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CLT UPDATE
Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Tax hikes threat imminent in 2013


After holding the line on new taxes since 2009, the pledge by legislative leaders to not upset the delicate economic recovery by increasing broad-based taxes or fees on residents and business is showing signs of cracking.

House Speaker Robert DeLeo told the News Service this week he doesn’t yet know if his proscription against new taxes or fees will apply to the 2013 legislative year when the Legislature is expected to address long-term financing of the state’s transportation system and may need to look to new sources of revenue.

DeLeo said he wants “to see where the numbers fall on next year’s budget” and with transportation financing before making a decision on whether to rule tax hikes in or out, a line the Winthrop Democrat has drawn the past several years, and which Democrats have followed, prior to the release of the House budget in April.

“That’s never been a desire of mine to increase taxes. But on the other hand . . . I’m smart enough to know that until you see the figures of what you’re working with, you don’t make any pledges.” DeLeo, the former House budget chief, said after a meeting Tuesday afternoon with UMass officials and local entrepreneurs....

Murray and DeLeo over the past few years have embraced the no-new-taxes approach after voting in 2009 to boost the sales tax by 25 percent to 6.25 percent....

House Minority Leader Brad Jones of North Reading on Thursday said DeLeo’s reluctance to rule out tax hikes next year was “disappointing.”

“I will say that I am well aware that numerous discussions have been going on about increased taxes and that obviously members of the majority party don’t want to have those go public until after the election but they are absolutely underway and going on,” Jones said....

Jones said that in addition to consideration of raising gas taxes, he has heard mention of raising the state income tax from 5.25 percent to 5.95 percent.

“Unfortunately the Democrats don’t want to have that discussion before the election because they know the public isn’t going to be welcome to it, isn’t going to be open to it. People are still hurting. They’re very apprehensive. We have a fragile economy,” Jones said.

Jones said there is a “reasonable consensus” that some people would like to put more resources into transportation and infrastructure, but said the idea of “going down the tax path is a dangerous one.”

“I think we’re going to be faced with the false choice of, well, we have to raise taxes to do this as opposed to, well, isn’t some of it maybe reprioritizing spending?” Jones said.

Citizens for Limited Taxation earlier this week rolled out endorsements of 40 legislative candidates, including 17 incumbents - all Republicans - who scored well on the group’s issues test and signed a “Taxpayer Protection Pledge” to “oppose and vote against any and all effort to increase taxes.”

Through its political action committee, CLT also gave maximum donations of $500 to many of its endorsees, including candidates challenging Sen. Murray and Reps. Thomas Calter (D-Kingston), Thomas Sannicandro (D-Ashland), Carolyn Dykema (D-Holliston), John Rogers (D-Norwood) and James O’Day (D-West Boylston.

State House News Service
Thursday, October 4, 2012
On resistance to new taxes, DeLeo taking wait-and-see approach for 2013


The State House News Service last week dipped a thermometer into the Beacon Hill waters to test the enthusiasm for a tax increase next year but to our chagrin — and in a break from the recent past — House Speaker Robert DeLeo wouldn’t rule anything out.

Mr. Speaker, don’t even THINK about going wobbly....

We understand his concern about revenues, but while tax collections for the current fiscal year have thus far fallen short of Beacon Hill’s projections, they are in fact still ahead of last year.

That is not a crisis.

That is not a legitimate justification for a tax hike.

It would be nothing more than a convenient fig leaf.

Of course the issue of transportation financing is hanging over the heads of taxpayers like the sword of Damocles, which probably explains DeLeo’s carefully-chosen words. The Patrick administration hasn’t yet settled on whether it will be a gas tax increase, or a new tax on miles driven, or some other levy to solve the transportation funding shortfall. But rest assured, a “revenue” plan is on its way —after the election, naturally.

DeLeo and Senate President Therese Murray will be in on the talks. When the tax-hike tank comes barreling down the Pike, they both ought to bravely stand in front of it.

A Boston Herald editorial
Monday, October 8, 2012
Stay true on taxes


Chip Ford's CLT Commentary

Already the tax-borrow-and-spend pols on Bacon Hill are plotting tax increases for next year. Nobody's shouting for higher taxes yet after all, they've first got to get through the November election.

The next fundraising letter you'll be getting from CLT was in the works and delivered to the printer before we learned of this clear threat, but even so I predicted that this was coming. Among other revenue schemes, Gov. Patrick is determined to impose a gas tax increase or a new "mileage tax." And the drum beat for an income tax increase has been heard for a few years led by the Gimme Lobby organized under the umbrella of the Campaign for Our Communities.

They've been quietly plodding along collecting support from a huge and growing number of the usual tax-borrow-and-spend suspects. Since they filed their bill to hike the income tax to 5.95 percent and hearings were held before the Revenue Committee in early May, 2011 (See: CLT Update, May 10, 2011, "Tax-hike crowd's vow: 'In the end we will be victorious'") they've been plowing along like a juggernaut, gaining momentum steadily.

In her Mar. 23, 2012 Salem News column ("Beware Beacon Hill's charge of tax-and-spenders' brigade"), Barbara wrote:

An Act to Invest in Our Communities, presently before the Legislature (H2553/S1416), would increase the income tax rate to 5.95 percent and the rate on investment income to 8.95 percent, except for certain seniors. It also would raise the personal exemption to make up for the rate increase, though only partly, because otherwise they wouldn't get all those "quality of life-improving" revenues.

Yep, same movie. Liberal activists go from city to town, ginning up support for their tax-hike agenda. Various connected spending groups announce their support, one by one, building what appears to be a broad-based grass-roots demand for more taxes.

In that column she also 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.

According to the recent State House News Service report, Speaker DeLeo's resolve seems to be waning.

As the Boston Herald's editorial noted:

We understand his concern about revenues, but while tax collections for the current fiscal year have thus far fallen short of Beacon Hill’s projections, they are in fact still ahead of last year.

That is not a crisis.

State tax collections for this current fiscal year (which ends next June 30th) are greater than the previous fiscal year's state revenue haul but for the Gimme Lobby and tax-borrow-and-spend Bacon Hill pols, More Is Never Enough (MINE) and never will be.

The primary objective of taxpayers for the next few weeks must be to throw out as many of them as possible in November. This opportunity before they have a chance to steal more from us or even propose such theft must be our immediate mission. As the State House News Service noted, CLT's 2½ PAC has  endorsed "40 legislative candidates, including 17 incumbents - all Republicans - who scored well on the group’s issues test and signed a 'Taxpayer Protection Pledge' to 'oppose and vote against any and all effort to increase taxes.'"

Along with the 40 who've received the PAC's endorsement, it has also contributed over $10,000 to their taxpayer-friendly campaigns. Since we published the list of endorsements, a number of other candidates who hadn't responded have belatedly requested the Taxpayer Protection Pledge and CLT's 2½ PAC questionnaire, so the list of endorsements and contributions will likely grow before November 6th.

However the legislative elections turn out, we taxpayers must be prepared for the tax hike onslaught that will nonetheless follow when the new Legislature is seated in January. As always, CLT plans to be the voice and first line of defense of the taxpayers, as we've done for the last 38 years and we hope you'll be manning the barricades alongside us. Even more, we hope CLT will still be alive when the looming battle commences in a few months and that will depend entirely on your response to the fundraising letter you'll receive in the next few weeks.

The Herald editorial closed with:

When the tax-hike tank comes barreling down the Pike, [House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Therese Murray] both ought to bravely stand in front of it.

This assumes they will be re-elected (both have good PAC-endorsed challengers).  If they are still on Beacon Hill in January, I hope they do stand with taxpayers and CLT but I sure wouldn't bet the farm on it.

"Taxpayers shouldn't be lulled into a false sense of complacency just because the House passed a budget with no new taxes. The reality is that some legislators are intent on pursuing every available avenue to raise taxes."

— State Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester - May 5, 2011

Chip Ford


 

State House News Service
Thursday, October 4, 2012

On resistance to new taxes, DeLeo taking wait-and-see approach for 2013
By Matt Murphy and Mike Deehan


After holding the line on new taxes since 2009, the pledge by legislative leaders to not upset the delicate economic recovery by increasing broad-based taxes or fees on residents and business is showing signs of cracking.

House Speaker Robert DeLeo told the News Service this week he doesn’t yet know if his proscription against new taxes or fees will apply to the 2013 legislative year when the Legislature is expected to address long-term financing of the state’s transportation system and may need to look to new sources of revenue.

DeLeo said he wants “to see where the numbers fall on next year’s budget” and with transportation financing before making a decision on whether to rule tax hikes in or out, a line the Winthrop Democrat has drawn the past several years, and which Democrats have followed, prior to the release of the House budget in April.

“That’s never been a desire of mine to increase taxes. But on the other hand . . . I’m smart enough to know that until you see the figures of what you’re working with, you don’t make any pledges.” DeLeo, the former House budget chief, said after a meeting Tuesday afternoon with UMass officials and local entrepreneurs.

Senate President Therese Murray last year deferred to the House, noting tax bills originate in there, while working to craft the Senate’s spending blueprint for the year that began July 1, though she showed no signs of appetite herself for higher taxes. Through a spokesman, Murray declined comment on the appetite for taxes next session.

Flat tax collections in September have left state government trailing budgeted revenue benchmarks by $95 million one quarter of the way into the new fiscal year, according to figures released Wednesday by the Department of Revenue. Collections last month of more than $2.2 billion were up $8 million over September 2011, but were still $32 million shy of the monthly benchmark. Tax collections are up 0.03 percent over the first quarter of fiscal 2013.

Murray and DeLeo over the past few years have embraced the no-new-taxes approach after voting in 2009 to boost the sales tax by 25 percent to 6.25 percent. Though some more liberal Democrats on Beacon Hill have advocated for higher cigarette taxes to pay for health programs, members of the House and Senate from both parties have largely cheered the reluctance of leaders to force votes on new revenue, particularly in an election year.

House Minority Leader Brad Jones of North Reading on Thursday said DeLeo’s reluctance to rule out tax hikes next year was “disappointing.”

“I will say that I am well aware that numerous discussions have been going on about increased taxes and that obviously members of the majority party don’t want to have those go public until after the election but they are absolutely underway and going on,” Jones said.

DeLeo has used his position over the past few years to thwart proposals by Gov. Deval Patrick to tax candy and soda, raise taxes on cigarettes and expand the scope of the state’s five-cent bottle redemption law, an idea encouraged by some environmentalists to improve recycling rates and generate $20 million in new revenue.

Any new debate over taxes in Massachusetts will also likely play out over a backdrop of the national discussion about how to address the federal debt and deficit, including the looming expiration of tax cuts on Jan.1 that could increase payroll taxes on Massachusetts residents and millions of Americans.

With unemployment at 6.3 percent after having risen moderately over the past two months, legislative leaders like DeLeo, if he wins reelection as anticipated, will be challenged to come up with a justification for new revenue after years of touting their reluctance to raise taxes as a selling point of their fiscal discipline and rationale for new businesses to locate and grow in Massachusetts.

In May, DeLeo published an open letter in the local Menlo Park, California newspaper to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg suggesting the company, and others like it in Silicon Valley, consider expanding in Massachusetts.

"Unlike California, where Governor Brown just announced a $16 Billion budget deficit sure to mean massive cuts in services and increases in government revenues, Massachusetts leaders have passed budget-after-budget on-time and with no new taxes or fees," DeLeo wrote. "There is no denying California's strengths, but a lot has changed in Massachusetts in the eight years since Facebook moved out. It's a place where young workers, start-up companies and innovation entities want to be."

Jones said that in addition to consideration of raising gas taxes, he has heard mention of raising the state income tax from 5.25 percent to 5.95 percent.

“Unfortunately the Democrats don’t want to have that discussion before the election because they know the public isn’t going to be welcome to it, isn’t going to be open to it. People are still hurting. They’re very apprehensive. We have a fragile economy,” Jones said.

Jones said there is a “reasonable consensus” that some people would like to put more resources into transportation and infrastructure, but said the idea of “going down the tax path is a dangerous one.”

“I think we’re going to be faced with the false choice of, well, we have to raise taxes to do this as opposed to, well, isn’t some of it maybe reprioritizing spending?” Jones said.

Citizens for Limited Taxation earlier this week rolled out endorsements of 40 legislative candidates, including 17 incumbents - all Republicans - who scored well on the group’s issues test and signed a “Taxpayer Protection Pledge” to “oppose and vote against any and all effort to increase taxes.”

Through its political action committee, CLT also gave maximum donations of $500 to many of its endorsees, including candidates challenging Sen. Murray and Reps. Thomas Calter (D-Kingston), Thomas Sannicandro (D-Ashland), Carolyn Dykema (D-Holliston), John Rogers (D-Norwood) and James O’Day (D-West Boylston.


The Boston Herald
Monday, October 8, 2012

A Boston Herald editorial
Stay true on taxes


The State House News Service last week dipped a thermometer into the Beacon Hill waters to test the enthusiasm for a tax increase next year but to our chagrin — and in a break from the recent past — House Speaker Robert DeLeo wouldn’t rule anything out.

Mr. Speaker, don’t even THINK about going wobbly.

“That’s never been a desire of mine to increase taxes,” DeLeo told the News Service.

Well, that we love to hear.

“But on the other hand . . . I’m smart enough to know that until you see the figures of what you’re working with, you don’t make any pledges,” he said.

Sherman-esque, that statement is not.

With the exception of his support for a sales tax increase the Winthrop Democrat has been a reliable friend of the taxpayers lo these past few difficult years. He repeatedly spiked talk of new taxes or fee hikes when they emanated from Gov. Deval Patrick’s office or from the liberal wing of the Democratic caucus, and his merry band of rank-and-file followers always nodded in agreement.

DeLeo seems to understand that raising broad-based taxes during bad economic times is lunacy, and that a narrow tax on, say, Snickers bars would neither solve childhood obesity nor balance the state budget.

We understand his concern about revenues, but while tax collections for the current fiscal year have thus far fallen short of Beacon Hill’s projections, they are in fact still ahead of last year.

That is not a crisis.

That is not a legitimate justification for a tax hike.

It would be nothing more than a convenient fig leaf.

Of course the issue of transportation financing is hanging over the heads of taxpayers like the sword of Damocles, which probably explains DeLeo’s carefully-chosen words. The Patrick administration hasn’t yet settled on whether it will be a gas tax increase, or a new tax on miles driven, or some other levy to solve the transportation funding shortfall. But rest assured, a “revenue” plan is on its way —after the election, naturally.

DeLeo and Senate President Therese Murray will be in on the talks. When the tax-hike tank comes barreling down the Pike, they both ought to bravely stand in front of it.

 

NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml


Citizens for Limited Taxation    PO Box 1147    Marblehead, MA 01945    508-915-3665