 |
and the
Citizens Economic Research Foundation
Post Office Box 1147 ●
Marblehead, Massachusetts 01945 ●
(508)
915-3665
“Every Tax is a Pay Cut ... A Tax Cut is a Pay Raise”
44 years as “The Voice of Massachusetts Taxpayers”
— and
their Institutional Memory — |
|
CLT UPDATE
Tuesday, February 6, 2018
SJC takes up Grad Tax ballot
question challenge today
|
Not so
long ago, this commonwealth was universally known as
“Taxachusetts.” It was not a term of affection....
Massachusetts has always had a flat income tax, meaning
everybody gets taxed at the same rate. It used to be 6
percent, now it’s closer to 5 percent. In 1994, a coalition
of pro-tax groups and public employee unions put a measure
on the ballot to institute a graduated income tax, meaning
people making different amounts of income are taxed at
different rates. It received 28 percent of the vote. It was
the fifth time the voters of the commonwealth had
voted down a graduated income tax. The other times were
1962, 1968, 1972 and 1976.
In 2013 the Legislature passed a law “indexing” the
state’s gas tax to the rate of inflation, so it would go up
every year. The following year, voters repealed it.
Now the public employee unions are back, to take another
swing at getting a graduated income tax. They understandably
want there to be more state spending so there will be more
state workers paying union dues.
They’ve put a measure on the ballot to introduce a
graduated income tax, but this time they put lipstick on it.
They say the proceeds from the graduated income tax will go
to worthy causes. They start with transportation, and road
and bridge repairs — potholes. Everyone hates potholes. But
they knew that wasn’t enough of a sweetener, because the
voters in 2014 rejected indexing the gas tax to increase
transportation spending. So they added education. They
needed to get 64,000 signatures to put their proposal on the
ballot, and everyone loves education.
Under the Massachusetts Constitution, this is known as
combining in a single initiative “what is popular with what
is desired by selfish interests.” It is clearly
unconstitutional....
Compared to these cases, potholes and education are about
as “related” as a fish and a bicycle.
Respect for the law and the Constitution of Massachusetts
requires that the pending taxing and spending directive be
ruled out of order....
In short, if ballot proposals can determine taxing and
spending priorities, neither the Legislature nor the
governor will be able to fashion a budget taking into
account all the needs of the people of the commonwealth.
Not exactly what John Adams had in mind when he drafted
our constitution in 1781.
The Boston Herald
Monday, January 22, 2018
Tax-and-spend plan unconstitutional
Ballot measure would upend state budget process
By Bill Weld
The hacks at every level of government regard motorists
the same way that McDonald’s regards cattle — whenever they
get hungry, we’re dinner.
Amid the rush of other news — FBI scandals, coddling of
illegal aliens, the Super Bowl, etc. — you’ve probably
missed the most recent avalanche of assaults on America’s
most oppressed majority, car owners.
Let’s take a look at what happened last week...
On Beacon Hill, the Legislature last week held a hearing
on 97 different transportation bills, all of which would
soak the Massachusetts motorist even more — including one
that would charge residents for every mile they travel....
Finally, we arrive at the State House, where for the
second time in three months the hacks are considering
legislation to impose yet more tolls on state roads. That
bill is S. 1987, and as Chip Faulkner of Citizens
for Limited Taxation said, “It’s like Groundhog Day,”
the way the General Court keeps trying to mug motorists.
The solons last week also took up another bill that keeps
reappearing like a bad penny — this year it’s called H.
1828, which would establish a Pabst-blue-ribbon commission
to study “a user fee that is based on the number of miles
traveled on roads in this state by motor vehicles.”
Gee, I wonder what this “task force” of extinguished
payroll patriots will recommend. What a great idea, letting
the very ethical scandal-free commonwealth of Massachusetts
track every driver’s movements. What could possibly go
wrong? But not to worry — this 1984-style shakedown includes
provisions to “ensure drivers’ privacy.”
Of course it does. Wink wink, nudge nudge.
But dammit, the hacks need more money for our “crumbling
infrastructure.” It’s not enough what they already grab —
sales tax on car sales, municipal excise taxes, fees to the
Registry for registration and drivers’ licenses, inspection
fees, tolls, gas taxes (up three cents per gallon in 2013)
etc., etc.
The Reason Foundation compiles an annual Highway Report
on road costs in all 50 states. These numbers are truly
astonishing, not to mention appalling....
Faulkner from the CLT read off these
numbers (again) to the Legislature’s Transportation
Committee at the hearing last week.
“The most irritating aspect of these revelations,” he
said, was that “the committee didn’t appear to be disturbed
by these statistics whatsoever, or even interested.”
These particular highway robberies won’t go anywhere —
not immediately, anyway. You see, this year the hacks on the
hill have their eyes on an even bigger heist — the
referendum to almost double the state income tax, but only
on “millionaires.” This attempt to rob the taxpayers (all of
whom will, in short order, be defined as “millionaires”) has
been rejected at the ballot box five different times in the
past 50 years.
But now the hackerama has concluded that the electorate
has been sufficiently dumbed down to vote to beggar
themselves for the benefit of the nonworking classes.
This is why the hacks feel no need to even defend
themselves and their current depredations, let alone this
long-dreamed-of Crime of the Century, the graduated income
tax. They think we’re too stupid to figure out what’s going
on, that the average voter is so dumb that all he cares
about is the Super Bowl.
The sad thing is, the hacks may be right.
The Boston Herald
Sunday, January 28, 2018
Legislative lugheads dip into our pockets...again
By Howie Carr
The Revenue Committee on Wednesday received input from
municipal, labor and transportation group representatives
who want to keep the sales tax where it is, and spokespeople
for retailers and small businesses who support lowering the
tax from 6.25 percent to 5 percent and instituting an annual
sales tax holiday.
If lawmakers don't pass the initiative petition proposal
by May 1, proponents could collect about 11,000 signatures
to place the measure (H 4114) on the November ballot. While
millions might weigh in on the idea in voting booths later
this year, Wednesday's hearing was relatively sparsely
attended, wrapping up testimony on the bill in about 30
minutes.
After the hearing, Retailers Association of Massachusetts
President Jon Hurst, who spearheaded the citizens'
initiative, said the decision about whether to put the
measure on the ballot could depend on whether a separate tax
question is cleared for consideration by voters.
The Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday will hear a case
challenging the constitutionality of a proposed
constitutional amendment to add a 4 percent surtax on
incomes over $1 million – which is projected to generate
roughly $2 billion for transportation and education
priorities.
"I think a key question will be whether or not the SJC
knocks off that 4 percent income tax surcharge. If they
don't knock it off, I don't see much of a path for us to
take this off the ballot because this gives voters a
once-in-a-generation opportunity for passing a progressive
tax reform, combined," Hurst told the News Service. The
sales tax disproportionately hits seniors on fixed incomes
and low-income families, Hurst said.
The proposed sales tax cut would cause the state to
forego about $1.3 billion in annual revenues, according to
the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation and others....
While the economy as a whole is in the midst of a
years-long upswing, the brick-and-mortar retailers have been
left behind, according to Hurst.
"It was the wrong increase at the wrong time and it has
been extremely devastating to stores across the state and it
has led to dark storefronts, and it's going to lead to more
unless we fix this sales tax problem," Hurst told the News
Service.
State House News Service
Wednesday, January 31, 2017
SJC decision may dictate fate of sales tax cut, Hurst says
It’s up, up and away from the Massachusetts State
House....
Under state law, legislators cannot accept gifts worth
$50 or more, but free trips worth tens of thousands of
dollars are no problem if the lawmakers file disclosure
reports and explain how each trip "serves a legitimate
public purpose."
Chip Faulkner of Citizens for Limited Taxation
isn't buying it. “This could be characterized as influence
peddling,” he said.
From Miami Beach to Saint Thomas and Switzerland to
Taiwan, we found legislators flying across the country and
across the globe.
Many of the hotels where they stayed were top notch, from
Le Meridien in Vienna to the Ritz Carlton in Puerto Rico.
“There's never a Hoboken, New Jersey,” Faulkner
said. “It's always these lush, great destinations they're
going to.” ...
5 Investigates also asked the lawmaker if these trips are
all work and no play.
“No, you always play,” Rodrigues said. “You have to have
fun.”
Some of the lawmakers 5 Investigates contacted were
willing to go on camera and talk about why they take these
trips.
But one senator -- the top traveling lawmaker in
Massachusetts -– was camera-shy.
Sen. Marc Pacheco has taken 28 trips since 2014. When we
asked to sit down and talk on-camera, his communications
director sent us an email which said Pacheco “is proud of
the work" related to his "appointments (on committees) and
Senate responsibilities."
When 5 Investigates showed up at a State House hearing he
was attending, Pacheco exited quickly through a back door
that our cameraman was blocked from using.
WCVB-TV5
Thursday, February 1, 2018
State legislators take hundreds of free trips to vacation
hot spots
Some question how lawmaker travel paid for by private groups
benefits Massachusetts
By Mike Beaudet | 5 Investigates Reporter
Opponents of a so-called "millionaire tax" are banking on
the state's highest court to stop the issue from going
before Massachusetts voters in November.
The Supreme Judicial Court is scheduled on Tuesday to
hear arguments on the legal challenge which, if successful,
would likely derail supporters' hopes of raising nearly $2
billion for improvements in public education and
transportation....
Central to the debate is Article 48 of the constitution,
which among other things prohibits ballot questions from
making specific state appropriations, or from combining
unrelated topics into a single question.
Earmarking revenues from the tax specifically for
education and transportation handcuffs legislative
discretion on how to spend tax dollars, the lawsuit
contends.
"Allowing this initiative on the ballot would undermine
the Legislature's authority with respect to spending and
taxes in one fell swoop, setting the stage of public
finances to be determined not in the deliberative
legislative process, but in the free-for-all of special
interest-fueled initiative petitions," the business groups
argued in a brief filed with the SJC....
Associated Press
Sunday, February 4, 2018
High court to hear challenge to 'millionaire tax' question
Committees supporting and opposing questions on the
November ballot have already raised more than $2.4 million.
By far, the most money pouring into the questions have
come from labor unions including the Massachusetts Nurses
Association, which backs a proposal calling for strict
nurse-to-patient ratios in hospitals.
The Service Employees International Union and other labor
unions are backing a handful of questions, including one
that would gradually raise the state's minimum wage to $15
an hour and another that would help guarantee paid family
and medical leave for workers.
A group supporting a question that would lower the sales
tax from 6.25 percent to 5 percent and create an annual
sales-tax free weekend also reported raising a hefty sum.
Nearly all of that money came from the Retailers
Association of Massachusetts.
Associated Press
Saturday, February 3, 2018
Ballot question committees raised $2.4M heading into 2018
The waves of above-benchmark state tax
collections are still crashing into the new year.
After sluggish revenue growth the last two
fiscal years, receipts over the first six months of fiscal
2018 were running $728 million over benchmark at the end of
December, spurring Gov. Charlie Baker to lift his
controversial hold on spending earmarks sprinkled into the
budget by the Legislature.
In a mid-January letter to lawmakers,
Revenue Commissioner Christopher Harding disclosed that
total tax collections for the month-to-date period were
$1.507 billion, up $392 million or 35.1 percent compared to
the same period last year.
State House News Service
Thursday, February 1, 2018
State tax windfall continued in early January
Tax collections of $2.79 billion in January
pushed the state's cash cushion to $810 million after seven
months of the fiscal year as revenues continue to give
budget writers hope that they can avoid the third straight
mid-year downturn that have forced spending adjustments.
The Department of Revenue announced Monday
that the state's January tax haul exceeded revised
benchmarks by $158 million, or 5.6 percent, and growth this
January over last January clocked in at 9.3 percent....
State House News Service
Monday, February 5, 2018
January tax collections exceed state estimate by $158M
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Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
We've been busy here at CLT representing
taxpayers' interests. Not only do I continue the 14-16
hours a day, seven days a week schedule I've worked since
Barbara passed away, but we've been running in all
directions keeping up with affronts to and assaults on
taxpayers. Just in the past two weeks:
|
Jan. 24 |
CLT
testified before the Transportation Committee
against tolls expansion/miles driven tax |
|
Jan. 28 |
CLT's testimony was highlighted in Howie Carr's
column |
|
Jan. 31 |
CLT
testified before the Revenue Committee
supporting the sales tax ballot question |
|
Feb. 1 |
CLT
interviewed by WCVB TV-5/ 5 Investigates on
Beacon HIll pols' travel junkets |
|
Feb. 2 |
CLT
interviewed on WBSM (New Bedford) talk-radio
show with Barry Richard |
|
Feb. 3 |
CLT
interviewed on WCRN (Worcester) talk-radio show
with Joe Mangiacotti |
Today the state Supreme Judicial Court is
hearing oral arguments on whether or not the latest
resurrection of a graduated income tax constitutional
amendment (aka. the "Fair Share Amendment," or
"Millionaire's Tax") will be allowed to appear on the
November ballot, or if the ballot question itself is
unconstitutional. All eyes are watching and waiting
for the highest court's decision, which likely will be
delivered in the next month or two.
Meanwhile, once again it's being proven that
Massachusetts does not have a revenue problem
— it has an insatiable
spending addiction. "Tax collections of $2.79
billion in January pushed the state's cash cushion to $810
million after seven months of the fiscal year." Five
months remain in the fiscal year and already the state has
collected over $800 million more than even its
"revised" estimates.
There's a lot to catch up with in this
update and we want to keep you informed. The news
reports and columns are self-explanatory, so I'll keep my
commentary short and move on with my next project.
I'll leave you with this display of Beacon Hill arrogance:
State House News
Service, Friday, February 2, 2018 — Weekly Roundup:
QUOTE
OF THE WEEK: "I can tell you the overwhelming
majority of incumbent legislators are going to be
re-elected in 2018, most of them without opposition,
even if they vote to put a price on carbon. The only
existential threat to elected officials is modest in
a few purple districts. We want to be respectful of
those threats, but they don't apply to most of us
who aren't even going to have opponents." - Sen.
Michael Barrett, on why lawmakers should not fear a
vote on carbon pricing.
Senator Barrett, change that to "even if
they voted for their obscene pay grab" and see how
that works! Think they might fear that vote?
We'll see in November!
|
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Chip Ford
Executive Director |
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The Boston Herald
Monday, January 22, 2018
Tax-and-spend plan unconstitutional
Ballot measure would upend state budget process
By Bill Weld
Not so long ago, this commonwealth was
universally known as “Taxachusetts.” It was not
a term of affection.
The state’s unemployment rate was about 10
percent — the highest of all the 11 industrial
states. The secretary of Administration and
Finance publicly stated that Massachusetts was
“bankrupt.”
In many cities and towns, every third storefront
was boarded up. On streets near the state
borders, there was a “for sale” sign on
virtually every other house.
The year was 1990, the year that Paul Cellucci
and I were narrowly elected as governor and
lieutenant governor.
The first thing we did was to repeal a recently
enacted sales tax on services. During my two
terms, we cut taxes 20 more times, and never
raised them.
By the end of our first term, the state’s
unemployment rate was 4 percent — the lowest
among the 11 industrial states.
Massachusetts has always had a flat income tax,
meaning everybody gets taxed at the same rate.
It used to be 6 percent, now it’s closer to 5
percent. In 1994, a coalition of pro-tax groups
and public employee unions put a measure on the
ballot to institute a graduated income tax,
meaning people making different amounts of
income are taxed at different rates. It received
28 percent of the vote. It was the fifth
time the voters of the commonwealth had voted
down a graduated income tax. The other times
were 1962, 1968, 1972 and 1976.
In 2013 the Legislature passed a law “indexing”
the state’s gas tax to the rate of inflation, so
it would go up every year. The following year,
voters repealed it.
Now the public employee unions are back, to take
another swing at getting a graduated income tax.
They understandably want there to be more state
spending so there will be more state workers
paying union dues.
They’ve put a measure on the ballot to introduce
a graduated income tax, but this time they put
lipstick on it. They say the proceeds from the
graduated income tax will go to worthy causes.
They start with transportation, and road and
bridge repairs — potholes. Everyone hates
potholes. But they knew that wasn’t enough of a
sweetener, because the voters in 2014 rejected
indexing the gas tax to increase transportation
spending. So they added education. They needed
to get 64,000 signatures to put their proposal
on the ballot, and everyone loves education.
Under the Massachusetts Constitution, this is
known as combining in a single initiative “what
is popular with what is desired by selfish
interests.” It is clearly unconstitutional.
Article 48 of our Constitution requires that all
of an initiative petition’s components must be
“mutually dependent” or concern “related”
subjects.
The Supreme Judicial Court, a great court on
which I had the honor to once serve as a law
clerk, has held that in the context of an
initiative petition, ending the use of Common
Core standards in public education and requiring
the publication of state comprehensive
assessment exams — same purpose, same field, and
both included in the 1993 Massachusetts
Education Reform Act — are insufficiently
“related.”
The SJC has also held that shutting down the
pari-mutuel dog racing industry and tightening
penalties for animal abuse — same dog-friendly
purpose, same field — are insufficiently
“related.”
Compared to these cases, potholes and education
are about as “related” as a fish and a bicycle.
Respect for the law and the Constitution of
Massachusetts requires that the pending taxing
and spending directive be ruled out of order.
In California, where ballot measures commonly
decide many major issues of public policy, the
California Teachers Association exercises a
decisive influence over state government. There,
as here, campaign finance laws impose no limits
on spending to advance ballot proposals. The
teachers association, over the determined
opposition of a liberal Democratic governor,
passed a ballot measure requiring that 40
percent of all state spending go to education
(Article 98). That would wreak havoc here, where
education and transportation combined account
for 20 percent of state spending.
In short, if ballot proposals can determine
taxing and spending priorities, neither the
Legislature nor the governor will be able to
fashion a budget taking into account all the
needs of the people of the commonwealth.
Not exactly what John Adams had in mind when he
drafted our constitution in 1781.
Bill Weld served as governor of Massachusetts
from 1991 to 1997.
The Boston Herald
Sunday, January 28, 2018
Legislative lugheads dip into our
pockets...again
By Howie Carr
The hacks at every level of government regard
motorists the same way that McDonald’s regards
cattle — whenever they get hungry, we’re dinner.
Amid the rush of other news — FBI scandals,
coddling of illegal aliens, the Super Bowl, etc.
— you’ve probably missed the most recent
avalanche of assaults on America’s most
oppressed majority, car owners.
Let’s take a look at what happened last week:
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is demanding that
Congress raise the federal gas tax by 25 cents
per gallon to raise $375 billion for pointless
road-construction projects that never end, and
only make traffic more congested, not less.
The city of Boston is considering charging for
neighborhood parking permits that would allow
residents to park in spaces that even City Hall
concedes don’t exist.
On Beacon Hill, the Legislature last week held a
hearing on 97 different transportation bills,
all of which would soak the Massachusetts
motorist even more — including one that would
charge residents for every mile they travel.
Let’s start with the proposed hike in the
federal gas tax, because it’s a good example of
how these plundering schemes work.
Right now, the economy is on fire. So the
Chamber’s argument is this is the right time to
soak the people because, finally, after eight
years of Obama-era malaise, they finally have a
few bucks in their pockets ... so they won’t
even notice when we pick their pockets!
Conversely, when the economy is a tailspin — as
it was under Obama — the hacks argue that’s the
perfect time to raise taxes. They’ll tell you
it’s because revenues are down because
everyone’s too broke to travel or ship goods and
that more gas-tax revenue translates to a
“stimulus” for the moribund economy by giving
money to road contractors, i.e., Chamber of
Commerce types and the hack trade unions, i.e.,
Democrat voters.
To sum up: It’s always the perfect moment to
raise gas taxes.
Next, the crackpot proposal to charge for
resident parking stickers in the city of Boston.
Here’s all you need to know: in the North End,
there are 4,000 parking permits, and 1,600
parking spaces. That undisputed statistic leads
me to believe that the current charge for a
permit — zero — accurately reflects the worth of
said permit, which is nothing. End of argument.
Finally, we arrive at the State House, where for
the second time in three months the hacks are
considering legislation to impose yet more tolls
on state roads. That bill is S. 1987, and as
Chip Faulkner of Citizens for Limited
Taxation said, “It’s like Groundhog Day,”
the way the General Court keeps trying to mug
motorists.
The solons last week also took up another bill
that keeps reappearing like a bad penny — this
year it’s called H. 1828, which would establish
a Pabst-blue-ribbon commission to study “a user
fee that is based on the number of miles
traveled on roads in this state by motor
vehicles.”
Gee, I wonder what this “task force” of
extinguished payroll patriots will recommend.
What a great idea, letting the very ethical
scandal-free commonwealth of Massachusetts track
every driver’s movements. What could possibly go
wrong? But not to worry — this 1984-style
shakedown includes provisions to “ensure
drivers’ privacy.”
Of course it does. Wink wink, nudge nudge.
But dammit, the hacks need more money for our
“crumbling infrastructure.” It’s not enough what
they already grab — sales tax on car sales,
municipal excise taxes, fees to the Registry for
registration and drivers’ licenses, inspection
fees, tolls, gas taxes (up three cents per
gallon in 2013) etc., etc.
The Reason Foundation compiles an annual Highway
Report on road costs in all 50 states. These
numbers are truly astonishing, not to mention
appalling.
For maintenance disbursements, the national
average is $25,996 per mile. In Massachusetts,
the hacks spend $78,313 per mile.
Then there’s the cost of “administration” — the
hackerama, in other words. Nationally, the
average hack cost is $10,051 per mile. In
Massachusetts it’s $74,924.
Faulkner from the CLT read off
these numbers (again) to the Legislature’s
Transportation Committee at the hearing last
week.
“The most irritating aspect of these
revelations,” he said, was that “the committee
didn’t appear to be disturbed by these
statistics whatsoever, or even interested.”
These particular highway robberies won’t go
anywhere — not immediately, anyway. You see,
this year the hacks on the hill have their eyes
on an even bigger heist — the referendum to
almost double the state income tax, but only on
“millionaires.” This attempt to rob the
taxpayers (all of whom will, in short order, be
defined as “millionaires”) has been rejected at
the ballot box five different times in the past
50 years.
But now the hackerama has concluded that the
electorate has been sufficiently dumbed down to
vote to beggar themselves for the benefit of the
nonworking classes.
This is why the hacks feel no need to even
defend themselves and their current
depredations, let alone this long-dreamed-of
Crime of the Century, the graduated income tax.
They think we’re too stupid to figure out what’s
going on, that the average voter is so dumb that
all he cares about is the Super Bowl.
The sad thing is, the hacks may be right.
Order Howie’s new book, Kennedy Babylon, at
howiecarr show.com.
State House News Service
Wednesday, January 31, 2017
SJC decision may dictate fate of sales tax cut,
Hurst says
By Andy Metzger
Nearly nine years after lawmakers hiked the
sales tax in the teeth of the Great Recession,
the state "simply cannot afford" to bring the
tax on purchases back down to 5 percent, a
lobbyist for the umbrella labor group AFL-CIO
told lawmakers on Wednesday.
The Revenue Committee on Wednesday received
input from municipal, labor and transportation
group representatives who want to keep the sales
tax where it is, and spokespeople for retailers
and small businesses who support lowering the
tax from 6.25 percent to 5 percent and
instituting an annual sales tax holiday.
If lawmakers don't pass the initiative petition
proposal by May 1, proponents could collect
about 11,000 signatures to place the measure (H
4114) on the November ballot. While millions
might weigh in on the idea in voting booths
later this year, Wednesday's hearing was
relatively sparsely attended, wrapping up
testimony on the bill in about 30 minutes.
After the hearing, Retailers Association of
Massachusetts President Jon Hurst, who
spearheaded the citizens' initiative, said the
decision about whether to put the measure on the
ballot could depend on whether a separate tax
question is cleared for consideration by voters.
The Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday will hear
a case challenging the constitutionality of a
proposed constitutional amendment to add a 4
percent surtax on incomes over $1 million –
which is projected to generate roughly $2
billion for transportation and education
priorities.
"I think a key question will be whether or not
the SJC knocks off that 4 percent income tax
surcharge. If they don't knock it off, I don't
see much of a path for us to take this off the
ballot because this gives voters a
once-in-a-generation opportunity for passing a
progressive tax reform, combined," Hurst told
the News Service. The sales tax
disproportionately hits seniors on fixed incomes
and low-income families, Hurst said.
The proposed sales tax cut would cause the state
to forego about $1.3 billion in annual revenues,
according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers
Foundation and others.
The retailers have a May 9 board meeting when
the group will decide whether to forge ahead
towards the ballot with the sales-tax-cutting
proposal, and the group has not taken a position
on the income surtax, Hurst said. The high court
generally aims to decide cases within 130 days
of oral argument, meaning a decision in the
income surtax challenge might not be issued
until mid-June.
John Drinkwater, legislative director for
AFL-CIO of Massachusetts, said the state can't
afford to lose out on sales tax revenue, and
claimed "despite a lot of the doom and gloom"
from the retail industry, employment in the
sector has increased each year since 2010.
Those rising employment figures include
restaurant workers as well as staff that help
deliver online purchases to consumers, according
to Hurst.
In the depths of the financial crisis in 2009,
House Speaker Robert DeLeo pushed through an
increase in the sales tax to help shore up
cratering state revenues. Since then the
Winthrop Democrat has mostly held the line on
broad-based tax increases, though he did support
a 3-cent-per-gallon hike in the gas tax and a
$1-per-pack hike on the cigarette tax in 2013.
While the economy as a whole is in the midst of
a years-long upswing, the brick-and-mortar
retailers have been left behind, according to
Hurst.
"It was the wrong increase at the wrong time and
it has been extremely devastating to stores
across the state and it has led to dark
storefronts, and it's going to lead to more
unless we fix this sales tax problem," Hurst
told the News Service.
While state tax revenues have outperformed
expectations in recent months, annual tax hauls
have come up short in prior years, leading to
midyear cuts.
Bringing the sales tax back down to 5 percent
would lead to spending cuts of 6 to 7 percent
that would "hit every community," claimed Chris
Dempsey, director of Transportation for
Massachusetts.
The Massachusetts Municipal Association also
opposes the sales tax cut, said the
organization's legislative director John
Robertson, who warned it would harm local aid.
Lowering the sales tax has been a policy aim of
prominent pols from both parties in recent
years.
Former Gov. Deval Patrick proposed scaling the
sales tax down to 4.5 percent, eliminating tax
breaks and hiking the income tax while also
doubling the income tax exemption as part of a
package to increase revenues by $2 billion. That
proposal went nowhere in the Legislature.
Gov. Charlie Baker in 2010 ran unsuccessfully on
a platform pledging to reduce the sales, income
and business taxes to 5 percent, but he backed
off from that tax-cutting stance before winning
the Corner Office in 2014.
"We hope to have a conversation with Governor
Baker and tell him why this is important," Hurst
told the News Service on Wednesday. He said, "I
think he gets that there's a problem."
WCVB-TV5
Thursday, February 1, 2018
State legislators take hundreds of free trips to
vacation hot spots
Some question how lawmaker travel paid for by
private groups benefits Massachusetts
By Mike Beaudet | 5 Investigates Reporter
BOSTON — It’s up, up and away from the
Massachusetts State House.
5 Investigates and Northeastern University
School of Journalism reviewed hundreds of free
trips for state lawmakers over the past five
years not paid for by the state, but by private
organizations and foreign governments.
Under state law, legislators cannot accept gifts
worth $50 or more, but free trips worth tens of
thousands of dollars are no problem if the
lawmakers file disclosure reports and explain
how each trip "serves a legitimate public
purpose."
Chip Faulkner of Citizens for Limited
Taxation isn't buying it. “This could be
characterized as influence peddling,” he said.
From Miami Beach to Saint Thomas and Switzerland
to Taiwan, we found legislators flying across
the country and across the globe.
Many of the hotels where they stayed were top
notch, from Le Meridien in Vienna to the Ritz
Carlton in Puerto Rico.
“There's never a Hoboken, New Jersey,”
Faulkner said. “It's always these lush,
great destinations they're going to.”
One of the top destinations for the lawmakers
was Portugal and the Azores. Many of those trips
were paid for by the Luso American Foundation, a
group in Portugal that promotes that country’s
relations with the United States.
Rep. Antonio Cabral took 11 trips to Portugal
and the Azores since 2012. In his disclosure
reports on file in the House Clerk’s office, he
wrote that the purpose of that travel was to
promote travel and investment in Massachusetts.
5 Investigates asked Cabral how the state has
benefitted from those trips.
“Some of those trips are related to an ongoing
dialogue, a Luso American legislators dialogue,”
Cabral said. “We have, for example, the
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth has
benefitted in the millions of support from” the
Luso American Foundation.
Sen. Michael Rodrigues is another frequent
flyer. He has taken took four free trips to
Portugal and one to the Azores since 2015.
5 Investigates asked Rodrigues to identify any
Portuguese businesses that have come to
Massachusetts because of the relationships he
has forged in that country.
“There are a number,” Rodrigues said. “There's a
partnership called MIT-Portugal. There are a
number of… spin-off companies that are working
on either drug or process development or
regulatory issues.”
5 Investigates also asked the lawmaker if these
trips are all work and no play.
“No, you always play,” Rodrigues said. “You have
to have fun.”
Some of the lawmakers 5 Investigates contacted
were willing to go on camera and talk about why
they take these trips.
But one senator -- the top traveling lawmaker in
Massachusetts -– was camera-shy.
Sen. Marc Pacheco has taken 28 trips since 2014.
When we asked to sit down and talk on-camera,
his communications director sent us an email
which said Pacheco “is proud of the work"
related to his "appointments (on committees) and
Senate responsibilities."
When 5 Investigates showed up at a State House
hearing he was attending, Pacheco exited quickly
through a back door that our cameraman was
blocked from using.
“Transparency is really important,” said Pam
Wilmot, head of the good government group,
Common Cause Massachusetts.
Wilmot said the lawmaker travel financed by
private entities raises concerns about potential
conflicts of interest.
For example, groups of legislators take trips to
Israel every year paid for by the Jewish
Community Relations Council of Greater Boston,
which is pushing for passage of a pro-Israel
bill in the legislature.
5 Investigates asked Wilmot if that raises a red
flag.
“Frankly, it should be a different organization
paying for that travel, because it's trying to
promote some legislation that pertains to
(Israel’s) interest,” Wilmot said.
The Jewish Community Relations Council of
Greater Boston denied it uses the Israel trips
to influence lawmakers.
Wilmot said it should be against the law for
groups with pending legislation to pay for
legislators’ trips.
Reporting for this investigation was done as
part of a seminar on investigative reporting
taught by 5 Investigates' Mike Beaudet, who is
also a journalism professor at Northeastern
University. The following students participated
in the project: Zach Ben-Amots, Danae Bucci,
Tong Chen, Joseph Cusack, Jess DeWitt, Jiyi Liu,
Melissa McNickles, Sheldia Papa, and Calli
Remillard.
Travel Disclosure Forms
Associated Press
Sunday, February 4, 2018
High court to hear challenge to 'millionaire
tax' question
Opponents of a so-called "millionaire tax" are
banking on the state's highest court to stop the
issue from going before Massachusetts voters in
November.
The Supreme Judicial Court is scheduled on
Tuesday to hear arguments on the legal challenge
which, if successful, would likely derail
supporters' hopes of raising nearly $2 billion
for improvements in public education and
transportation.
The constitutional amendment would impose a
surtax of 4 percent on any portion of an
individual's annual income that exceeds $1
million.
The justices are not being asked to decide on
the merits of the proposal, but instead whether
it runs afoul of restrictions the state
constitution places on the scope of ballot
initiatives.
"It is not about whether creating a new
graduated income tax is good public policy or
bad public policy," said Christopher Anderson,
president of the Massachusetts High Technology
Council.
The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation,
Associated Industries of Massachusetts, the
Massachusetts Competitive Partnership and the
state chapter of National Federation of
Independent Business also joined in the suit
challenging Democratic Attorney General Maura
Healey's 2015 ruling that certified the
initiative petition.
Raise Up Massachusetts, a coalition of community
groups and unions that collected more than
150,000 signatures in support of what it calls
the Fair Share Amendment, said it was confident
the lawsuit will fail.
Central to the debate is Article 48 of the
constitution, which among other things prohibits
ballot questions from making specific state
appropriations, or from combining unrelated
topics into a single question.
Earmarking revenues from the tax specifically
for education and transportation handcuffs
legislative discretion on how to spend tax
dollars, the lawsuit contends.
"Allowing this initiative on the ballot would
undermine the Legislature's authority with
respect to spending and taxes in one fell swoop,
setting the stage of public finances to be
determined not in the deliberative legislative
process, but in the free-for-all of special
interest-fueled initiative petitions," the
business groups argued in a brief filed with the
SJC.
But while the proposal does state that proceeds
from the 4 percent surcharge should go "only"
toward education and transportation, it also
adds "subject to appropriation," three key words
that would appear to give legislators at least
some flexibility on how to spend any future
money.
"Because that direction is expressly subject to
legislative appropriation, the proposed
amendment would not remove the decision how to
spend the surtax revenue from the discretion of
the Legislature," Healey and Secretary of State
William Galvin argued in a separate brief to the
court.
The state officials and supporters of the
millionaire tax also dispute the plaintiffs'
contention that the tax, and the funding for
education and transportation, amount to
unrelated provisions.
"To the contrary, no petition this simple and
straightforward has ever been rejected on
relatedness grounds," argues a brief filed by
the 10 citizens who filed the original petition.
Some voters might want to tax millionaires but
spend the money on other priorities, while
others might support increased spending on
education and transportation, but not the tax,
the business groups contend.
Marc Perlin, a professor at Suffolk University
Law School, said it was impossible to predict
how the high court might come down. But as the
ballot question would involve a change in the
constitution — a far lengthier and more arduous
task than simply changing a state law — he
expects the justices to pay particularly close
attention to the arguments.
"Amending the constitution is a momentous
event," said Perlin.
State House News Service
Thursday, February 1, 2018
State tax windfall continued in early January
By Michael P. Norton
The waves of above-benchmark state tax
collections are still crashing into the new
year.
After sluggish revenue growth the last two
fiscal years, receipts over the first six months
of fiscal 2018 were running $728 million over
benchmark at the end of December, spurring Gov.
Charlie Baker to lift his controversial hold on
spending earmarks sprinkled into the budget by
the Legislature.
In a mid-January letter to lawmakers, Revenue
Commissioner Christopher Harding disclosed that
total tax collections for the month-to-date
period were $1.507 billion, up $392 million or
35.1 percent compared to the same period last
year....
The Department of Revenue collected more than $3
billion in taxes in December, exceeding
projections by $527 million, or 21.2 percent,
and beating last year's mark by $517 million. At
the six-month milestone, fiscal 2018 receipts
stood at $12.9 billion, 6 percent above the
benchmark and 8.1 percent, or $966 million,
higher than the first half of fiscal 2017.
State officials are scheduled to disclose
collection amounts for the full month of January
next week. According to the DOR, January has
contributed an average of 10 percent of total
annual revenues, ranking number three among the
twelve months for share of collections.
State House News Service
Monday, February 5, 2018
January tax collections exceed state estimate by
$158M
By Matt Murphy
Tax collections of $2.79 billion in January
pushed the state's cash cushion to $810 million
after seven months of the fiscal year as
revenues continue to give budget writers hope
that they can avoid the third straight mid-year
downturn that have forced spending adjustments.
The Department of Revenue announced Monday that
the state's January tax haul exceeded revised
benchmarks by $158 million, or 5.6 percent, and
growth this January over last January clocked in
at 9.3 percent.
"Virtually all of the above benchmark
performance in January collections came in
estimated payments, most of which were received
in the first few deposit days of the month," DOR
Commissioner Christopher Harding said. "The
strength in this category is a continuation from
December and is consistent with trends we have
observed in other states."
Harding repeated his warning from December that
higher-than-anticipated tax collections so far
this fiscal year may eventually begin to level
off. "We believe that the strong overall
year-to-date collections, notably the December
and January estimated payments, may be borrowed
from future months and therefore estimated
payment collections are likely to regress closer
to benchmark through the end of the fiscal
year," he said.
Income tax collections in January beat
benchmarks by $181 million, while withholdings
came in $64 million under benchmark and sales
taxes missed the state's target by $16 million
and were up only a half a percentage point from
last January.
Corporate and business taxes also fell $17
million short of projections, and were 23.6
percent below last year's level for the month. |
| |
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