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CLT UPDATE
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Promised income tax rollback "snuffed out" again
After 23 years — "met last year for the
first time" and gone again
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As Congress considers whether U.S. taxpayers will
get hit with major federal tax increases in 2013, Patrick
administration officials confirmed Thursday that the next scheduled
dose of broad-based state tax relief will not be delivered on Jan.
1, 2013.
In a letter to Administration and Finance
Secretary Jay Gonzalez obtained by the News Service, Department of
Revenue Commissioner Amy Pitter said recent tax collection levels
didn’t satisfy legal requirements to trigger a reduction in the
income tax on Jan. 1 to 5.2 percent from 5.25 percent....
Massachusetts voters in 2000 approved a ballot
question calling for the income tax to be reduced from 5.95 percent
to 5 percent by 2003. But in 2002, in order to raise $215 million as
part of a larger tax hike package, the Democrat-controlled state
Legislature froze the income tax rate at 5.3 percent and conditioned
further reductions on triggers that were met last year for the first
time precipitating a reduction in the income tax rate this year to
5.25 percent....
“The fact that positive revenue growth should
have been a relatively easy hurdle to clear further proves how the
Commonwealth’s economy remains extremely fragile,” [House Minority
Leader Brad Jones] said in a statement. “Unfortunately, hard-working
taxpayers and struggling families have just been dealt another blow
during these trying economic times. As such, it is imperative that
Governor Patrick and Democratic leaders on Beacon Hill see this as a
clear signal that any statewide tax increase would be disastrous.”
State House News Service
Thursday, November 15, 2012
State income tax cut scheduled for Jan. 1 snuffed out
– State tax collections are running more than a
quarter billion dollars behind projections only four months into
fiscal 2013 and Gov. Deval Patrick’s budget aides say mid-year
spending cuts are more likely, and sooner rather than later.
State House News Service
Advances – Week of November 11, 2012
A special commission looking into ways to
eliminate cash benefits from the scandal-plagued EBT system is
trying to cram its work into a tight two-month window, raising
questions over how serious top state officials are about
reforming the debit-style welfare card program.
“There’s not enough time to make a
comprehensive study of a very complicated system, and I think
we’re doing a disservice to the taxpayers and the recipients
because we’re not taking the time we should be to evaluate how
to set up a cashless system,” said state Rep. Shaunna O’Connell
(R-Taunton), a frustrated member of the Cashless System
Commission.
The reform board was created in late July but
just held its first meeting in mid-October....
Attempts to extend the commission deadline,
which would require a legislative vote, have failed with
O’Connell being the only commissioner in favor....
Police raided five Brockton stores and busted
eight people last week in a long-running EBT scam.
The Boston Herald
Friday, November 16, 2012
Time is slipping away to reform sick EBT system
Pols promised to fix scandal magnet
The state labor chief — caught off-guard last
spring by a series of Herald exposes that showed retired cops,
vacationing teachers, election officials and others pocketing
unemployment pay — is vowing to close loopholes and push a new
law to stop city and town workers from “gaming the system.”
The Boston Herald
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Labor boss pledges to close jobless benefits loopholes
The voter repeal of the state’s sales tax on
alcohol has factored into efforts to fight drug abuse, some
lawmakers and Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray said Tuesday in the wake
of a report detailing an epidemic of emergency rooms visits
involving drug overdoses and heroin use in eastern
Massachusetts....
Those charged with addressing the problem say
prevention and abuse programs lost a big source of potential
revenue when voters in 2010 repealed lawmakers’ efforts to apply
the state’s 6.25 percent sales tax to alcohol purchases.
Lawmakers planned to earmark roughly $100 million raised from
the tax to substance abuse programs. Months after it passed,
voters repealed it in a ballot initiative.
Critics of the tax said it represented double
taxation on alcohol and warned of higher consumer prices....
Vic DiGravio, whose organization Association
for Behavioral Healthcare, pushed for the sales tax on alcohol,
said “it is an issue that deserves to be revisited.” ...
“We have a ton of unmet needs in
Massachusetts in terms of treatment. We had a ton of unmet needs
before the alcohol tax was put in place. It is still there now,”
DiGravio said.
Rep. James O’Day, a Worcester Democrat who is
a member of the Joint Committee on Substance Abuse and Mental
Health, said it is unfortunate that voters repealed the alcohol
sales tax.
State House News Service
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
2010 tax repeal seen in new light with report on substance abuse
in Mass.
Already facing the "strong likelihood" of
midyear budget cuts due to slow economic growth, Gov. Deval
Patrick's budget chief told local leaders Wednesday that a
failure by Congress to avert the "fiscal cliff" would cost the
state up to $300 million this fiscal year and $1 billion over
the next full fiscal year.
Secretary of Administration and Finance Jay
Gonzalez provided the projection to town and city officials
Wednesday at a meeting of the Local Government Advisory
Commission, advising them that hundreds of millions of dollars
in grants that flow through the state to municipalities could be
at risk, as well as almost $1.5 billion in defense and health
spending....
Following a dismal month for tax collections
in October that saw the state fall to $256 million below revenue
projections for the year, Gonzalez said no final decisions have
been made but reported a "strong likelihood" that the
administration would revise downward its revenue projections and
announce mid-year budget cuts soon....
The Department of Revenue estimates tax
collections in Massachusetts would decline up to $300 million
over the second half of fiscal 2013 and the first quarter of
fiscal 2014, and could total $1 billion in reduced revenue over
the next full calendar year, according to Gonzalez.
Cuts to defense and health spending, both
cornerstones of the state's economy, would also siphon money out
of the economy. The Patrick administration estimates federal
spending in the defense sector could be reduced by $1.2 billion
annually, while National Institutes of Health funding to the
state would fall by $188 million a year....
Alluding to the long-term transportation
financing plan the administration is planning to roll out in
January, [Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray, who chaired the meeting] also
suggested putting pressure now on lawmakers to support
infrastructure funding.
State House News Service
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Fed cuts would slash $1 billion in tax receipts in FY '14, state
budget chief says
I don’t know exactly how Washington’s fiscal
cliff drama will eventually end, but it’s clear some substantial
federal spending cuts are going to be part of the solution.
The details of those cuts — who loses how
much and when — will have a big impact on the economy of
Massachusetts. The politics of the fiscal cliff may pit two of
the state’s biggest economic engines — the defense industry and
the Massachusetts health care establishment — against each
other....
Few other industries mean as much to the
Massachusetts economy. Sure, there are also education and
financial services. Technology companies splinter into so many
different industries — defense high among them — that it’s hard
to call them a single, unified economic force.
But defense and health care both employ tens
of thousands of people and contribute billions to the
Massachusetts economy. Anything that happens to them will be
felt by all....
So what would happen to those Massachusetts
jobs if automatic federal budget cuts do occur? Massachusetts
would lose about 41,000 jobs — the fifth most among states —
over the next two fiscal years, according to a study prepared at
George Mason University for the Aerospace Industries
Association.
The Boston Globe
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Big Bay State players may face showdown
By Steven Syre
In the midst of the big national story on
Tuesday's election results, there is a much more local - and
revealing - story that played itself out in races for the
Massachusetts state legislature. You may recall that I wrote in
this space after the primary election in September about the
victory of Democrat Mary Keefe in the 15th Worcester district.
Keefe ran in a hotly contested primary election for an open
House seat as an unapologetic supporter of "An Act to Invest in
Our Communities," which would raise $1.4 billion in new revenue
in a way that holds down increases for low- and middle-income
families. Despite being attacked relentlessly by every other
candidate in the race, Keefe won her primary by 9 points....
Rep. Jim O'Day (D-West Boylston) is the House
sponsor of "An Act to Invest in our Communities," and he faced a
Republican challenger who made O'Day's leadership on this bill
the very basis of his campaign.... Rep. O'Day won his race by
over 30 points! ...
Voters in Massachusetts care about their
communities and about the services that state and local
government provide. Schools, roads, bridges, public safety,
parks and libraries are all critical to our quality of life, and
voters know it. When presented with a fair and reasonable
solution to the funding problems that are causing our cities and
towns to continually decimate these critical services, voters
like that solution!
Campaign
for Our Communities
Wednesday, November 8, 2012
Voters Repeat Themselves: Invest in our Community!
The elections are over, and voters have
embraced a vision of people working together to confront the
large challenges we face. It is time to turn that vision into
action! In Massachusetts, we have the opportunity to strengthen
our under-funded schools, rebuild our crumbling transportation
infrastructure, and provide the kinds of support that all of our
people need to lead productive and economically secure lives.
Building public will to support the revenue
increases needed to meet these challenges requires all of us to
deliver consistent and effective messages, using language that
builds on the idea of working together.
Massachusetts Jobs With Justice
Wednesday, November 8, 2012
Campaign for Our Communities Message Training
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Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
After hiking the income tax rate in 1989
— with the promise that it'd be only
"temporary," then revert to its historic 5% —
and even after the voters in 2000 mandated that it finally be rolled
back to 5% — twenty-three years later and
going into Year Twenty-Four, that false promise again will not be
kept.
Never mind that last year
the Bacon Hill pols couldn't wiggle out of the arcane, convoluted
formula they created, had to reduce it by 5/100ths of one percent
(from 5.3% to 5.25%). Two years in a row of even such a miniscule
reduction was too much for them to allow. Two years in a row might
create expectations, hope that even twenty-five years later we
taxpayers could possibly be closing in on their long-broken promise,
approaching what voters demanded a dozen years ago which the pols
simply refused to honor and accept.
Why am I not surprised?
On Oct. 17 ("Another
plot to stall our income tax rollback?") I wrote:
Already the trial
balloon is airborne in the first step to again deny
taxpayers a rollback of the 23-year old "temporary" income
tax hike of 1989.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts again doesn't think it can
"afford" what 59 percent of the voters ordered the state to
do — but which the Legislature "froze" two years later at
5.3 percent.
At this rate — a .05% decrease each nine years — the voters'
2000 mandate might finally be accomplished, the 5 percent
historic rate might eventually be reached — forty-five years
from now, in the year 2057.
Will any of us be alive to see it?
Instead the waste-and-fraud
circuses continue unabated on Bacon Hill. The EBT Card scandals
continue without even a speed bump. We were promised the abuses
would be corrected, but now are told only when they get around to
it, some day. And with the government workers' unemployment payments
scam exposed, now we get another 'vow' "to close loopholes
and push a new law to stop city and town workers from 'gaming the
system.'”
I wonder when they'll ever get around to that
reform?
Largely due to this utterly incapable administration, circumstances
are only worsening, fast. While the state budget has
continued to increase by over a billion of our dollars annually, the
money extracted from us is alarmingly squandered still.
Yet we voting taxpayers are lectured for
repealing the double-tax on alcohol. Somehow, by demonstrating such
greedy self-interest, we have become responsible for increased drug
abuse — as if less taxation on alcohol
somehow is a direct causation of increased drug abuse. The voters
spoke, but at least one tax-borrow-and-spend advocate has expressed
the usual resolution to a disagreement with the voter majority:
“It is an issue that deserves to be revisited.”
They "revisited" the voters' income tax rollback
mandate in 2002 and they "froze" it "temporarily" at 5.3%.
For the never satisfied, More Is Never Enough
(MINE) crowd. Here is a translation of the liberal lexicon:
"Investment" = Spending more
"Revenue" = Tax increases
. . . and now comes . . .
"Revisit" = Overturn the legitimate vote.
And if all else fails for the
tax-borrow-and-spend cabal, they'll just keep pushing for straight
forward tax hikes — even while voters
are still waiting for their promised then demanded tax rollback.
This direct assault is exactly what's been going on in the nether
precincts just beneath the radar for
over a year now, quietly but doggedly building support among the
insatiable cohort of takers.
It's going to be a busy year ahead, with even
fewer taxpayer-advocates in the Legislature. We'd better be
prepared.
We three at CLT can't do it alone
— that's why we're glad you're there
manning the barricades alongside us.
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Chip Ford |
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State House News Service
Thursday, November 15, 2012
State income tax cut scheduled for Jan. 1 snuffed out
By Michael P. Norton
As Congress considers whether U.S. taxpayers will get hit with major
federal tax increases in 2013, Patrick administration officials
confirmed Thursday that the next scheduled dose of broad-based state
tax relief will not be delivered on Jan. 1, 2013.
In a letter to Administration and Finance Secretary Jay Gonzalez
obtained by the News Service, Department of Revenue Commissioner Amy
Pitter said recent tax collection levels didn’t satisfy legal
requirements to trigger a reduction in the income tax on Jan. 1 to
5.2 percent from 5.25 percent.
State officials have estimated the cut would have been worth $110
million to $124 million annualized, tax relief that a disappointed
House Minority Leader Brad Jones described Thursday as “thwarted” by
negative tax revenue growth over the past three months..
Massachusetts voters in 2000 approved a ballot question calling for
the income tax to be reduced from 5.95 percent to 5 percent by 2003.
But in 2002, in order to raise $215 million as part of a larger tax
hike package, the Democrat-controlled state Legislature froze the
income tax rate at 5.3 percent and conditioned further reductions on
triggers that were met last year for the first time precipitating a
reduction in the income tax rate this year to 5.25 percent.
Under the formula, the income tax rate would fall to 5.2 percent on
Jan. 1, 2013 if growth in fiscal 2012 inflation-adjusted baseline
revenues over fiscal 2011 exceeds 2.5 percent and if, for each
consecutive three-month period starting in August and ending in
November 2012, there is positive inflation-adjusted baseline revenue
growth as compared to the same consecutive three-month period in
2011.
According to state finance documents, Pitter in September certified
that fiscal 2012 inflation-adjusted baseline revenues grew by 2.77
percent from fiscal 2011, exceeding the initial trigger for the tax
cut.
But in a letter dated Thursday, Pitter said that after revenue
growth exceeded triggers for two straight months, baseline revenue
fell by 1.29 percent for the three-month period ending on Oct. 31,
2012.
“Therefore, I hereby certify that the thresholds for lowering the
Part B income tax rate as set forth in the Act have not been met,
and that the Part B income tax rate will be kept unchanged at 5.25%
for the tax years 2013 and thereafter,” Pitter wrote in her letter
to Gonzalez. She added, “This statement should be considered as my
final statement with respect to the Part B income tax rate and that
no further certifications are necessary on this matter.”
The news comes as the Patrick administration eyes mid-year spending
cuts with tax collections running more than $250 million behind
budget benchmarks. State officials are also bracing for federal aid
reductions that are contingent on ongoing talks in Washington D.C.
over deep spending cuts and tax increases scheduled to take effect
in 2013.
In a statement, Rep. Jones said the stalled income tax cut reflected
the current state of the economy.
“The fact that positive revenue growth should have been a relatively
easy hurdle to clear further proves how the Commonwealth’s economy
remains extremely fragile,” Jones said in a statement.
“Unfortunately, hard-working taxpayers and struggling families have
just been dealt another blow during these trying economic times. As
such, it is imperative that Governor Patrick and Democratic leaders
on Beacon Hill see this as a clear signal that any statewide tax
increase would be disastrous.”
The Boston Herald
Friday, November 16, 2012
Time is slipping away to reform sick EBT system
Pols promised to fix scandal magnet
By Chris Cassidy
A special commission looking into ways to eliminate cash benefits
from the scandal-plagued EBT system is trying to cram its work into
a tight two-month window, raising questions over how serious top
state officials are about reforming the debit-style welfare card
program.
“There’s not enough time to make a comprehensive study of a very
complicated system, and I think we’re doing a disservice to the
taxpayers and the recipients because we’re not taking the time we
should be to evaluate how to set up a cashless system,” said state
Rep. Shaunna O’Connell (R-Taunton), a frustrated member of the
Cashless System Commission.
The reform board was created in late July but just held its first
meeting in mid-October. It hired The Ripples Group — at a price tag
of $100,000 — as an independent consultant on Oct. 22 and issued a
Dec. 15 deadline for a full report. The commission by law must make
its recommendations Dec. 31.
Even Atilla Habip of The Ripples Group admitted that the timeline,
while doable, is “a bit rushed,” according to minutes.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Robert DeLeo, who claimed to be outraged
over Herald stories detailing EBT abuse earlier this year, snubbed
state Rep. Russell Holmes (D-Roxbury) — an outspoken critic of EBT
abuse and previous commissioner — and appointed state Rep. Kathi-Anne
Reinstein (D-Revere), an assistant majority leader, instead.
“I’m disappointed,” Holmes said. “Clearly between the commission and
I there were some confrontations, and it may have been felt it was
better for me not to be on the team this time.”
Reinstein did not return a message for comment yesterday, and DeLeo
is traveling through Italy this week. His spokesman had no comment.
Department of Transitional Assistance Commissioner Daniel Curley,
who is a member of the commission, insisted it’s a group of open
minds.
“I’ve been really struck by the membership of the commission and
their willingness to look at all of the options and to weigh them,”
Curley said.
Attempts to extend the commission deadline, which would require a
legislative vote, have failed with O’Connell being the only
commissioner in favor.
One commissioner, state Sen. Jennifer Flanagan (D-Leominster), said
if the work is incomplete by the Dec. 31 deadline, the Legislature
can still address it next year. Another member, Tiziana Dearing, CEO
of Boston Rising, said the group is working feverishly.
“There is a difference between moving with alacrity and not being
serious,” Dearing said.
Police raided five Brockton stores and busted eight people last week
in a long-running EBT scam.
The Boston Herald
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Labor boss pledges to close jobless benefits loopholes
By John Zaremba
The state labor chief — caught off-guard last spring by a series of
Herald exposes that showed retired cops, vacationing teachers,
election officials and others pocketing unemployment pay — is vowing
to close loopholes and push a new law to stop city and town workers
from “gaming the system.”
“To taxpayers, we have a message that we hear your concerns. We
share that you should be paying only (unemployment) costs for those
individuals who are entitled to it,” state labor secretary Joanne
Goldstein told the Herald yesterday.
“To those people who are gaming the system, we would say you need to
stop. Because that’s not what this is about. This is an important
social safety net for people who are eligible for it and need it. We
don’t have a lot of interest in or tolerance of people who are
collecting and should not be.”
In a report to be released today, and obtained exclusively by the
Herald, a blue-ribbon panel recommends a broad array of reforms,
including:
• slashing jobless benefits for public- and private-sector retirees
who return to work and file for unemployment pay after reaching
income caps outlined in their pension, effectively eliminating
unemployment pay for those with pensions greater than $53,920;
• ensuring that the state cuts off summertime jobless pay to
laid-off teachers the moment they get word they’ll be rehired;
• ending jobless pay to town-bankrolled school bus drivers and
crossing guards who claim they’re out of work during vacation when
they know they’ll be back on the job when classes resume;
• forbidding election officials and workers from listing their
stipends on unemployment claims; and
• allowing the state to intercept federal tax returns for those who
receive unemployment pay improperly.
Gov. Deval Patrick proposed the nine-member Municipal Unemployment
Insurance Task Force in March after the Herald reported complaints
lodged by two dozen town officials who said they were fed up with
paying for questionable jobless claims.
That story led the paper to uncover outrageous unemployment claims
across the state, including a Cape Cod cop who collected $16,000
after resigning under suspicion of dealing drugs in uniform, a
Quincy cop who was awarded unemployment while on suspension for
faking an injury and a town secretary who received jobless pay after
quitting and moving to New York.
“We appreciate the Herald bringing this to our attention so that we
can look at the whole system ... to lower (unemployment) costs for
municipalities,” Goldstein said. “It’s a good example of the power
of the press to the extent that you were able to raise awareness of
this issue.”
The task force included Goldstein, two mayors, two lawmakers, two
union heads, a retired judge and the president of the Massachusetts
Taxpayers Foundation. Several of the panel’s recommendations — such
as cutting off jobless pay to pensioners and going after abusers’
tax returns — will require legislation. The already-drafted bill
does not yet have a sponsor, and Goldstein said it most likely will
be filed only after the Legislature resumes formal session next
year.
State House News Service
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
2010 tax repeal seen in new light with report on substance abuse in
Mass.
By Colleen Quinn
The voter repeal of the state’s sales tax on alcohol has factored
into efforts to fight drug abuse, some lawmakers and Lt. Gov.
Timothy Murray said Tuesday in the wake of a report detailing an
epidemic of emergency rooms visits involving drug overdoses and
heroin use in eastern Massachusetts.
Drug overdoses on the South Shore and the problems associated with
lifetime heroin use in Worcester have reached “critical numbers,”
according to Susan Servais, executive director of the Massachusetts
Health Council, which released a report Tuesday detailing health
trends around the state.
“The drugs are here. They are impacting our families and our
friends, and it is an issue that we really need to realize that we
are worse in some areas than the whole country,” Servais said after
the report was released Tuesday. “So we cannot just sit back and say
‘Well, there is a drug problem everywhere.’ ”
The report’s authors hope it will serve as a reference for policy
makers and health professionals as they look at the state’s progress
on public health issues. “We can resolve this problem, and we are
committed to doing that,” Servais said.
The report pointed out that overdose rates and deaths due to
substance abuse are higher in eastern Massachusetts than any other
large metropolitan area, including New York, Chicago and Detroit.
And the report noted that “contrary to the national pattern,” more
Massachusetts treatment seekers in fiscal 2011 specified heroin,
rather than alcohol, as the primary substance for which they were
seeking treatment.
The problem is particularly pronounced in Worcester, where the city
ranks as the place with the number one heroin addiction problem in
the country, according to the report.
“It has been something I have seen and grappled with,” Murray, the
former mayor of Worcester, told the News Service. “It is something
we were aware of.”
Asked about the report Tuesday, Gov. Deval Patrick said, “As long as
we have a problem and a problem of the scope that was reported on
there’s more to be done, not just at the state level but at other
levels of government and civic organizations and most especially in
the public education that’s a part of public health. Heroin in
particular is more readily available and much more potent than it
has ever been and there are other narcotics, Oxycontin and so forth,
that have continued to be a problem.”
Patrick added, “It’s obviously concerning and I’m sure that the
public health folks in Boston and I would suspect and indeed
encourage our team at the state level to see what those other cities
are doing that might teach us some things.”
Sen. John Keenan, a Quincy Democrat who co-chairs the Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Committee, said the report paints an
accurate picture. Keenan said he sees the problem on the South Shore
when he picks up the newspaper to read local obituaries.
“You look at the obituaries and you will see pictures of these young
kids and it says they passed away unexpectedly” and then the obit
asks people to donate to a substance abuse program in lieu of
flowers.
Keenan said to continue fighting the problem, lawmakers need to make
sure the prescription drug monitoring law passed this year is fully
implemented, as well as make sure people have access to treatment
programs.
Law enforcement officials have different theories about why
Worcester is plagued with heroin addiction, ranging from its
location and proximity to several highways to the relative cheap
cost of heroin, Murray said.
Murray, who chairs the state’s interagency council on substance
abuse and prevention, said fighting drug addiction and substance
abuse across the state became more challenging during the recession
as state budgets tightened and program supporters fought for fewer
resources.
The Legislature boosted funding to substance abuse programs in this
year’s state budget by $2.4 million, bringing the total to $77.2
million. Lawmakers also restored funding to programs that went
without funds during fiscal 2012, including substance abuse
step-down recovery services and secure treatment facilities for
opiate addiction.
Those charged with addressing the problem say prevention and abuse
programs lost a big source of potential revenue when voters in 2010
repealed lawmakers’ efforts to apply the state’s 6.25 percent sales
tax to alcohol purchases. Lawmakers planned to earmark roughly $100
million raised from the tax to substance abuse programs. Months
after it passed, voters repealed it in a ballot initiative.
Critics of the tax said it represented double taxation on alcohol
and warned of higher consumer prices.
“Losing some of that funding on alcohol has challenged our ability
to do as much as we would like to and tailor programs,” Murray told
the News Service.
The impact of losing the tax on alcohol is difficult to quantify,
Murray said, “but it certainly hurts because you’ve got less
resources in a tough economy and increasing demand.”
“Resources do make a difference in terms of getting people sober,
dried out, and then on a path to recovery. It has been more
challenging,” Murray said.
After the tax was repealed, Gov. Deval Patrick and other state
officials said they would look at ways to address substance abuse
funding needs with other revenue sources. House Speaker Robert
DeLeo’s opposition to new taxes over the past few years has raised a
barrier for tax hike proponents.
Vic DiGravio, whose organization Association for Behavioral
Healthcare, pushed for the sales tax on alcohol, said “it is an
issue that deserves to be revisited.”
DiGravio said it is difficult to say how much of the money for
substance abuse programs was lost because of the repeal. Backers of
the measure estimated approximately $100 million each year would be
earmarked for substance abuse programs by taxing alcohol.
“We have a ton of unmet needs in Massachusetts in terms of
treatment. We had a ton of unmet needs before the alcohol tax was
put in place. It is still there now,” DiGravio said.
Rep. James O’Day, a Worcester Democrat who is a member of the Joint
Committee on Substance Abuse and Mental Health, said it is
unfortunate that voters repealed the alcohol sales tax.
“We were never able to see the fruits of it. In that particular
budget, we felt very confident it would have been a huge shot in the
arm for things like education, for prevention,” O’Day said.
Sen. Harriette Chandler, another Worcester lawmaker, said Tuesday
she was aware of the problem, but surprised to learn heroin
addiction is a bigger problem in the city than prescription drug
abuse.
“I thought that was more of a problem than heroin,” she said.
Chandler said the state has “work to do” to solve the issue.
“What this does is make it clear what the problem is. How great the
problem is, and gives us a roadmap of what needs to be done,” she
said.
[Matt Murphy contributed reporting]
State House News Service
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Fed cuts would slash $1 billion in tax receipts in FY '14, state
budget chief says
By Matt Murphy
Already facing the "strong likelihood" of midyear budget cuts due to
slow economic growth, Gov. Deval Patrick's budget chief told local
leaders Wednesday that a failure by Congress to avert the "fiscal
cliff" would cost the state up to $300 million this fiscal year and
$1 billion over the next full fiscal year.
Secretary of Administration and Finance Jay Gonzalez provided the
projection to town and city officials Wednesday at a meeting of the
Local Government Advisory Commission, advising them that hundreds of
millions of dollars in grants that flow through the state to
municipalities could be at risk, as well as almost $1.5 billion in
defense and health spending.
"The consequences of this are pretty dire. I think we've seen some
positive statements coming out of Washington about a commitment to
try to address this in a responsible way before January," Gonzalez
said.
Following a dismal month for tax collections in October that saw the
state fall to $256 million below revenue projections for the year,
Gonzalez said no final decisions have been made but reported a
"strong likelihood" that the administration would revise downward
its revenue projections and announce mid-year budget cuts soon.
"I'm sorry to not have better news," Gonzalez said. While the
economic growth rate of 1.9 percent in the third quarter was slower
than anticipated due, in part, to uncertainty over federal deficit
negotiations and economic turmoil in Europe, Gonzalez said the
failure to address the fiscal cliff could have a further chilling
effect on growth.
Come January a number of federal tax breaks are due to expire and
$1.2 trillion in budget cuts spread over nine years will go into
effect unless the lame-duck Congress can find common ground on an
alternative approach to deficit reduction.
Gonzalez said economic forecasters have estimated that the economy
across the country, including in Massachusetts, could slow by
another 1 percent to 1.5 percent if sequestration cuts are allowed
to go into effect. The Department of Revenue estimates tax
collections in Massachusetts would decline up to $300 million over
the second half of fiscal 2013 and the first quarter of fiscal 2014,
and could total $1 billion in reduced revenue over the next full
calendar year, according to Gonzalez.
Cuts to defense and health spending, both cornerstones of the
state's economy, would also siphon money out of the economy. The
Patrick administration estimates federal spending in the defense
sector could be reduced by $1.2 billion annually, while National
Institutes of Health funding to the state would fall by $188 million
a year.
Formula and discretionary grants that flow through the state to
municipalities could also be slashed by $200 million, impacting
special education, Title 1 grants, low-income home energy
assistance, child care and small city and neighborhood stabilization
block grants.
Gardner Mayor Mike Hawke said cities would bear the brunt of going
over the "fiscal cliff," projecting that unemployment in his city
would "tumble back" to 11 percent or 12 percent from its current
level of 8.7 percent, well above the state average. "This is obvious
that as a Massachusetts Republican none of this is my fault," Hawke
said.
Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray, who chaired the meeting, said the Patrick
administration has initiated conversations with the White House and
Congressional delegations about the importance of reaching a
bipartisan compromise, and said some "belt tightening" would be
needed, but there's a more responsible way to do it.
"It's all muscle and bone we're talking about here," Murray said.
The Massachusetts Association of School Committees is also urging
members to write articles and op-eds for local newspapers describing
the risks.
Braintree Mayor Joseph Sullivan suggested that an early commitment
to Chapter 90 local transportation infrastructure funding from the
state could be a "stimulus" for cities and towns and help to create
economic growth to offset loss in tax revenue. "This is our number
one priority," Sullivan said.
Danvers Assistant Town Manager Diane Norris noted that for the past
two years Chapter 90 funding has not been available for
municipalities to spend until July, costing half the construction
season despite cities and towns getting their notification letters
in April as mandated by law.
"It wasn't worth the paper it was written on because we couldn't
take it to the bank," she said.
Norris floated the idea of doing a three-year, $1 billion bond that
would guarantee at least $300 million a year in Chapter 90 funding
for municipalities and allow them to plan accordingly.
Murray made a point of noting that the delay in Chapter 90 approval
this year was "an issue between the House and Senate. I just want to
be clear on that. We agree with you we want to put the money out
sooner rather than later."
Alluding to the long-term transportation financing plan the
administration is planning to roll out in January, Murray also
suggested putting pressure now on lawmakers to support
infrastructure funding.
"I don't think it's too early for all of you to sit down with your
legislative delegations, your reps and senators, now to talk about
what this means. There are certain communities in the state and
delegations where they're good at asking but when we make some of
these tough votes that you're talking about we don't always see them
out front in terms of making the case that some level of revenue is
needed," Murray said.
Labor Secretary Joanne Goldstein also informed municipal leaders
that a task force charged with reviewing the state's unemployment
insurance system would be ready to release its policy
recommendations in the next couple of weeks that would "address all
of the systematic issues raised by municipalities."
Almost two weeks after "Superstorm Sandy" caused widespread power
outages around the state, some local leaders gave mixed reviews to
the performance of utility companies.
Paul DeRensis, a selectman from Sherborn, said he thought the
utilities made "considerable improvement" from their response to
major storms last year that led to record fines. His town is
serviced by NStar, Comcast and Verizon.
Still, he said there was room for improvement, complaining that
NStar pulled its crews from the town because it deemed conditions
too dangerous for crews while Sherborn town crews worked through the
storm trying to clear 25 downed trees blocking roads.
Donna VanderClock, the town manager of Weston, said the liaison
appointed to communicate with her town was unable to provide updates
on when roads would be cleared, and said NStar was robo-calling
customers informing them that their power had been restored when it
hadn't.
Attleboro Mayor Kevin Dumas reported similar communication problems
and poor coordination of line and tree clearing crews by utilities.
The officials called for passage of legislation to make it easier to
start up municipally owned utilities, and Murray suggested setting
up a further meeting to explore the lingering issues encountered by
some towns with storm response.
The Boston Globe
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Boston Capital
Big Bay State players may face showdown
By Steven Syre
I don’t know exactly how Washington’s fiscal cliff drama will
eventually end, but it’s clear some substantial federal spending
cuts are going to be part of the solution.
The details of those cuts — who loses how much and when — will have
a big impact on the economy of Massachusetts. The politics of the
fiscal cliff may pit two of the state’s biggest economic engines —
the defense industry and the Massachusetts health care establishment
— against each other.
Defense contractors are at a disadvantage coming out of the gate.
Military budgets are targeted for half of the $110 billion in total
federal cuts that could go into effect automatically next year — in
theory, at least — if Congress fails to come up with an alternative
plan by January.
Budget planners looking for other places to spread some of those
cuts as an alternative couldn’t possibly miss health care spending
as a huge discretionary expense.
The conflict between defense and medical budgets transcends the
immediate fiscal cliff theater. Federal spending is a long-term
fiscal problem that will demand action over time. Defense companies
and health care organizations will be natural targets every time the
subject comes up.
Few other industries mean as much to the Massachusetts economy.
Sure, there are also education and financial services. Technology
companies splinter into so many different industries — defense high
among them — that it’s hard to call them a single, unified economic
force.
But defense and health care both employ tens of thousands of people
and contribute billions to the Massachusetts economy. Anything that
happens to them will be felt by all.
Like all big industries, defense contractors and health care leaders
have lots of handy facts and figures proving they are essential.
Most of those numbers come from reputable places, but a little
skepticism is advised.
The defense industry directly employs more than 130,000 people in
Massachusetts and affects many more state jobs, according to a
Defense Technology Initiative report prepared by the University of
Massachusetts Donahue Institute.
That report calculates the total value of Department of Defense
contracts awarded to local companies last year at $13.9 billion.
That work produces indirect economic activity worth another $11
billion. By way of context, the entire state domestic product in
Massachusetts is about $350 billion.
So what would happen to those Massachusetts jobs if automatic
federal budget cuts do occur? Massachusetts would lose about 41,000
jobs — the fifth most among states — over the next two fiscal years,
according to a study prepared at George Mason University for the
Aerospace Industries Association.
Defense contractors don’t rely on job security alone when they
defend their government business. The common alternative theme is
all about the essential work they do.
Health care executives operate with a similar game plan. They too
manage huge workforces but also talk about important things like
saving lives and curing disease.
The state’s health care industry is so sprawling — encompassing
hospitals, medical schools, biotechnology, and medical device
companies among others — it’s hard to get your head around it.
In Boston, medical research touches most of those fields and it,
too, is under pressure. The National Institutes of Health will be
required to cut its budget by 8.2 percent — or about $2.5 billion —
next year without an alternative cost-cutting plan from Congress.
NIH spends as much as 10 percent of its money in Massachusetts.
Federal dollars flow through the health care industry in many other
ways. Protecting all of them is a tall order.
One simple example: Indirect Medicare support for teaching hospitals
— extra payments that help defray the added cost of training new
doctors on the job. Those payments were targeted for deep cuts by
the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform last
year.
A report prepared for the Association of American Teaching Hospitals
estimated those cuts would cost Massachusetts facilities more than
$200 million and 5,000 jobs. Only two other states would get hit
harder.
Plans to constrain federal spending will remain on the front burner
long after the fiscal cliff approaches in January. Industries that
depend on government will try harder to preserve their slice of the
pie. The best strategy: Make someone else sacrifice.
In Massachusetts, that could put two of our most important
industries at odds with one another.
Campaign for
Our Communities
Wednesday, November 8, 2012
Voters Repeat Themselves: Invest in our Community!
By Andi Mullin
In the midst of the big national story on Tuesday's election
results, there is a much more local - and revealing - story that
played itself out in races for the Massachusetts state legislature.
You may recall that I wrote in this space after the primary election
in September about the victory of Democrat Mary Keefe in the 15th
Worcester district. Keefe ran in a hotly contested primary election
for an open House seat as an unapologetic supporter of "An Act to
Invest in Our Communities," which would raise $1.4 billion in new
revenue in a way that holds down increases for low- and
middle-income families. Despite being attacked relentlessly by every
other candidate in the race, Keefe won her primary by 9 points.
The general election on Tuesday has provided us with a similar
story. Rep. Jim O'Day (D-West Boylston) is the House sponsor of "An
Act to Invest in our Communities," and he faced a Republican
challenger who made O'Day's leadership on this bill the very basis
of his campaign. The Republican attacked O'Day relentlessly on this
issue through billboards, newspaper advertisements and mailings. It
was quite the bombardment.
The result: Rep. O'Day won his race by over 30 points!
While I am of course delighted that Rep. O'Day defended his seat, I
think that both of these races prove a wider point. Voters in
Massachusetts care about their communities and about the services
that state and local government provide. Schools, roads, bridges,
public safety, parks and libraries are all critical to our quality
of life, and voters know it. When presented with a fair and
reasonable solution to the funding problems that are causing our
cities and towns to continually decimate these critical services,
voters like that solution!
Congratulations both to Rep. Jim O'Day and to Rep-Elect Mary Keefe!
http://ourcommunities.org/entries/118
* *
*
Andi Mullin is the Director of the
Campaign for Our Communities. Previously, Andi was the Director
of Legislation and Governmental Affairs at the Massachusetts
Nurses Association, a labor union and professional association
representing 23,000 nurses and health care professionals across
Massachusetts. At the MNA, Andi successfully designed and
implemented a legislative and communications campaign focused on
reducing violence against nurses and other hospital workers.
That campaign resulted in the passage of a bill in 2010 that
increased penalties for those convicted of such assaults. Andi
also served on the Steering Committee of the successful NO on
Question 1 (2006) and NO on Question 3 (2008) ballot campaigns,
which defeated two different anti-tax measures.
Prior to her work at the MNA, Andi was the Legislative Agent for
AFSCME Council 93, a labor union representing 35,000 public
sector employees throughout Massachusetts and northern New
England. In that position, she chaired the 2002 Stop the Cuts
Coalition, which helped to pass a $1.2 billion progressive tax
package that included a provision that increased taxes on
capital gains. She also chaired a coalition of public sector
unions that fought a package of anti-union legislation pushed by
then newly-elected Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. That
coalition successfully defeated each of then-Governor Romney's
proposals.
Massachusetts Jobs
With Justice
Wednesday, November 8, 2012
Campaign for Our Communities Message Training
Thursday, December 13, 2012 - 10:00am to 12:30pm
1199 SEIU, 150 Mt. Vernon St. 2nd Floor
Dorchester, MA
The elections are over, and voters have embraced a vision of people
working together to confront the large challenges we face. It is
time to turn that vision into action! In Massachusetts, we have the
opportunity to strengthen our under-funded schools, rebuild our
crumbling transportation infrastructure, and provide the kinds of
support that all of our people need to lead productive and
economically secure lives.
Building public will to support the revenue increases needed to meet
these challenges requires all of us to deliver consistent and
effective messages, using language that builds on the idea of
working together.
This training will help us to do just that! The CFOC is bringing
Patrick Bresette from Public Works to Massachusetts to talk with a
select group of our supporters about messaging for the Campaign.
Public Works is a national non-profit organization that has done
extensive research about how to communicate effectively with the
public about government, the economy, budgets, and taxes. Patrick
Bresette is Public Works Director of Programs and is an expert at
translating this research into practical applications.
Questions? Contact Campaign Director Andi Mullin
at 617/878-8316 or at Andi@ourcommunities.org
http://www.massjwj.net/events/campaign-our-communities-message-training
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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
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