report, 1 percent of benefits are spent
beyond the borders of Massachusetts and its five contiguous states
and 97.4 percent of the roughly $360 million each year in public
benefits are spent in-state. The rest is spent in Connecticut, New
Hampshire, New York and Rhode Island.
O’Connell questioned the spending of $3 million in cash benefits
outside of New England.
“I have a problem with them being in Florida for two months and
spending their benefits there and I think those are the things that
really ruin the integrity of the program. We want a program that
really helps people, that lifts them up, that lifts them off
assistance and not having any restrictions or oversight does not do
that,” O’Connell said.
Holmes was also frustrated that the final draft presented to the
commission did not include his request to require prohibited
retailers to display signage indicating that EBT cards are not
accepted at their establishments, and providing a hotline to report
fraud. He said he thought Thursday’s meeting was to discuss final
recommendations, not to vote on the package. “I think we rushed it,”
Holmes said.
When Curley asked Holmes who would be required to implement a sign
program, Holmes snapped back, “That’s the answer you owe to me. I
asked that a month ago.”
Holmes withdrew his motion to add signage to the final
recommendations, agreeing to let the inspector general and DTA
address the issue when they complete their study and issue further
recommendations.
As reported by the News Service Wednesday, the final report
recommends that House and Senate members of the commission file
legislation to ban certain types of establishments from accepting
EBT cards.
The commission also called for the state to partner with at least
one banking institution or credit union for a pilot program to
provide cash assistance recipients with financial literacy training
and access to a bank account if they choose to open one. Curley said
he did not know much the program would cost.
The commission also did not know how much it would cost to hire an
outside consultant to review the feasibility of moving toward a
cashless benefit system where recipients would not be allowed to
make ATM withdrawals with their EBT cards.
“I voted against a no-cash system because that would be precipitous,
and we ought to study this,” Sullivan said, adding that he does not
believe any state in the country limits cash withdrawals for welfare
recipients.
The report found that from October through December of last year, 85
percent of benefits were accessed in cash through ATM withdrawals.
While commission members said tracking the spending of cash
assistance is difficult, advocates for low-income beneficiaries said
it would be unreasonable to move to a no-cash system, arguing, for
example, that a parent trying to bring a child to the hospital would
need cash to pay for a cab, or to pay for a babysitter or a basic
necessity at a convenience store that had a minimum spending limit
for debit card purchases.
“It’s horrifying to look at the cashless piece. I thought it was
dead in the water, but it appears Rep. O’Connell wants to go forward
with it. I think we’re wasting time, energy and money trying to
criminalize the poor,” said Diane Sullivan, a former public benefit
recipient and now the policy director for Homes for Families.
Holmes previously proposed making up to 50 percent of a
beneficiary’s monthly allowance available in cash, but that idea was
defeated on a 4-4 vote.
“The DTA is not transitional. It does not transition anyone. It just
keeps people poor and that’s the challenge I’ve had,” Holmes said.
The Boston Herald
Thursday, March 29, 2012
GOP blasts ‘inadequate’ EBT reform
By Chris Cassidy
Strip clubs, tattoo parlors, nail salons, gun shops and casinos
would be banned from accepting taxpayer-funded EBT cards under a
blue-ribbon panel’s report slated to be unveiled today — but
Republicans warn the so-called reforms will hardly put a dent in
rampant abuse of the taxpayer-funded system.
“The report is woefully inadequate to address any of the problems we
were charged with addressing,” said state Rep. Shaunna O’Connell
(R-Taunton), who originally called for the commission’s creation.
“It’s probably the least reform we could do and say that something
got done.”
An eight-member special state commission — made up of lawmakers, the
inspector general, the head of the state welfare program and
representatives from the retail industry and an advocacy group — is
expected to approve the report’s recommendations at its final
meeting today. Members were impaneled after a series of Herald
exposes found some welfare recipients using EBT cards to buy booze,
smokes, scratch tickets and flat-screen TVs.
The commission will recommend that lawmakers file legislation
banning liquor stores, nail salons, tattoo parlors, bars, smoke
shops, gambling palaces, strip clubs and spas from accepting EBT
cards or letting cardholders snag cash from ATMs on the premises.
But the commission refused to stop similar practices at jewelry
stores, health clubs, rent-a-centers — and cruise liners.
“We couldn’t even get cruise ships added to the list,” said state
Sen. Robert Hedlund, a member of the commission. “You could use an
EBT card in an ATM on a cruise ship and walk into a casino on the
cruise ship and then go to the bar and buy booze.
“One of the people that voted against it said, ‘I don’t think we
should put it on the list because it sends the wrong message that
people with EBT cards take cruises,” he added. “That was the
rationale.”
Republicans argued the reforms don’t get to the root of the problem,
because EBT card recipients can still use their cards at ATMs to
access cash, which is then nearly impossible to trace.
“Nothing is stopping a person from going in an ATM across the
street, taking cash, walking into a tattoo parlor and buying a
tattoo with cash taken out from an ATM with your EBT card,” Hedlund
said.
However, the Patrick administration said it’s serious about stopping
abuse and pointed to a law the governor signed last year preventing
EBT cardholders from buying booze, tobacco and lottery tickets. It
also created a Program Integrity Unit that recovered more than $4
million.
“We have been working to eliminate waste and abuse ... and we are
getting results,” said Paulette Song, a spokeswoman for the
Department of Transitional Assistance.
She added that “it’s now up to the Legislature” to act on the
commission’s recommendations, which also include creating a
financial literacy program for some of the state’s poorest residents
and to continue studying ways to solve system abuses.
The commission’s two Democrats, state Rep. Russell Holmes and state
Sen. Jennifer Flanagan, did not return calls for comment.
O’Connell, however, said the report was nothing short of a rush job.
After waiting nearly six weeks to be impaneled, members met about
five times since mid-February. Even then, they weren’t entirely
clear what they were deciding, she said. “Last meeting was very
convoluted,” O’Connell said.
“I don’t think everyone was on the same page with exactly what was
being voted on. It just seemed like they were trying to make the
deadline.”
The Boston Herald
Friday, March 30, 2012
Deval Patrick attacks Herald for ‘making sure you’re angry’
Something we said, gov?
By Chris Cassidy
A touchy Gov. Deval Patrick yesterday accused the Herald of whipping
up a public fury in the wake of a front-page story spotlighting
administration reforms — meant to curb abuses of taxpayer-funded EBT
cards — that critics said fell far short of the mark.
“I think the Herald is in the business of making sure you’re angry,”
Patrick said yesterday amid a freewheeling discussion of state
pensions, paychecks and EBT cards during his monthly appearance on
Margery Eagan’s WTKK (96.9 FM) radio show.
The Herald reported yesterday that a blue-ribbon commission was
recommending that strip clubs, tattoo parlors, nails salons, gun
shops and casinos be barred from accepting Electronic Benefits
Transfer cards that welfare recipients are supposed to reserve for
food, milk and other necessities.
Patrick insisted the EBT card system is “worthy and important” and
that proposed reforms shouldn’t be “viewed as an indictment of the
program itself.”
However, two Democrats on the eight-member panel joined Republicans
in slamming the report, saying the reforms were rushed and barely
scratch the surface of abuses in a system that at worst amounts to a
taxpayer-funded ATM machine.
In fact, the lawmakers said they were accused of bias against the
poor when they suggested even the simplest of reforms.
“In one of the meetings I was at, when I said they shouldn’t be used
for adult entertainment, someone suggested I was discriminating
against poor people because I was saying you couldn’t use them
there,” said state Sen. Jennifer L. Flanagan (D-Leominster).
“Well, as someone that has to look after the state’s finances, I
think that’s reasonable to suggest we shouldn’t allow people to (use
them) in those establishments.”
State Rep. Russell E. Holmes (D-Boston) said that after one
contentious meeting another member went so far as to upbraid him in
his own office.
“They felt as though my comments and approaches were an attack on
the poor,” Holmes said. “My response was all of us arrived here on
this mantra that we need to be more transparent and more effective
with tax dollars.”
The EBT Card Commission’s reforms, adopted yesterday, ban liquor
stores, saloons, smoke shops, gambling palaces, strip clubs and spas
from accepting EBT cards or letting cardholders access cash from
ATMs on their premises.
Advocates for the poor said such restrictions are unnecessary. “I’m
not going to object to it, but I don’t subscribe to the notion that
this is how poor families are spending their money,” said Diane
Sullivan, a former welfare recipient who is now the policy director
for Homes for Families.
“Do you think poor people are saving a year’s worth of EBT benefits
to take a cruise? I don’t think poor people are spending that money
at Foxwoods. It’s just not happening.”
Yet critics insist tighter restrictions are needed to block
cardholders from grabbing cash from nearby ATM machines and then
using the money to pay for banned items and services.
“We didn’t go far enough,” Holmes said. “I know there are folks on
both sides of this issue. I’m here saying there are things we must
do better.”
The Boston Herald
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Gov relies on panel for jobless reforms
By John Zaremba
Gov. Deval Patrick is putting his trust in an eight-member panel to
root out municipal employee abuse of jobless insurance — a direct
response to a series of Herald exposes on outrageous payouts on the
taxpayers’ dime.
Two mayors, two Beacon Hill lawmakers, two union reps, a retired
judge and a taxpayers’ advocate make up the team, which now has the
reins on reforming the system.
“Our appointments bring a cross-section of experience from the
worlds of business, government and labor, and have the necessary
expertise to put forward comprehensive solutions,” a Patrick
spokeswoman said in a statement. “We all share the goal of ensuring
the system is working for people who really need it — those who find
themselves without a job through no fault of their own.”
Elected officials on the panel include Newton Mayor Setti Warren,
Salem Mayor Kimberley Driscoll, state Sen. Dan Wolf -(D-Harwich) and
state Rep. David Torrisi (D-North Andover). Others include
Massachusetts Teachers Association President Paul Toner, Jennifer
Springer of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, Massachusetts Taxpayers
Foundation President Michael Widmer and retired Appeals Court Judge
Raya Dreben.
Patrick appointed six of the members. House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo
(D-Winthrop) and Senate President Therese Murray (D-Plymouth)
appointed Torrisi and Wolf respectively. The final appointment,
Dreben, was confirmed this week.
Long-simmering furor over unemployment-abuse has boiled over in
recent weeks, after two dozen municipal officials wrote to Patrick
screaming for reform, and the Herald uncovered payments made through
loopholes to public retirees, part-timers, temps and even employees
who were fired or resigned in disgrace.
“These are important issues, and it’s well past time they surfaced,”
Widmer, a longtime member of an unemployment department advisory
board, said. “My experience over the years is that common sense does
not prevail, and that things may be legal, but they make no sense at
all.”
The commission’s task is weighty, said Pioneer Institute Executive
Director Jim Stergios, whose research team has long criticized
Massachusetts’ unemployment eligibility requirements as too lax.
“These folks are going to need a ton of courage to do any actual
reform,” he said. “If reform is done right, we could create 10,000
jobs and we could pump $7.5 billion into the state’s economy in the
next decade. The payoff is huge.”
Warren said his town’s frustrations with unemployment abuse include
poll workers receiving town-funded benefits after losing their day
jobs.
“We really have to take a closer look at that. It’s healthy to do
this type of review and come up with recommendations,” he said. “I’m
ready to go.”
The commission is expected to report to labor secretary Joanne F.
Goldstein, who has said she wants the group to work quickly and make
recommendations within weeks.
State House News Service
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Patrick lays out different ways to think about Mass. tax breaks
By Kyle Cheney
Halting the tax breaks doled out annually by state government would
repair Massachusetts’s finances for a generation and could pave the
way for reduced or simplified tax rates, Gov. Deval Patrick
hypothesized Thursday, while emphasizing he is not making that
proposal.
“You can conceive of a world – and really this is purely
hypothetical – but if you suspended all of that for one year, we
could fix the state’s fiscal situation for a generation,” he said
during an appearance on WTKK. “Let me be clear. I’m not proposing
that. I’m just saying there are ways to think about how to simplify
the code and maybe even reduce rates.”
Patrick also said he was unsure whether $26 billion in annual
breaks, credits and deductions authorized by the state – known as
the “tax expenditure budget” – should be reviewed annually.
Pressed by WTKK host Jim Braude – the former lead advocate of a
left-leaning tax policy advocacy group – about whether tax breaks
should be reviewed yearly, Patrick said, “I don’t know. I don’t know
the answer to that but I think that – I’m acknowledging the
question’s a good question.”
“We have a whole host of ways in which folks have to justify the
individual use of a tax break, you know that, through their annual
filings, through reviews of business credits and what have you,” he
said. “But your question is, should we be examining a given program
from year to year, and I can think of arguments for and against
that. That’s a great question. I haven’t thought about it before.”
Patrick’s comments came two days after his budget chief, Secretary
of Administration and Finance Jay Gonzalez, embraced a proposal to
sunset certain tax breaks every five years and review others on the
same five-year interval or once a decade. Gonzalez presented his
proposal to a Tax Expenditure Commission featuring top state
officials and their designees due to unveil recommendations next
month.
The tax expenditure budget, typically placed on file each year by
the governor with little scrutiny or discussion, includes any tax
revenue foregone as a result of state tax laws. For example,
Massachusetts residents pay no sales taxes on most services,
including the hiring of accountants, lawyers or barbers. Residents
also enjoy a sales tax exemption on clothing purchases under $125.
Overall the sales tax exemption on services is expected to amount to
$9.5 billion next fiscal year.
Other tax breaks include a sales tax break for motion picture
companies ($600,000), for certain meals provided to the elderly or
prepared by churches, hospitals and schools ($10.8 million),
trade-in allowances for cars and trailers ($95.7 million) and for
summer camps that provide meals and rooms ($2.5 million). The state
also anticipates providing a $111 million tax break for certain
research, a $56 million credit for certain property investments by
corporations, an $82.6 million break for movie productions, a $25
million credit for life sciences companies, a $3.6 million break for
dairy farmers, and a $38.6 million credit for low-income housing in
fiscal 2013.
Although legislative leaders have sworn off new tax or fee increases
in the fiscal 2013 budget, they’ve said little about changing the
state’s tax credit policies, deferring instead to the work of the
commission. In turn the commission’s work is being watched closely
by beneficiaries of myriad tax breaks.
Under the proposal presented to the commission on Tuesday, Gonzalez
differentiated between "grant-like" tax credits that get doled out
to companies by the state on a discretionary basis and those that
recipients only have to demonstrate eligibility to claim, such as
the tax credit aimed at boosting film industry business.
In the first category, Gonzalez recommended that the historic
rehabilitation credit, the life science credit, the low-income
housing credit, the Economic Development Incentive Program,
certified housing development credits, dairy farmer tax credits, and
donated land credits be subjected to review and renewal every five
years. Credit programs such as the film tax credit, which currently
sunsets in 2023, and other programs where a taxpayer must only
document qualifying activity and costs to claim the credit would be
reviewed every five years for effectiveness, under the proposal. All
other categories of tax credits, such as sales tax exemptions, would
undergo 10-year reviews.
“Predictability should be, in and of itself, an objective, but not
at the expense of getting the results we're trying to get,” Gonzalez
said about the proposal, adding, “I don't think it's unreasonable to
recommend five years. That sounds like a good amount of time to
assess effectiveness and have programs sunset unless the Legislature
renews them.”
State House News Service
Advances – Week of April 1, 2012
Tax Expenditure Commission
The state’s Tax Expenditure Commission plans to meet [on Tuesday] to
vote on recommendations presented at the last meeting by Secretary
of Administration and Finance Jay Gonzalez relative to sunsets and
periodic reviews of certain breaks in the tax code, as well as
whether to require clawback provisions as an enforcement mechanism
to ensure the tax expenditures have their desired impact.
The commission is also scheduled to discuss proposed recommendations
for the governor and Legislature to work together to reduce the
overall size of the state’s tax expenditure budget, and what
considerations should be made when deciding whether to add new
expenditures to the tax code. The commission faces an April 30
reporting deadline and plans to distribute a draft report April 13.
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