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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 — |
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CLT UPDATE
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
A calm before the storm?
 Jon
Keller: "Do you anticipate, looking ahead now in the
balance of this year and forward, that there will be further
changes attempted to Prop 2½?"Chairman, House Committee
on Revenue Jay Kaufman: "We need to be taking a look a
Prop 2½ all over again, because it may have made a lot of
sense when it was first initiated, but it's had some
unintended consequences ever since that make it very
difficult to make good tax policy."
Keller @ Large, WBZ TV-4
Sunday, April 8, 2018
State Rep. Jay Kaufman joined Jon Keller
to discuss possible changes to the state's tax policy
Not everyone was as happy as Harborlight
Community Partners with the $6 million in tax credit
allocations for local community development organizations
announced this week as part of a broader state housing bill.
Andrew DeFranza, executive director of the
Beverly-based housing group, tweeted out effusive thank-yous
to Sens. Joan Lovely, D-Salem, and Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester,
along with Reps. Ted Speliotis, D-Danvers; Jerry Parisella,
D-Beverly; Paul Tucker, D-Salem; and Tom Walsh, D-Peabody.
But Citizens for Limited Taxation was
less impressed, advising its members: "If a portfolio
manager 'invested' your retirement savings like that he'd be
either in prison or the unemployment line. Or maybe running
for state legislator."
The Salem News
Friday, April 6, 2018
Differing views on tax credits
By Nelson Benton, editor emeritus
Has the Senate been in utter disarray since
December? Yeah, pretty much. Has it been a distraction?
Senate President Harriette Chandler said this week it hasn't
been "helpful." But has it completely
derailed this session's policy objectives? Maybe not.
Visible signs this week pointed to senators -- and let's
throw House lawmakers into this equation as well -- chugging
along, albeit at a turtle's pace, despite the uncertainty
and confusion. It may not be a well oiled machine, but
action in the Legislature is finally starting to heat up....
The House also passed a $200 million borrowing bill to fund
pothole and street repairs in cities and towns that are
waiting on that money, and wishing it could be more, to sign
contracts so that the work can begin this spring.
The April 1 "deadline" for the Chapter 90 bill has already
passed, and the Senate may complicate matters if, as Bonding
Committee Chairman Sen. John Keenan wants, they elect to do
a multi-year bill instead of just the one year the House
funded. Baker also pointed out this week that
his bond bill to finance capital asset improvements in
courthouses and college campuses around the state is still
awaiting a vote, and while it might still be snowing, the
construction season is underway and booking up fast....
With just three weeks until he takes the stage in Worcester
at the MassGOP convention, the governor shared a smaller
stage – a platform really – with an unlikely back-up band.
The governor and the environmental community have not always
seen eye-to-eye over the past three years, particularly when
it comes to state spending on the environment and natural
gas infrastructure. But there they were, representatives of
the Sierra Club, Environmental League of Massachusetts, and
others, backing up the governor's new legislation that would
require home energy audits to come with a standardized
efficiency score and eventually make those scores part of
any real estate transaction.... The photo-op
was good one for Baker to stand with environmentalists and
be on the same page, but the real estate community loathes
the idea of making home energy efficiency scores part of the
home valuation process, warning that it could slow turnover
in an already tight real estate market.
State House News Service
Friday, April 6, 2018
Weekly Roundup: Order in Chaos |
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Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
There's not much of consequence to taxpayers
happening at the State House these days, at least so far
this session. Palace intrigue and scandals especially
in the state Senate are consuming most of the oxygen on
Beacon Hill. That's not to say there are no plots
roiling beneath the surface, visible if we are alert and
vigilant. This is one such potential threat, and
illustrates what's on the minds of at least some
legislators, revealed in a probing interview by Jon Keller
on "Keller @ Large" at 8:30 on Sunday morning.
Jon
Keller: "Do you anticipate, looking ahead now in the
balance of this year and forward, that there will be
further changes attempted to Prop 2½?"
Chairman, House Committee on Revenue Jay Kaufman:
"We need to be taking a look a Prop 2½ all over
again, because it may have made a lot of sense
when it was first initiated, but it's had some
unintended consequences ever since that make it very
difficult to make good tax policy."
[at 2 minutes, 35 seconds
(02:35/03:59) into the below video]
Click the graphic to watch the interview
Keller @ Large, WBZ
TV-4 —
Sunday, April 8, 2018; 8:30 am
Part 2:
State Rep. Jay Kaufman joined Jon Keller
to discuss possible changes to the state's tax policy
Part 1:
State Rep. Kaufman Talks About The Fair Share Amendment
CLT's Proposition 2½"had
some unintended consequences ever since that make it very
difficult to make good tax policy," according to Rep. Jay
Kaufman, co-chairman of the Legislature's Joint Committee on
Revenue. He's been a staunch opponent of Prop 2½
for his tenure in the House representing Lexington since
1995. This assertion of the "unintended
consequences" of Prop 2½ goes
back at least to
The Special Commission on Municipal Relief (May 2009) on
which he served as a member.
No, Rep. Kaufman, the consequences were not
"unintended." The consequences of Prop 2½
were the specific purpose and intent of our law.
“Good tax policy” is precisely what CLT's Proposition 2½
finally provided for the taxpayers of Massachusetts.
Fortunately for
taxpayers, after 23 years holding the seat
Jay Kaufman is retiring from the Legislature.
Unfortunately for taxpayers, he has planted the seed for the
erosion if not destruction of Proposition 2½ on his way out
the door.
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Chip Ford
Executive Director |
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State House News Service
Friday, April 6, 2018
Weekly Roundup: Order in Chaos
By Matt Murphy
Has the Senate been in utter disarray since
December? Yeah, pretty much. Has it been a
distraction? Senate President Harriette Chandler
said this week it hasn't been "helpful."
But has it completely derailed this session's
policy objectives? Maybe not.
Visible signs this week pointed to senators --
and let's throw House lawmakers into this
equation as well -- chugging along, albeit at a
turtle's pace, despite the uncertainty and
confusion. It may not be a well oiled machine,
but action in the Legislature is finally
starting to heat up.
Criminal justice reform took top billing as the
House and Senate polished off what can honestly
be dubbed a "sweeping" piece of legislation that
eliminates some mandatory drug minimums, reforms
the bail system and juvenile justice and cracks
down on synthetic opioid traffickers.
It is the type of overhaul that advocates have
been seeking for years, but one that has eluded
lawmakers under pressure from various
constituencies, not the least of which have been
the district attorneys, not to take steps that
could be marketed as soft on crime.
But not this year. With the district attorneys
on board, relatively speaking, the 10-day clock
started ticking for Gov. Charlie Baker who has
asked various parts of his administration to
review the details and report back.
The governor said he will have "a lot to say"
about the bill next week, and it would not be
surprising to see Baker delay gratification a
little longer and return the bill with some
tweaks for the Legislature to consider. On the
other hand, Baker may not want to pick policy
fights with the very lawmakers who he is
counting on to move his agenda over the next
three-plus months.
There was great enthusiasm among supportive
legislators who voted for the bill on the 50th
anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
However, nearing the finish line on criminal
justice reform doesn't mean the House and Senate
still don't have a lot of catching up to do.
The Senate this week approved a short-term
rental taxation bill that would extend the
state's 5.7 percent lodging tax to all rooms
rented through platforms like Airbnb, but it's a
far different proposal from the one favored by
the House that voted for a three-tiered tax
structure with safety regulations enforced at
the state level, not just town by town.
The House also passed a $200 million borrowing
bill to fund pothole and street repairs in
cities and towns that are waiting on that money,
and wishing it could be more, to sign contracts
so that the work can begin this spring.
The April 1 "deadline" for the Chapter 90 bill
has already passed, and the Senate may
complicate matters if, as Bonding Committee
Chairman Sen. John Keenan wants, they elect to
do a multi-year bill instead of just the one
year the House funded.
Baker also pointed out this week that his bond
bill to finance capital asset improvements in
courthouses and college campuses around the
state is still awaiting a vote, and while it
might still be snowing, the construction season
is underway and booking up fast.
But maybe this week was a sign that the pace is
ready to pick up.
Chandler began the week by telling reporters
that she couldn't say with any certainty that
she would, in fact, still be president beyond
the next seven days. But by Thursday the
Worcester Democrat and presidential placeholder
announced that she and Senate
President-in-Waiting Karen Spilka had reached a
transition agreement, ending weeks of
more-awkward-than-artful dodging of the elephant
in the East Wing.
Spilka, the two women said, would take the keys
to the Pinto the week of July 23. That will
allow the Senate to avoid further disruption by
having Chandler oversee the final four months of
legislating before Spilka gets her vote during
the last week of formal sessions before senators
scatter to focus on re-election (or retirement,
whichever the case may be).
We know one senator who sure is rooting for the
re-election of her colleagues: Spilka.
The transition plan answered the big question of
when, but there's still a question of how?
Spilka, of course, will remain on as Ways and
Means chair to see the Senate through its budget
debate in May, and that will continue to be a
perch from which she can hold great sway over
the trajectory of most other pieces of
legislation.
But if you're a senator looking to push a bill
across the finish line, or a lobbyist wondering
how to resurrect your priority bill from the
scrap heap, who do you call? Chandler or Spilka?
Probably both.
With just three weeks until he takes the stage
in Worcester at the MassGOP convention, the
governor shared a smaller stage – a platform
really – with an unlikely back-up band.
The governor and the environmental community
have not always seen eye-to-eye over the past
three years, particularly when it comes to state
spending on the environment and natural gas
infrastructure. But there they were,
representatives of the Sierra Club,
Environmental League of Massachusetts, and
others, backing up the governor's new
legislation that would require home energy
audits to come with a standardized efficiency
score and eventually make those scores part of
any real estate transaction.
Baker and Energy Secretary Matthew Beaton hope
the concept will add some "velocity" to the
state's Mass Save program, which helps
homeowners make their houses more energy
efficient, and by doing so cuts into the source
of 26 percent of the state's annual greenhouse
gas emissions.
The Senate, for what it's worth, has pursued
this strategy in the past, only to meet a dead
end in the House.
The photo-op was good one for Baker to stand
with environmentalists and be on the same page,
but the real estate community loathes the idea
of making home energy efficiency scores part of
the home valuation process, warning that it
could slow turnover in an already tight real
estate market.
Baker also stood with State Police
Superintendent Col. Kerry Gilpin this week to
try to stop the stream of negative headlines
being generated by the law enforcement arm of
the state.
Together, Baker and Gilpin announced widespread
changes at the State Police that would start
with the elimination of Troop E, the unit that
polices the Turnpike and was responsible for the
alleged bilking of the overtime system.
The governor and colonel are also pursuing a
body camera program for State Police and intend
to activate a GPS system that will allow the
department to track the whereabouts of troopers
who are supposed to be on the job.
The union quickly raised some red flags, in
particular with regard to body cameras, but for
now Baker says that collective bargaining was to
be expected and shouldn't derail his attempt to
implement the reforms by the end of the year.
STORY OF THE WEEK: Justice reform delayed, but
not denied.
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