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CLT UPDATE
Thursday, December 5, 2013

Small Income Tax Cut Arrives


The Department of Revenue on Wednesday confirmed that tax collections in November were sufficient enough to trigger a reduction in the state income tax rate to 5.2 percent.

As the Boston Business Journal first reported last month, state lawmakers and tax officials have quietly been bracing for the rate reduction, which likely cost the state between $60 million and $70 million in lost revenue in the current fiscal year. The reduction from the rate’s current 5.25 percent level is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1.

The DOR’s lost-revenue estimate equates to around 0.2 percent of the state’s $34 billion budget for fiscal 2014. On an annualized basis, the tax-rate cut would likely cost the state around $130 million in lost revenue, based on DOR estimates.

Boston Business Journal
Thursday, December 5, 2013
DOR confirms what BBJ readers already knew: Income tax rate to fall


Economic triggers have been met to force a reduction in the state income tax in 2014 from 5.25 percent to 5.2 percent.

"We'll be reduced to 5.2 percent as of Jan. 1 2014," Administration and Finance Secretary Glen Shor told the News Service....

Massachusetts voters in 2000 approved an initiative petition calling to reduce the income tax rate from 5.95 percent to 5 percent by 2003. In 2002, in order to raise $215 million as part of a larger tax package, the state Legislature froze the income tax rate at 5.3 percent and conditioned further reductions on economic growth triggers.

State House News Service
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Income tax cut set of New Year


Barbara Anderson, executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation, which sponsored the 2000 ballot question, said she still wants the 5 percent rate approved by 59 percent of voters.

But for the moment, Anderson said, the .05 percent cut would be a nice drop. "We'll happily take whatever we can get right now," she said.

The income tax was 5.85 percent in 2000, when voters passed the ballot question to gradually decrease it to 5 percent by 2003.

The Springfield Republican
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Tiny cut in Massachusetts income tax expected in new year


Barbara Anderson, executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation, which cosponsored the 2000 income tax ballot question, pointed out that the rate would have fallen to 5 percent a decade ago, if legislators had not scuttled the law.

“We’re a little behind, but we’ll take whatever we can get,” Anderson said Wednesday. “Pardon me if I don’t sound pathetically grateful. They’re way behind. They owe us.”

The Boston Globe
Thursday, December 5, 2013
State income tax rate will drop slightly on Jan. 1


Revenue Commissioner Amy Pitter today announced that preliminary revenue collections for November totaled $1.572 billion, $151 million or 10.6 percent more than the state took in last November. Strong performance in withholding collections and higher gains in corporate and business tax payments driven by one-time tax settlements and judgments offset lower than expected estate tax collections to end the month $86 million above the monthly benchmark based on the FY2014 revenue estimate of $22.797 billion.

In addition, the Department of Revenue certified that revenue growth has met the final threshold needed to lower the personal income tax rate from 5.25 percent to 5.20 percent beginning January 1, 2014. As a result, revenue collections for the remainder of the fiscal year will drop by an estimated $65 million.

Revenue collections for the first five months of the fiscal year totaled $8.669 billion, $766 million or 9.7 percent more than at this time last year and $359 million above the year-to-date benchmark.

Massachusetts Department of Revenue
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
November revenue collections total $1.572 billion
Revenue collections meet final threshold to lower income tax rate


Seven campaigns have filed necessary signatures with the state to put them one step closer to the 2014 ballot, including an initiative to expand the state's bottle deposit law, a push to limit the number of patients a nurse can care for at one time, and a move to increase the minimum wage, as well as another for earned employee sick time.

The campaigns all turned in at least 68,911 certified signatures to Secretary of State William Galvin's office, keeping them on track for the ballot. Once the signatures are counted, Galvin's office will notify successful petitioners, who then have until July 2 to collect another 11,485 signatures before qualifying for the ballot....

Other campaigns that continued along the path include a group opposed to tying future gas tax increases to inflation starting in 2015, which delivered 87,620 certified signatures.

Opponents of linking the gas tax to the consumer price index argue it is a "forever tax" and eliminates the responsibility of elected lawmakers from voting on and justifying tax increases. The question does not change the 3-cent gas tax increase passed by the Legislature, but removes the link between the CPI and future tax increases.

Gov. Deval Patrick earlier this week criticized opponents of the automatic gas tax increases.

"I think it was done in the right way, and I think those that are advocating that the indexing be undone need to answer for why it is they keep showing up for all the ribbon-cuttings every time there's a new bridge or a new road project done, but don't seem to want to participate in how to pay for it," Patrick said Monday.

Rep. Geoff Diehl, a Republican from Whitman who is one the question's backers, said the governor's comment speaks to a "disrespect" for legislators' jobs "if he thinks all we are interested in is going to ribbon cuttings." ...

Activists who wanted to roll the state's sales tax back to 5 percent from 6.25 percent did not file signatures by late Wednesday afternoon. The proposed question had made it through earlier rounds. The petition was filed by Owen George Becker, a Rowley resident, and its original signers all live in Rowley, Wakefield and Peabody.

State House News Service
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Initiative petition campaigns keep on pace for 2014 ballot


Chip Ford's CLT Commentary

We taxpayers have taken one more small step toward rolling back the 1989 "temporary" state income tax hike to its historic 5 percent, another five one-hundredths of one percentage point closer. One more small step, but we'll take it!

Twenty-five years after we were promised by the Legislature and then-Gov. Michael Dukakis that their tax hike would be "only temporary," last for "only 18 months," and be used "only to pay down the unexpected debt" (See "The Promise" in their own words), their promise remains unkept, proven false a lie 25-years ago.

Despite 59% of the voters demanding it be rolled back to 5% on the 2000 ballot, The Big Lie continues because democracy was thwarted, trashed on Bacon Hill.

So much for "settled law." And so much for being reasonable.

A little history:  Trying to be "reasonable" back in 2000, we drafted the income tax rollback petition to phase in over three years so state government could adapt to taking in less of our money, and, of course, so we'd have a better chance to win on the ballot.  The rate would automatically decrease each year, from 5.95% as of 1999 to 5.6% in tax year 2001, to 5.3% in 2002, back down to 5% in tax year 2003.

The Legislature got cute in 2000, before the election and our question on the ballot.  It dropped the rate to 5.85% hoping that would win over voters, convince them to vote against our ballot question. Nonetheless, we taxpayers didn't take the bait. Instead, we won in November with 59% of the vote, so the Legislature got even cuter two years later.  In 2002, with the rate down to 5.3% as the voters mandated, the Legislature "froze" it there where it remained until December of 2011, when it was "unfrozen" for the first time, to 5.25% for tax year 2012. It remained there last year, because the “triggers” were missing.

The "triggering" of this five one-hundredths of one percent decrease is only the second time since 2002 that the "temporary" income tax rate hike has been reduced, a dozen years after it was "frozen."  At least the Department of Revenue tracks the formula each year.

The term "automatic" only works in one direction on Bacon Hill, whether its pay raises for pols or gas tax hikes:  More for them from us.  On Bacon Hill "automatic" is somehow a synonym for "temporary" both go on forever.

The Legislature's latest shot at automatic, the recently-adopted automatic "forever" gas tax hikes, is about to be similarly tested in November. The Tank The Automatic Gas Tax ballot committee turned in 87,620 certified signatures to the Secretary of State on Wednesday; comfortably more than the requisite 68,911. That was the biggest hurdle. If the Legislature declines to adopt that initiative (that'll never happen!) then another 20,000-30,000 signatures (from different voters) will need to be collected before July 2 to put it on November's ballot. That's eminently doable, which is why Gov. Patrick's shorts are in a knot lately.

Chip Ford


 

Boston Business Journal
Thursday, December 5, 2013

DOR confirms what BBJ readers already knew: Income tax rate to fall
By Craig Douglas


The Department of Revenue on Wednesday confirmed that tax collections in November were sufficient enough to trigger a reduction in the state income tax rate to 5.2 percent.

As the Boston Business Journal first reported last month, state lawmakers and tax officials have quietly been bracing for the rate reduction, which likely cost the state between $60 million and $70 million in lost revenue in the current fiscal year. The reduction from the rate’s current 5.25 percent level is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1.

The DOR’s lost-revenue estimate equates to around 0.2 percent of the state’s $34 billion budget for fiscal 2014. On an annualized basis, the tax-rate cut would likely cost the state around $130 million in lost revenue, based on DOR estimates.

According to a state law passed in 2002, the state’s income tax rate is set to automatically adjust down by 0.05 percentage points if certain collections benchmarks are met. Those triggers will remain in place until a minimum income-tax threshold of 5 percent is reached.

DOR confirmed yesterday that all five of the law’s required revenue benchmarks have been hit this year. To reach those milestones, the state was required to reach or exceed tax-growth targets in fiscal 2013 as well as in each of the three-month periods that ended Aug. 31, Sept. 30, Oct. 31 and Nov. 30. State officials confirmed Wednesday that each of those targets were met.

In fiscal 2013, tax revenue growth was 3.99 percent, well above the law’s threshold requirement of 2.5 percent. Likewise, in each of the three-month periods that ended Aug. 31, Sept. 30, Oct. 31 and Nov. 30, tax revenue outpaced the law’s required year-over-year growth threshold of zero percent, according to DOR.


State House News Service
Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Income tax cut set of New Year
By Andy Metzger and Michael Norton


Economic triggers have been met to force a reduction in the state income tax in 2014 from 5.25 percent to 5.2 percent.

"We'll be reduced to 5.2 percent as of Jan. 1 2014," Administration and Finance Secretary Glen Shor told the News Service.

Asked about the tax cut's impact on the state budget, Shor said, "There's lot of moving parts to the budget in any given year."

The Department of Revenue estimates the tax cut will reduce state revenues by about $65 million in fiscal 2014. The tax cut will take between $125 million and $140 million off the table for the fiscal 2015 budget, with Gov. Deval Patrick set to outline his fiscal 2015 spending plan next month.

Tax receipts are running $359 million above fiscal 2014 benchmark through November. The Department of Revenue reported Wednesday that November tax collections surged 10.6 percent, or $151 million above collections in November 2012. Tax collections are up 9.7 percent over the first five months of fiscal 2014, compared to the same period in fiscal 2013.

Patrick administration officials this fall predicted non-tax revenue in fiscal 2014 may fall short of estimates by $150 million.

Administration officials have repeatedly ignored request for the reasons behind that revised forecast for non-tax revenue, and Shor on Wednesday declined to specify reasons for the revision, offering only the observation that there are many different non-tax revenue sources.

Massachusetts voters in 2000 approved an initiative petition calling to reduce the income tax rate from 5.95 percent to 5 percent by 2003. In 2002, in order to raise $215 million as part of a larger tax package, the state Legislature froze the income tax rate at 5.3 percent and conditioned further reductions on economic growth triggers.

Tax collections had been running above benchmark in early fiscal 2013, but fell just short of meeting the triggers for an income tax reduction this past January.

Calls for increased state spending are beginning ahead of Patrick’s budget filing.

UMass President Robert Caret on Wednesday called for a $40 million increase in state funding for the university, saying a $519 million appropriation would allow tuition and mandatory fees for in-state undergraduate students to be frozen for a second straight year.


The Springfield Republican
Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Tiny cut in Massachusetts income tax expected in new year
By Dan Ring


People in Massachusetts are poised to receive a tiny cut in the income tax on Jan. 1.

An official announcement could come on Wednesday, but judging from comments by a spokeswoman for the state Department of Revenue, a top member of the Massachusetts Senate, and a leading fiscal analyst, the income tax is likely to drop from 5.25 percent to 5.2 percent. It would be the second such cut in the income tax in three years.

The incremental cuts are triggered when growth in tax revenues exceeds certain thresholds after adjusted for inflation.

In order for the cut to be assured, it needs to clear one more threshold. The only hurdle remaining is for Gov. Deval Patrick's revenue commissioner, Amy Pitter, to certify that inflation-adjusted revenue growth was greater than zero for the past three months compared to the same period of last year.

"I don't have the actual numbers, but I believe revenue collections and inflation rates for the final growth period are positive enough to meet the thresholds set forth in the legislation," Ann C. Dufresne, communications director for the state Department of Revenue, said in an e-mail.

"I am confirming that the numbers look like they will meet the final threshold and that final certification may be announced tomorrow," she added by e-mail on Tuesday.

Back in 2000, voters had approved a ballot question to reduce the income tax to 5 percent over three years.

But during a severe recession in 2002, legislators froze the tax at 5.3 percent and approved a law that included a schedule for the income tax to gradually be lowered to 5 percent in increments of 0.05 percentage points. The law lowered the tax at a much more gradual rate than the ballot question and linked the cuts to improvements in state revenues.

For the fiscal year ending June 30, tax revenue rose by 3.99 percent, launching the process for the tax cut.

Dufresne said the cut would result in a reduction of $65 million in state revenues for the final six months of the current fiscal year and then $132 million for the full fiscal year starting July 1.

Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, a Barre Democrat and chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said he would be "very, very surprised" if the income tax failed to drop to 5.20 percent on Jan. 1.

"It looks like it is right in line for that reduction," Brewer said.

Brewer said he is "very OK" with the minuscule cut.

"The economy is showing that kind of improvement," Brewer said. "The metrics sustain a reduction."

In the past, the revenue department has estimated that a .05 percent cut would save $39 for a married couple filing jointly who own a home, have two children less than 12 years old and $100,000 in income.

The savings is only $9 for a single person with two children who rents and makes $40,000.

A leader in human services cautioned that the cut could cause a drop in state revenues that might affect services for the needy in the state budget.

“Any significant drop in state revenues could not only harm the one-in-ten vulnerable residents receiving supports, but it will likely affect the low-paid direct care workers who provide essential services," Michael Weekes, president and CEO of the Providers Council, said in a prepared statement. "Currently, thousands of human services workers – including many in Western Massachusetts – were expecting a small salary adjustment before the holidays, but, inexplicably, they’re now waiting indefinitely while the state has reported a large revenue surplus."

Legislators and the governor approved $11.5 million one-time payment, contingent on a budget surplus, for small raises for workers of private, nonprofit agencies that contract with the state for care of the mentally ill, the developmentally disabled and other human services. The state, however, has not distributed the money or announced a schedule for distribution, a spokesman for the Providers Council said.

Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said his organization is anticipating that the .05 percent cut in the income tax will take place on Jan. 1.

"It seems like a virtual certainty," Widmer said.

In a tight budget, the loss of about $140 million in state revenues is meaningful, but manageable given the way state tax collections are improving, Widmer added.

Barbara Anderson, executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation, which sponsored the 2000 ballot question, said she still wants the 5 percent rate approved by 59 percent of voters.

But for the moment, Anderson said, the .05 percent cut would be a nice drop. "We'll happily take whatever we can get right now," she said.

The income tax was 5.85 percent in 2000, when voters passed the ballot question to gradually decrease it to 5 percent by 2003.


The Boston Globe
Thursday, December 5, 2013

State income tax rate will drop slightly on Jan. 1
By Michael Levenson


Pennies from heaven?

More like a couple of bucks from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

When the ball drops and the champagne pops to celebrate the New Year, the state will hand taxpayers a little gift: a tax cut worth enough to buy a pizza or two.

State officials announced Wednesday that the income tax rate will automatically fall to 5.2 percent from 5.25 percent on Jan. 1. because the state collected more in taxes last year than it did this year.

Most taxpayers can expect to save about $9 to $39 next year, according to the state Department of Revenue.

Meanwhile, the tax cut will cost the state about $65 million in revenue in 2014.

The tax cut was triggered by a 2002 state law that automatically reduces the income tax rate when revenues grow according to a formula, essentially guaranteeing minor tax cuts when the economy is healthy. Legislators passed the law as a way to stop a more aggressive tax cut that Massachusetts voters had approved at the polls in 2000.

That voter-approved law would have slashed the then-5.85 percent income tax rate to 5 percent by January 2003. Lawmakers argued the impact on the state budget would have been severe at a time when the state was grappling with a recession.

On Wednesday, Governor Deval Patrick, who wanted to increase the income tax earlier this year, offered a mixed response when asked about the automatic cut.

He lamented that the formula used to calculate the reduction did not take into account that the state endured a historic drop in revenue during the recession that began in 2008.

“The benchmark is a little off, but having the formula in place like this is great,” he said. “We’re growing, and that’s good news.”

Barbara Anderson, executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation, which cosponsored the 2000 income tax ballot question, pointed out that the rate would have fallen to 5 percent a decade ago, if legislators had not scuttled the law.

“We’re a little behind, but we’ll take whatever we can get,” Anderson said Wednesday. “Pardon me if I don’t sound pathetically grateful. They’re way behind. They owe us.”

Others welcomed news of the tax cut, saying it would help families pay for basics like coffee and T-shirts.

“I’m obviously thrilled,” said Representative Bradley H. Jones Jr., the Republican leader of the Massachusetts House. “Any time we can let the taxpayers keep more of their money, it’s a good thing.”

Asked how he would spend his tax cut, Jones said, “covering this recent increase at the gas pump.”

That was a reference to a 3 cent hike in the state gas tax that Patrick and the Democratic Legislature approved this summer. That law raised the gas tax from 21 cents to 24 cents per gallon and then tied future increases to inflation.

The income tax cut on Jan. 1 will be the second such decrease triggered by the 2002 law. In 2003, the rate fell from 5.3 percent to 5.25 percent. Revenues came close to triggering another automatic cut in 2013, only to fall slightly short at the end of the year.


Massachusetts Department of Revenue
Wednesday, December 4, 2013

November revenue collections total $1.572 billion
Revenue collections meet final threshold to lower income tax rate


Revenue Commissioner Amy Pitter today announced that preliminary revenue collections for November totaled $1.572 billion, $151 million or 10.6 percent more than the state took in last November. Strong performance in withholding collections and higher gains in corporate and business tax payments driven by one-time tax settlements and judgments offset lower than expected estate tax collections to end the month $86 million above the monthly benchmark based on the FY2014 revenue estimate of $22.797 billion.

In addition, the Department of Revenue certified that revenue growth has met the final threshold needed to lower the personal income tax rate from 5.25 percent to 5.20 percent beginning January 1, 2014. As a result, revenue collections for the remainder of the fiscal year will drop by an estimated $65 million.

Revenue collections for the first five months of the fiscal year totaled $8.669 billion, $766 million or 9.7 percent more than at this time last year and $359 million above the year-to-date benchmark. One-time tax settlements and judgments exceeding $10 million accounted for $159 million of the year-to-date surplus which must in general be deposited in the Commonwealth’s stabilization fund.

“Above-benchmark performance in November was driven by strong withholding collections. We will be examining December withholding collections to determine if this trend is likely to be sustainable or is instead at least partly due to timing dynamics ,” said Commissioner Pitter.

Total income tax collections for November were $934 million, $98 million or 11.8 percent over last November and $74 million above the monthly benchmark. Year-to- date income was $4.827 billion, $367 million or 8.2 percent over this time last year and $164 million over the year-to-date benchmark.

November withholding collections totaled $905 million, $97 million or 11.9 percent more than last November and $64 million above the monthly benchmark. So far this fiscal year, withholding collections are $4.143 billion, $253 million or 6.5 percent over last November and $70 million over the year-to-date benchmark.

Estimated income tax payments brought in $18 million for the month, $3 million or 18.5 percent more than last November and $2 million over the monthly benchmark. Year-to- date estimated income tax collections totaled $584 million, $62 million or 11.9 percent over last year at this time and $44 million over the year-to-date benchmark.

Income tax payments with returns or bills brought in $41 million for the month, $3 million or 6.3 percent less than last November and $6 million above the November benchmark. Year-to-date income tax payments with returns or bills totaled $308 million, $84 million or 37.4 percent over last year at this time and $83 million over the year-to-date benchmark.

Corporate and business tax collections for November were $26 million, $17 million or 191.8 percent more than last November and $17 million over the monthly benchmark. Year-to-date corporate and business tax collections totaled $663 million, $149 million or 28.9 percent more than the same period last year and $127 million above the year-to- date benchmark.

Sales and use tax collections for November totaled $438 million, up $26 million or 6.3 percent from last November and $5 million above the monthly benchmark. Collections through the first five months of the fiscal year totaled $2.302 billion, $135 million or 6.2 percent over the same period last year and $28 million over the year-to-date benchmark.


State House News Service
Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Initiative petition campaigns keep on pace for 2014 ballot
By Colleen Quinn and Michael Norton


Seven campaigns have filed necessary signatures with the state to put them one step closer to the 2014 ballot, including an initiative to expand the state's bottle deposit law, a push to limit the number of patients a nurse can care for at one time, and a move to increase the minimum wage, as well as another for earned employee sick time.

The campaigns all turned in at least 68,911 certified signatures to Secretary of State William Galvin's office, keeping them on track for the ballot. Once the signatures are counted, Galvin's office will notify successful petitioners, who then have until July 2 to collect another 11,485 signatures before qualifying for the ballot.

A campaign to repeal the state's 2011 casino gambling law filed close to 73,000 signatures, moving it along in the process. The Supreme Judicial Court will now rule on whether the ballot question is eligible. Attorney General Martha Coakley, who reviews all proposed questions, did not certify it last September. Coakley stated casino applicants had already invested in the licensing process and have a reasonable expectation that it will play out.

Repeal supporters secured an injunction to start collecting signatures. The SJC is expected to hear their argument early next year, according David Guarino, a spokesman for the Repeal the Casino Deal Effort.

Raise Up Massachusetts, a coalition of workers, unions, religious organizations and community groups, submitted 111,758 certified signatures for a initiative to raise the state's minimum wage to $10.50 an hour. The group collected 96,970 signatures for another question that would give workers the ability to earn paid sick time.

Nurses from the Massachusetts Nurses Associations delivered more than 114,000 signatures for a question that would limit the number of patients a nurse can care for at one time, and another 100,000 for a question that requires hospitals to be more transparent about financial holdings and seeks to limit the compensation of chief executive officers.

Wheeling the signatures on a gurney to Galvin's office Wednesday morning, nurses said both questions will improve patient care.

"Most people do not realize that there is no law and there are no standards in existence for the number of patients that can be assigned to a nurse at one time," said Donna Kelly Williams, president of the MNA.

Nurses have tried for years to convince the Legislature to pass standards. Kelly Williams said they can't wait for lawmakers to act. "That is why we have decided to take a different approach this year," she said.

The second question from the nurses' aims to give the public more knowledge about how hospitals spend money, in response to a proliferation of hospital mergers, consolidations and the conversion of non-profit hospitals into larger corporate networks, according to Karen Higgins, a critical care nurse at Boston Medical Center who delivered the signatures for the financial transparency question.

"The public has a right to know how and where their health care dollars are being invested," Higgins said.

The proposed initiative has four key provisions. Hospitals which pay their chief executive more than 100 times the annual compensation of the lowest paid full-time employee would be fined. A new fund called the Medicaid Reimbursement Enhancement Fund would be created, funded by fines collected for "excessive" CEO pay.

Any hospital that receives money from the state, and whose patient mix is less than 60 percent government payer, shall be subject to a civil penalty for any annual operating margin that exceeds 8 percent.

Other campaigns that continued along the path include a group opposed to tying future gas tax increases to inflation starting in 2015, which delivered 87,620 certified signatures.

Opponents of linking the gas tax to the consumer price index argue it is a "forever tax" and eliminates the responsibility of elected lawmakers from voting on and justifying tax increases. The question does not change the 3-cent gas tax increase passed by the Legislature, but removes the link between the CPI and future tax increases.

Gov. Deval Patrick earlier this week criticized opponents of the automatic gas tax increases.

"I think it was done in the right way, and I think those that are advocating that the indexing be undone need to answer for why it is they keep showing up for all the ribbon-cuttings every time there's a new bridge or a new road project done, but don't seem to want to participate in how to pay for it," Patrick said Monday.

Rep. Geoff Diehl, a Republican from Whitman who is one the question's backers, said the governor's comment speaks to a "disrespect" for legislators' jobs "if he thinks all we are interested in is going to ribbon cuttings."

Supporters of expanding the nickel deposit on carbonated drinks to water and juice containers filed approximately 105,000 signatures. Activists looking to boost recycling argue the 30-year-old law is outdated and does not reflect the explosion of water and sports drinks. Opponents call it a tax, and are pushing for increased curbside recycling.

Before dropping off boxes of certified signatures Tuesday, proponents of a measure expanding the bottle deposit and redemption law to more types of beverages rallied outside a government office building.

Janet Domenitz, executive director of MassPIRG, said the Legislature had set up the initiative petition process as a tool for those who believe they are not represented on Beacon Hill.

"This is a sacred process," Domenitz said. "We're all honored to be a part of it."

Phil Sego of the Massachusetts Sierra Club said playgrounds, parks and rivers in Massachusetts were "choked with empty bottles and cans" because non-deposit beverages are too often discarded.

Saying less than 25 percent of non-deposit containers are recycled, Ken Pruitt of the Environmental League of Massachusetts called the proposal a "pragmatic expansion of an existing law."

Rep. Denise Provost (D-Somerville) said plastic bottles, plastic bags and plastic cups represent the "big three" threats to the environment. "This is an untenable situation," she said. "Most people realize that."

Cambridge Democrat Rep. David Rogers said the bottle law update represented "good policy and good politics." He said, "Let's get it on the ballot and get it done."

Asked after the rally about the odds of the proposal surfacing for a vote in the House, where its supporters have been unable to get a vote, Rogers said, "It's difficult to say."

Chris Flynn, president of the Massachusetts Food Association, has been leading the opposition to the bottle law expansion and pushing for expanded curbside recycling as an alternative.

"Lawmakers have rejected bottle bill expansion year after year for good reason: it would cost voters and businesses more with little environmental benefit," Flynn said in a statement. "Massachusetts will do more for the environment by improving recycling through comprehensive solutions such as expanding and improving curbside pickup and making it easier to recycle on-the-go. Bottle bill expansion would force consumers to pay an additional $60 million in deposits on containers most of us already recycle - it's not about the environment, it's simply a money grab."

Last September, Coakley certified 28 petitions, on 14 topics, and denied five petitions. Typically, only a few of the petitions certified by the AG make it all the way to the ballot. Should they choose to, lawmakers early next year will have a crack at passing alternatives to the ballot proposals.

Activists who wanted to roll the state's sales tax back to 5 percent from 6.25 percent did not file signatures by late Wednesday afternoon. The proposed question had made it through earlier rounds. The petition was filed by Owen George Becker, a Rowley resident, and its original signers all live in Rowley, Wakefield and Peabody.

Ballot campaigns last week turned in signatures to local officials for certification. Galvin's office will now count the certified signatures to make sure there are enough for petitions to move on. There is a state constitutional requirement that no more than 17,228 signatures can be from any one county.

Once the signatures are counted, Galvin notifies successful petitioners and submits the initiatives to the House of Representatives by Jan. 2. Lawmakers have until May to act.

In the past few years, voters have passed ballot laws legalizing medical marijuana, repealing a new tax on alcohol and outlawing dog racing.

 

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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