CLT UPDATE
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Huge tax hike needed to fund Gov's malfeasance
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Perhaps the powers that be on Beacon Hill think
that if they employ the language of fiscal discipline the taxpayers
will continue to buy what they’re selling, even if it’s more
spending amid a “crisis.”
Officials say that because of shortfalls in state
tax collections the fiscal 2013 budget, signed into law last July,
is $540 million out of whack. Gov. Deval Patrick has made
across-the-board cuts in the executive branch, asked other state
agencies to trim their budgets and called for drawing $200 million
out of the rainy-day account (on top of an earlier, $350 million
withdrawal) to make the budget balance.
That’s an accounting problem — not a budget
crisis. Officials overestimated how much revenue they’d collect in
the current fiscal year and underestimated how much they would need
to (or would like to) spend. Such a heavy reliance on reserves is
risky, too.
But there was hopeful news from the Department of
Revenue this week. The state collected $249 million more in January
than it did last year — and $173 million more than forecasters
projected, even after revenues were revised downward in December.
A Boston Herald editorial
Thursday, February 7, 2013
More to the story
Gov. Deval Patrick's ambitious plan to raise $1.9
billion in new taxes is not generating much enthusiasm among
Lowell-area lawmakers who want to reform inefficient programs
instead of raising taxes.
"We need to continue a discussion on reform
before we have a discussion on revenue, and that's the consensus
between my constituents and colleagues," said Rep. Tom Golden,
D-Lowell....
Golden said a top priority for reform should be
eliminating welfare fraud, including EBT card and food-stamp-program
fraud.
"We want to see that every person who needs
assistance gets it, and anyone gaming system gets punished," Golden
said....
Rep. Marc Lombardo, R-Billerica, said the
governor's plan was "absolutely ridiculous," particularly a 19
percent income-tax hike.
"It will hurt hardworking, struggling families,
and it shows how out of touch the governor is with my district," he
said.
Lombardo said the response from his Billerica
constituents was overwhelmingly negative toward the plan.
"The message is clear from my district that
people can't afford any more of a tax increase," Lombardo said....
Sen. Jamie Eldridge, D-Acton, supported the
governor's tax reforms, saying the income-tax increase would mostly
affect wealthy citizens while the sales tax cut would benefit lower
and middle-class citizens....
"There have been cuts across the board, and we
need to restore that with new revenue," Eldridge said.
The Lowell Sun
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Legislators react to Patrick tax plan
With a nearly unanimous vote in the Senate early
Tuesday evening, a $115 million supplemental budget has passed both
chambers, and could be laid before the governor as early as
Thursday.
In addition to shoring up revenues to support
spending and allocating $30 million to deal with the fallout from an
evidence tampering scandal at a state drug testing lab, the bill
also cuts funding to some agencies to help bridge a mid-year budget
gap. The legislation also freezes unemployment insurance rates, an
idea supported by Gov. Deval Patrick.
After voting down several proposals brought up by
Senate Republicans, the Senate passed the bill 36 to 1, with Sen.
Robert Hedlund (R-Weymouth) casting the lone dissenting vote.
Republicans used the bill's journey through the
upper chamber as an opportunity to seek policy changes, including
more stringent residency requirements for people seeking public
benefits, a ban on in-state tuition for people who are not citizens
or permanent residents of the United States, and transferring fraud
prevention efforts at the Department of Transitional Assistance to
the Inspector General’s office.
While the Republican-sponsored amendments were batted down, some
Democrats crossed the aisle on different measures. The proposal to
undo a recent Patrick policy allowing certain students who are not
in the country legally to access in-state tuition rates, was
defeated by a 12 to 25 vote.
State House News Service
State Capitol Briefs
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Senate approves $115 Mil budget, $200 Mil "rainy day fund" draw
Taxpayers doled out a stunning $3.4 million in
overtime to state workers to fix a massive, multimillion-dollar
glitch in the scandal-plagued welfare department — a revelation
critics say adds insult to injury as the state negotiates with the
feds over how to pay back $27 million in food-stamp overpayments.
More than 900 employees in the Department of
Transitional Assistance — mostly caseworkers — shared in the $3.4
million OT bonanza between November 2010 and May 2011, the
department acknowledged after a Herald public records request.
DTA authorized the wages — an average of roughly
$3,500 each — so staff could address a backlog of 30,000 clients
whose eligibility had to be recertified after the agency overpaid
food-stamp clients by $27 million in federal money....
State Rep. Bruce Ayers (D-Quincy) said, “My
constituents are angry. A lot of them are working two jobs, trying
to make ends meet. ... It shows that the system is broken, and that
steps need to be taken to correct these measures.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which funds
food stamps, has accused DTA of violating federal rules, and the two
agencies are about to enter talks over how to make up the $27
million difference....
Welfare department critics — who failed last week
to strip DTA of fraud-prevention powers and give them instead to the
inspector general, attorney general and state auditor — said
earmarking some of the overspent money to protect taxpayers’
interests is the least DTA can do....
“The governor recently called this leakage — I
would call this an avalanche,” said state Rep. Shaunna O’Connell
(R-Taunton). “This is an astronomical number to pay out in overtime
for outright mismanagement.”
The Boston Herald
Thursday, February 14, 2013
DTA glitch led to OT free-for-all
Records: Taxpayers on the hook for $3.4M
Gov. Deval Patrick challenged Beacon Hill
lawmakers on Wednesday to muster the “political courage” to support
his proposed tax reforms to generate new revenue for transportation
and education investments, casting the decision as one of
generational responsibility.
“We must each of us sacrifice a little today so
that we may all share in a better and stronger tomorrow,” Patrick
told a crowd gathered at the State House for Transportation Day,
sounding a theme he has emphasized often over his six years as
governor and one echoed Tuesday night by President Barack Obama in
his State of the Union address.
The event, designed to introduce the various
state transportation agencies and their programs to lawmakers, comes
as skeptical legislators are being asked by the governor to approve
a menu of tax reform proposals designed to generate $1.9 billion in
new revenue and slightly shift the state’s tax burden off
lower-to-middle income families....
Rep. Colleen Garry, a conservative Democrat from
the New Hampshire border town of Dracut, told a local radio station
this week that she believes the middle class would get “hit again”
by Patrick’s tax proposal, adding that she’s worried Patrick’s plan
is stoking “class warfare.”
“I’ve heard from numerous people and I’m very,
kind of, afraid of the class warfare in the regards to the proposal.
I’ve heard a lot of people say, “Why am I working? The people who
aren’t working are going to have their taxes lowered by the sales
tax,’” Garry said.
Garry said that even though economy is
recovering, many families haven’t fully rebounded from the recession
after draining their savings and, in some cases, tapping into their
retirement funds. “He wants to leave a legacy of improving the
transportation system, improving education, but I don’t think the
average person has the finances at this point to do that,” Garry
said during her appearance Tuesday on WCAP in Lowell....
Patrick indicated that he was open to
compromising on taxes, but suggested he might look unfavorably on a
plan that ratchets down the scope of his proposal should the House
in April come back with a more modest tax hike targeted at just
certain transportation needs....
Rep. Matthew Beaton, a Shrewsbury Republican,
said the conversation about reforming the transportation system
“gets shelved a little too easily.”
“If you want to talk about political courage, why
are we just seeing these proposals for the first time now that he’s
not running for re-election? Why didn’t he run on this?” Beaton
asked.
State House News Service
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Patrick frames tax, invest plan as proposal requiring "political
courage"
The opening for Gov. Deval Patrick to sell
skeptical lawmakers on his ambitious new tax-and-spending plan
narrowed on Thursday as key House and Senate lawmakers from both
parties seemed to wave the caution flag in front of the governor’s
budget chief.
The House and Senate Ways and Means committees
kicked off public hearings on the fiscal 2014 budget with testimony
from the administration, Constitutional officers and the inspector
general.
But even as Secretary of Administration and
Finance Glen Shor emphasized the urgency of making the governor’s
recommended investments in transportation and education with $1.9
billion in higher taxes, the message emanating from lawmakers was
that Patrick might be pushing for too much, too fast.
“We’re not feeling the ability terribly so much
that everybody can dig even deeper, and quite honestly we hear from
our constituents in that regard, so as we balance this, balance the
spending and revenue, these are the challenges,” Senate Ways and
Means Chairman Stephen Brewer told Shor....
Shor continued, “Simply relying on cuts to
address the challenges of today and tomorrow will not get us there.”
He said reform remains an “enduring focus” of the governor.
House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Brian Dempsey,
however, expressed reluctance, defending the way the Legislature
navigated the recession with a blend of spending cuts, reserves and
revenue increases, reminding those in the audience that it was only
four years ago that the Legislature approved an increase in the
sales tax.
“I love the governor’s passion around education.
It’s infectious. He has a compelling personal life story….I would
say, however, that over the years we have spent considerable
resources on Chapter 70,” Dempsey said.
Sen. Michael Knapik, a Westfield Republican and
the ranking minority member on the Senate Ways and Means Committee
... also raised the issue of wasted resources from fraud, abuse and
lax oversight in the state’s welfare system, an increasingly common
counter-argument to Patrick’s call for higher taxes.
“I think we’re hard pressed to just hand over
more money unless we’re doing a better job of policing what we
have,” Knapik said, saying his constituents are tired of reading
stories about people getting benefits they don’t deserve....
Dempsey called the DTA report “very troubling for
a variety of reasons,” and said the Legislature felt a sense of
urgency to take corrective action to improve the eligibility
oversight.
Rep. Angelo D’Emilia, a Bridgewater Republican,
said, “I’m glad to hear the chair understands what a problem this
is, because we’re all hearing from constituents.”
State House News Service
Thursday, February 14, 2013
As Patrick presses tax plan, lawmakers wave caution flags
Editorial cartoon by David
Hitch
The Telegram & Gazette
Thursday, February 7, 2013
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Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
The state welfare program scandal keeps growing,
the cost mounting by the day. The fraud and waste continues
escalating as more is revealed or dragged out kicking and screaming.
It now adds up to well over $200 million — that we now know
about, including:
•
$27 million in food-stamp
overpayments.
• $25
million in taxpayer money is going to welfare recipients who
aren’t eligible.
• $3.4
million in overtime to state workers to fix the mess they
created.
•
$178 million paid through the state’s Health Safety Net
program for patients who failed to prove legal residency,
including illegal aliens, out-of-staters and others who failed
to produce proof of Massachusetts residency.
"The state collected $249 million more in January
than it did last year — and $173 million more than forecasters
projected, even after revenues were revised downward in December,"
the Boston Herald reported. The state took in a quarter-of-a-billion
dollars more from us taxpayers last month than it did in January a
year ago — but still it's not
enough. The governor wants more, more, more — More Is Never Enough
and never will be.
That unexpected $249 million isn't a windfall.
It's maybe enough to pay for just the welfare fraud and
mismanagement.
Then there's the further cost of more scandalous
malfeasance. This week the Legislature appropriated a $30 million
down-payment to begin addressing the evidence-tampering scandal at a
state drug testing laboratory. The state’s taxpayer-funded public
defender agency, the Committee for Public Counsel Services, "estimates
it could need up to $332 million to represent thousands of people
who faced criminal penalties or civil sanctions based on evidence
potentially tainted at the now-closed state drug laboratory in
Jamaica Plain." That's just the cost for defense.
To re-prosecute will require more of our money
too. The Massachusetts District Attorneys Association "said
prosecutors have finalized their budget request and believe they
need $12.7 million for more prosecutors, support staff, and in some
cases, office space and computers, for all Dookhan-related cases."
"Gov. Deval Patrick challenged Beacon Hill
lawmakers on Wednesday to muster the 'political courage' to support
his proposed tax reforms to generate new revenue for transportation
and education investments, casting the decision as one of
generational responsibility," the State House News Service reported
yesterday.
I call it political suicide, and it looks like
many legislators on Bacon Hill —
feeling constituent heat — wouldn't
argue too strenuously with me.
All Patrick left out was "I dare you, I
double-dare you. What are you, too chicken?"
Again Gov. Mini-Me seems to be taking his lead
from President Obama, reading from the same script.
But even many Democrat legislators are distancing
themselves, looking for cover. 'Maybe he's not running for
reelection,' they recognize, 'but we will be next year."
Some Democrat legislators are even reflecting
on the rampant and systemic welfare fraud and abuse, if belatedly.
Again, obviously necessary and effective reforms proposed my
Republicans in the House and Senate earlier this week were crushed by the overwhelming
Democrat majority in both branches. Talk is cheap. When they had the
chance to make a real difference last year, the Democrats defended
EBT card abuse and the welfare system —
in both the
House and the
Senate.
Below is contact information for members of the
House and Senate Joint Committee on Ways and Means. That's where
Patrick's tax-hike bill is now, the first stop in the legislative
process.
I think they'd like to hear of your "grave
concerns" with the governor's proposed Largest Tax Hike in State
History.
Just tell them "Not one dime more."
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Chip Ford |
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The Boston Herald
Thursday, February 7, 2013
A Boston Herald editorial
More to the story
Perhaps the powers that be on Beacon Hill think that if they employ
the language of fiscal discipline the taxpayers will continue to buy
what they’re selling, even if it’s more spending amid a “crisis.”
Officials say that because of shortfalls in state tax collections
the fiscal 2013 budget, signed into law last July, is $540 million
out of whack. Gov. Deval Patrick has made across-the-board cuts in
the executive branch, asked other state agencies to trim their
budgets and called for drawing $200 million out of the rainy-day
account (on top of an earlier, $350 million withdrawal) to make the
budget balance.
That’s an accounting problem — not a budget crisis. Officials
overestimated how much revenue they’d collect in the current fiscal
year and underestimated how much they would need to (or would like
to) spend. Such a heavy reliance on reserves is risky, too.
But there was hopeful news from the Department of Revenue this week.
The state collected $249 million more in January than it did last
year — and $173 million more than forecasters projected, even after
revenues were revised downward in December.
Might as well cancel that withdrawal from reserves, right?
Cue the raucous laughter ...
No, yesterday the House went forward with its version of a
supplemental budget, making spending cuts and going along with
Patrick’s call to draw down reserves by $200 million — and calling
for *new* spending of $115 million.
House Ways & Means Chairman Brian Dempsey (D-Haverhill) made a
reasonable case that if officials don’t act now to solve the
shortfall on paper then the problem could worsen. And he cited the
importance of the big-ticket spending items, including $30 million
to defray costs associated with the drug lab scandal.
But there was scant explanation for why funding for homeless
families was $45 million short of the need, or why the agency that
represents indigent criminal defendants is shy $25 million, with the
fiscal year only halfway over.
We respect leadership’s interest in staying on top of a volatile
budget situation.
But if ever there were a time for that rule floated by Republicans
and rejected by Democrats — the one that would require a two-thirds
vote to approve withdrawals from the rainy-day fund — this would be
it.
The Lowell Sun
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Legislators react to Patrick tax plan
By Allison Thomasseau, Statehouse Correspondent
Gov. Deval Patrick's ambitious plan to raise $1.9 billion in new
taxes is not generating much enthusiasm among Lowell-area lawmakers
who want to reform inefficient programs instead of raising taxes.
"We need to continue a discussion on reform before we have a
discussion on revenue, and that's the consensus between my
constituents and colleagues," said Rep. Tom Golden, D-Lowell.
Patrick's plan includes raising the income tax from 5.25 percent to
6.25 percent and doubling personal-tax exemptions while cutting the
sales tax from 6.25 percent to 4.5 percent.
He also wants to raise taxes on cigarettes and gasoline, eliminate
the tax exemption on candy and soda, and extend redemptions on
recycled bottles.
The additional revenue would go toward expanding early-childhood
education, Chapter 70 aid to local schools, and transportation,
including roads and MBTA service and expansion.
After holding a Democratic caucus Tuesday, House Speaker Robert
DeLeo said he has heard "grave concerns" about the plan from his
membership and constituents. Many, he said, feel the changes go
further than what the governor outlined in his State of the State
address last month.
Most Lowell-area legislators fit into that group.
Golden said a top priority for reform should be eliminating welfare
fraud, including EBT card and food-stamp-program fraud.
"We want to see that every person who needs assistance gets it, and
anyone gaming system gets punished," Golden said.
To fix this problem, Golden supports legislation to update the
software that performs background checks on food-stamp applicants.
Rep. Kevin Murphy, D-Lowell, says all reforms need to be exhausted
before raising taxes.
"We have to make sure citizens are convinced that we have done
everything to curb spending," Murphy said.
Murphy supports consolidating agencies, such as housing, education
and the Department of Corrections, to save money and make government
agencies more efficient.
Rep. Marc Lombardo, R-Billerica, said the governor's plan was
"absolutely ridiculous," particularly a 19 percent income-tax hike.
"It will hurt hardworking, struggling families, and it shows how out
of touch the governor is with my district," he said.
Lombardo said the response from his Billerica constituents was
overwhelmingly negative toward the plan.
"The message is clear from my district that people can't afford any
more of a tax increase," Lombardo said.
Sen. Jamie Eldridge, D-Acton, supported the governor's tax reforms,
saying the income-tax increase would mostly affect wealthy citizens
while the sales tax cut would benefit lower and middle-class
citizens.
"Right now Massachusetts is fairly regressive, with the largest tax
burden for working class families. We need to shift up," he said.
Eldridge said the revenue was necessary for transportation reforms
his district needed, such as commuter-rail service, bike and walking
paths and road repairs.
"There have been cuts across the board, and we need to restore that
with new revenue," Eldridge said.
State House News Service
State Capitol Briefs - Lunch Edition
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Senate approves $115 Mil budget, $200 Mil "rainy day fund" draw
By Andy Metzger
With a nearly unanimous vote in the Senate early Tuesday evening, a
$115 million supplemental budget has passed both chambers, and could
be laid before the governor as early as Thursday.
In addition to shoring up revenues to support spending and
allocating $30 million to deal with the fallout from an evidence
tampering scandal at a state drug testing lab, the bill also cuts
funding to some agencies to help bridge a mid-year budget gap. The
legislation also freezes unemployment insurance rates, an idea
supported by Gov. Deval Patrick.
After voting down several proposals brought up by Senate
Republicans, the Senate passed the bill 36 to 1, with Sen. Robert
Hedlund (R-Weymouth) casting the lone dissenting vote.
Republicans used the bill's journey through the upper chamber as an
opportunity to seek policy changes, including more stringent
residency requirements for people seeking public benefits, a ban on
in-state tuition for people who are not citizens or permanent
residents of the United States, and transferring fraud prevention
efforts at the Department of Transitional Assistance to the
Inspector General’s office.
While the Republican-sponsored amendments were batted down, some
Democrats crossed the aisle on different measures. The proposal to
undo a recent Patrick policy allowing certain students who are not
in the country legally to access in-state tuition rates, was
defeated by a 12 to 25 vote.
The House had sent a similar Republican-sponsored in-state tuition
amendment to study, and the Senate removed the study language from
budget that was passed on Tuesday night. The House and Senate plan
informal sessions on Thursday morning.
The Boston Herald
Thursday, February 14, 2013
DTA glitch led to OT free-for-all
Records: Taxpayers on the hook for $3.4M
By Chris Cassidy
Taxpayers doled out a stunning $3.4 million in overtime to state
workers to fix a massive, multimillion-dollar glitch in the
scandal-plagued welfare department — a revelation critics say adds
insult to injury as the state negotiates with the feds over how to
pay back $27 million in food-stamp overpayments.
More than 900 employees in the Department of Transitional Assistance
— mostly caseworkers — shared in the $3.4 million OT bonanza between
November 2010 and May 2011, the department acknowledged after a
Herald public records request.
DTA authorized the wages — an average of roughly $3,500 each — so
staff could address a backlog of 30,000 clients whose eligibility
had to be recertified after the agency overpaid food-stamp clients
by $27 million in federal money.
“When it costs that much money to correct the problem, that’s an
affront to the taxpayers of the commonwealth of Massachusetts,
frankly,” said state Rep. Jim Dwyer (D-Woburn).
State Rep. Bruce Ayers (D-Quincy) said, “My constituents are angry.
A lot of them are working two jobs, trying to make ends meet. ... It
shows that the system is broken, and that steps need to be taken to
correct these measures.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which funds food stamps, has
accused DTA of violating federal rules, and the two agencies are
about to enter talks over how to make up the $27 million difference.
New Health and Human Services Secretary John Polanowicz has said
they’re working on a settlement that might allow the money to be
reinvested in “additional resources,” including “integrity programs”
to prevent abuse and mismanagement of the welfare system.
Welfare department critics — who failed last week to strip DTA of
fraud-prevention powers and give them instead to the inspector
general, attorney general and state auditor — said earmarking some
of the overspent money to protect taxpayers’ interests is the least
DTA can do.
“Investing those dollars into prevention — that would be something
I’d support,” Dwyer said. “Anything we can do to prevent this from
happening again. We’re at a point right now where it’s total chaos.”
The welfare department has been undergoing a shake-up since
ex-Commissioner Daniel Curley was forced to resign on Jan 31, after
a devastating inspector general’s report claiming another $25
million in taxpayer money is going to welfare recipients who aren’t
eligible.
During the recession, an inundated DTA was overrun by a doubling of
cases and administered food-stamp benefits that jumped by more than
$70 million a month, according to Assistant Health and Human
Services Secretary Marilyn Chase.
But the union representing DTA’s caseworkers said the agency still
hasn’t fixed the problem of overburdened workers.
“We need to increase staffing levels at DTA,” said Susan Tousignant,
the president of SEIU Local 509.
“The governor recently called this leakage — I would call this an
avalanche,” said state Rep. Shaunna O’Connell (R-Taunton). “This is
an astronomical number to pay out in overtime for outright
mismanagement.”
State House News Service
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Patrick frames tax, invest plan as proposal requiring "political
courage"
By Matt Murphy
Gov. Deval Patrick challenged Beacon Hill lawmakers on Wednesday to
muster the “political courage” to support his proposed tax reforms
to generate new revenue for transportation and education
investments, casting the decision as one of generational
responsibility.
“We must each of us sacrifice a little today so that we may all
share in a better and stronger tomorrow,” Patrick told a crowd
gathered at the State House for Transportation Day, sounding a theme
he has emphasized often over his six years as governor and one
echoed Tuesday night by President Barack Obama in his State of the
Union address.
The event, designed to introduce the various state transportation
agencies and their programs to lawmakers, comes as skeptical
legislators are being asked by the governor to approve a menu of tax
reform proposals designed to generate $1.9 billion in new revenue
and slightly shift the state’s tax burden off lower-to-middle income
families.
He urged people to talk to their neighbors and representatives in
the Legislature about the importance of investing in transportation
and education, suggesting “reform alone” will not deliver for
Massachusetts the type of transportation he says the state needs to
remain economically competitive.
“Help them see the generational urgency of this moment and help them
find the political courage to choose what’s right for our long-term
good instead of just what’s easy for short-term politics,” Patrick
said.
House and Senate leaders are taking a wait-and-see approach toward
the governor’s tax plan as they review the intricacies of his budget
proposal, but few have fully embraced the whole of his plan and some
have knocked it.
Rep. Colleen Garry, a conservative Democrat from the New Hampshire
border town of Dracut, told a local radio station this week that she
believes the middle class would get “hit again” by Patrick’s tax
proposal, adding that she’s worried Patrick’s plan is stoking “class
warfare.”
“I’ve heard from numerous people and I’m very, kind of, afraid of
the class warfare in the regards to the proposal. I’ve heard a lot
of people say, “Why am I working? The people who aren’t working are
going to have their taxes lowered by the sales tax,’” Garry said.
Garry said that even though economy is recovering, many families
haven’t fully rebounded from the recession after draining their
savings and, in some cases, tapping into their retirement funds. “He
wants to leave a legacy of improving the transportation system,
improving education, but I don’t think the average person has the
finances at this point to do that,” Garry said during her appearance
Tuesday on WCAP in Lowell.
Patrick indicated that he was open to compromising on taxes, but
suggested he might look unfavorably on a plan that ratchets down the
scope of his proposal should the House in April come back with a
more modest tax hike targeted at just certain transportation needs.
With the MBTA staring at a $140 million budget gap without another
infusion of funding, the governor and his transportation team have
called for up to $1 billion a year in new funding to be poured into
the system for upkeep and maintenance as well as expansion projects
like the Green Line extension to Medford, South Coast rail, and the
expansion of South Station in Boston.
“The question is, ‘Are we going to do what’s necessary to accomplish
the ends?’ The means, you know, there are a whole host of different
ways of doing it. I’ve proposed one series of ideas and I’m open to
others, but what I’m not open to is doing less than what’s necessary
to assure ourselves a 21st century transportation network and
schools that reach every child,” Patrick told reporters after
delivering his remarks.
When the governor presented his fiscal 2014 budget in January, he
said he would not be willing to accept an increase in the income tax
to 6.25 percent, as he proposed, if it was not packaged with a
decrease in the sales tax to 4.5 percent.
Still, Patrick said on Wednesday it was too early to start drawing
lines in the sand with legislative leaders.
“It’s too soon for that. It’s a fair question but it’s really too
soon for that. I have to respect the legislative process. They have
their process, both on the House and the Senate side. I think what
I’m trying to do is get the members, the leadership and the general
public to focus first and foremost on what it is we all need to
accomplish in transportation and education and not start where we
often do, which is at our rhetorical corners hurling slogans back
and forth.”
Patrick said his generation – the Baby Boom generation – had “lost
our grip” on the idea of building and investing for future
generations. “We started governing for the short term, for the next
election cycle or news cycle. If we are to keep our leading edge
economically we in our time have got to turn that around,” Patrick
said.
Rep. Matthew Beaton, a Shrewsbury Republican, said the conversation
about reforming the transportation system “gets shelved a little too
easily.”
“If you want to talk about political courage, why are we just seeing
these proposals for the first time now that he’s not running for
re-election? Why didn’t he run on this?” Beaton asked.
As a resident who pays tolls on the Massachusetts Turnpike every day
to commute to Boston, Beaton said there are other ways to raise
revenue to fix the broken public transit system without asking
taxpayers to pay more for expansion projects that aren’t needed
right now.
“What about open road tolling on the I-93 corridor to help pay for
the Big Dig debt? There are other reforms and ways to raise revenue
and fix what’s broken before looking at higher taxes,” Beaton said.
MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott, described by Transportation
Secretary Richard Davey as a transit “superstar,” said the rail,
subway and bus system is at a “critical juncture.” “We have parts of
this system that are 100 years old. When things get old, they need
to be replaced,” Scott said.
The new MBTA chief said two-thirds of the new revenue for
transportation would be put toward repairs, maintenance and upgrades
to the existing transit system, promising a “renaissance” in the
quality of service the agency will be able to provide.
Facing a $140 million budget gap that must be solved by April 15,
Scott said the alternative is reduced service, higher fares, or both
– a repeat of the controversial MBTA budget-balancing debate of last
year that led to a one-time bailout from the Legislature and fare
hikes averaging 23 percent.
“We will not shirk from reform,” Scott also promised.
State House News Service
Thursday, February 14, 2013
As Patrick presses tax plan, lawmakers wave caution flags
By Matt Murphy
The opening for Gov. Deval Patrick to sell skeptical lawmakers on
his ambitious new tax-and-spending plan narrowed on Thursday as key
House and Senate lawmakers from both parties seemed to wave the
caution flag in front of the governor’s budget chief.
The House and Senate Ways and Means committees kicked off public
hearings on the fiscal 2014 budget with testimony from the
administration, Constitutional officers and the inspector general.
But even as Secretary of Administration and Finance Glen Shor
emphasized the urgency of making the governor’s recommended
investments in transportation and education with $1.9 billion in
higher taxes, the message emanating from lawmakers was that Patrick
might be pushing for too much, too fast.
“We’re not feeling the ability terribly so much that everybody can
dig even deeper, and quite honestly we hear from our constituents in
that regard, so as we balance this, balance the spending and
revenue, these are the challenges,” Senate Ways and Means Chairman
Stephen Brewer told Shor.
Brewer was careful to make the distinction that he was speaking only
for himself and not the committee, but he highlighted the fact that
lawmakers in January took a $1,100 pay cut because median family
incomes are declining.
“We will wrestle with all the substantive issues here. They are long
and they are complicated,” Brewer said.
Patrick has proposed raising the income tax to 6.25 percent and
lowering the sales tax to 4.5 percent. Combined with other measures
to alter the tax code, Shor said half of Massachusetts residents
would see no change or a reduction in their tax burden, while
wealthier residents would pay more.
The new revenue would be dedicated to repairing and modernizing the
state’s transportation infrastructure and transit system, and
boosting funding for education to extend early education
opportunities to all children and increase spending on public
universities and community colleges.
“The changes in our tax laws do not leave us with a tax system that
leaves us anything less than competitive with our neighboring states
and states we compete most with,” Shor said, adding that investing
in education and infrastructure will make the state “infinitely more
competitive” for business.
Some Republicans have suggested that Patrick’s budget plan is about
building his legacy with only two years left in office, and Shor did
little to dispel the feeling that Patrick has grown frustrated by
the limitations the global recession put on his ability to
accomplish the goals he imagined when he first ran for governor.
“This budget reflects the governor’s and the lieutenant governor’s
restlessness to tackle the unfinished business of promoting
opportunity and prosperity in every corner of the Commonwealth. This
budget would begin a course of groundbreaking new investments in
education, transportation and innovation that will transform
Massachusetts’s economy in the short-term and over the long haul,”
Shor told lawmakers.
Shor continued, “Simply relying on cuts to address the challenges of
today and tomorrow will not get us there.” He said reform remains an
“enduring focus” of the governor.
House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Brian Dempsey, however, expressed
reluctance, defending the way the Legislature navigated the
recession with a blend of spending cuts, reserves and revenue
increases, reminding those in the audience that it was only four
years ago that the Legislature approved an increase in the sales
tax.
“I love the governor’s passion around education. It’s infectious. He
has a compelling personal life story….I would say, however, that
over the years we have spent considerable resources on Chapter 70,”
Dempsey said.
Sen. Michael Knapik, a Westfield Republican and the ranking minority
member on the Senate Ways and Means Committee, gave kudos to the
Patrick administration for the way it managed through the lean
recession years with the support of the Legislature. But Knapik
questioned the rush to raise new revenue to support transportation
expansion projects and massive new funding for education when casino
gaming revenues are just a few years away.
“Shouldn’t we wait for the gaming revenue to start to coming?
Wouldn’t that be a more prudent course?” Knapik said.
Knapik also raised the issue of wasted resources from fraud, abuse
and lax oversight in the state’s welfare system, an increasingly
common counter-argument to Patrick’s call for higher taxes.
“I think we’re hard pressed to just hand over more money unless
we’re doing a better job of policing what we have,” Knapik said,
saying his constituents are tired of reading stories about people
getting benefits they don’t deserve.
Inspector General Glenn Cuhna, going through his first budget
process in his new job, faced questions from the budget panel about
a recent report published by his office that identified serious
concerns about the Department of Transitional Assistance’s processes
for verifying the eligibility of recipients of benefits under a
program known as Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent
Children, designed to provide assistance to the poorest residents.
The report suggested as much as $25 million in public benefits might
have been paid to individuals and families that do not qualify for
assistance, or at the very least failed to document their
eligibility.
“The DTA really needs to at this point follow its own regulations
and understand that their role, one of their roles, is to make
eligibility determinations. If someone isn’t eligible, even if they
received emergency benefits, benefits must be suspended or
terminated once the file isn’t complete,” Cuhna said.
Asked by Brewer if a lack of staffing was to blame for the failures
at DTA that led to the firing of Commissioner Dan Curley, Cuhna
said, “Some of it is a lack of staffing, a lack of resources…but
it’s also a lack of training too.”
Rep. Carl Sciortino asked Cuhna whether it was possible the $25
million identified by the inspector general’s office actually went
to eligible families, and it wasn’t waste so much as a failure on
the DTA’s end to verify that eligibility. “I think it’s disingenuous
to say that is wasted money if we just haven’t followed up on these
people,” Sciortino said.
Cuhna agreed with Sciortino, but called it “irresponsible” for the
state to be spending taxpayer money on public benefits without
verifying that the benefits are deserved.
Dempsey called the DTA report “very troubling for a variety of
reasons,” and said the Legislature felt a sense of urgency to take
corrective action to improve the eligibility oversight.
Rep. Angelo D’Emilia, a Bridgewater Republican, said, “I’m glad to
hear the chair understands what a problem this is, because we’re all
hearing from constituents.” |
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Citizens for Limited Taxation ▪
PO Box 1147 ▪ Marblehead, MA 01945
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