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CLT UPDATE
Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Realtors "generally oppose" Gov's 50% real estate tax hike


An anti-tax group lashed out at Gov. Charlie Baker on Tuesday, calling the Republican governor "a disappointment" after he rolled out a plan last week to generate about $1 billion over the next decade by hiking the excise tax paid on real estate transfers.

Citizens for Limited Taxation blasted Baker's proposal to increase the real estate transfer tax to fund a program that will help cities and towns deal with the effects of climate change as a "scheme" and an "assault on taxpayers." ...

CLT on Tuesday called that comment from the governor "a lame defense of this latest breach of trust" and slammed him for the tax increases he's previously approved, like new assessments on the health care industry and taxes on short-term rentals.

The Republican governor has touted his general opposition to new taxes and fees, but in just the last roughly 10 days he has proposed taxing daily fantasy sports, legalizing and taxing sports wagering, and increasing the tax on real estate transactions.

"Gov. Baker has an excuse for every betrayal. He's smooth, he's slippery, and he's sliding down the slope, seemingly a victim of Stockholm syndrome," CLT said. "For a candidate who campaigned on opposition to raising taxes and fees, Gov. Baker has become -- well, a disappointment."

As a candidate for governor, in 2013, Baker said he is "a reform before revenue guy and I'm going to be the taxpayers' best friend on that whole question."

State House News Service
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
CLT rips Baker's "breach of trust" on tax increases


A leading Massachusetts anti-tax group is condemning Governor Charlie Baker’s support for an increase the state’s excise tax on property deeds, calling him “a disappointment.”

“Gov. Baker has an excuse for every betrayal,” said Chip Ford, executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation, in a written statement Tuesday. “He’s smooth, he’s slippery, and he’s sliding down the slope, seemingly a victim of Stockholm syndrome.”

Stockholm syndrome refers to hostages identifying with their kidnappers, as happened in Stockholm, Sweden in August 1973. The image suggests the Republican governor, who campaigned against increasing taxes before he was first elected in 2014, has come to identify with pro-tax Democrats on Beacon Hill.

Ford noted that Baker signed into law in June 2018 the so-called Grand Bargain, which includes an increase in the payroll tax designed to generate $800 million to pay for a new family and medical leave program.

At the time Baker justified the tax increase by saying it funds a new government program as opposed to merely providing more money for an existing government program. Ford finds that reasoning specious.

“Has the governor ever come across a tax hike that didn’t have some ‘benefit that’s attached’ for somebody? Every time spending is increased it benefits somebody, and every time someone benefits from government spending that benefit is paid by taxpayers,” Ford said in the statement....

“For a candidate who campaigned on opposition to raising taxes and fees,” Ford said in the statement, “Gov. Baker has become – well, a disappointment.”

The New Boston Post
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Citizens for Limited Taxation Thwacks Charlie Baker
Over Tax Increases


Gov. Charlie Baker unveils his budget Wednesday, with a proposed tax hike and some of his spending plans released in the past few weeks.

The administration has outlined some proposals that will be in the Fiscal Year 2020 budget, including an increase on real estate transfer tax to pay for climate adaption programs, expanded Medicare coverage and a bill to adjust the school funding formula.

Baker is proposing to spend $75 million on climate adaption programs, which are meant to incentivize cities and towns to invest in “climate-smart infrastructure,” and would be paid for by what the administration called a “modest” increase in the excise tax on real estate sales. The excise rate, which is paid by the seller of a property, would jump from $2 per $500 of value to $3, amounting to $137 million annually toward the Global Warming Solutions Trust Fund.

The real estate industry generally opposes the tax hike, said Justin Davidson, general counsel and director of government affairs with the Massachusetts Association of Realtors.

“Our concern is that this could have one of two effects on the market: it could drive up the cost of housing even more in Massachusetts or strip equity from homeowners,” Davidson said. “It really comes down to a fairness issue. Everyone benefits from a better climate and everyone should contribute to a better solution. It shouldn’t be something that’s just put on the backs of homeowners and home-sellers.”

The median price for a single-family home in December in Massachusetts was $375,000, according to the MAR, which would bring the tax from $1,710 to $2,565 on that home under the proposed law.

The Boston Herald
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Charlie Baker set to roll out budget proposal


Gov. Charlie Baker has some advice for Massachusetts drivers: Buckle up and put your phone down.

The governor on Tuesday proposed his most sweeping set of road safety rules yet, calling for Massachusetts to join 16 other states in requiring hands-free cell phone use while driving and proposing to allow police to stop motorists for not wearing a seat belt....

Drivers in Massachusetts are already required under law to wear seat belts or be fined, but police are not allowed to pull a vehicle over for a seat belt infraction unless they have another reason to do so....

The primary seat belt enforcement provision is also new for the governor.

A study released last summer by the University of Massachusetts Traffic Safety Research Program on behalf of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security found seat belt usage rose nearly 8 percent to 81.6 percent from 2017 to 2018, but still trailed the national usage rate of 90.1 percent in 2016.

Massachusetts is one of 15 states without a primary enforcement law, meaning police here must observe another moving violation in order to pull over a vehicle in which the driver or the passengers are not wearing seat belts.

State House News Service
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Seat belts, device use are focuses in Guv's road safety bill


The Massachusetts Republican Party has once again shocked political observers in the Bay State, electing former Andover State Rep. and staunch conservative Jim Lyons the new chair of the state GOP late last week. Lyons, known for his strong stance on social issues, was elected 47 votes to 30 by the Massachusetts Republican State Committee Thursday night, defeating party treasurer and establishment pick Brent Andersen for the role.

This was a major upset considering Andersen had earlier claimed to have 45 committed votes out of the 80-member state committee. But the Republican base has been flexing its muscles in Massachusetts for a while now, thumbing its nose at Charlie “most popular governor in America” Baker and his anti-Trump, moderate vision for the Republican Party....

Massachusetts voters deserve to have real choices at the ballot box, to have more than one party with a real seat at the policy-making table. Let’s hope that under Lyons’ leadership, with an energized base, the Republican Party can live up to that vision.

A Boston Herald editorial
Monday, January 21, 2019
MassGOP makes a stand


Chip Ford's CLT Commentary

Governor Baker today will release his proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2020, and it's expected to include his 50 percent hike in the deed transfer excise tax.  As usual, Citizens for Limited Taxation caught it and is alone in opposing any tax increase to fund further budget and government bloat, and is alone in calling out the governor on his sell-out of taxpayers.

The directly affected real estate industry "generally opposes the tax hike."  That's it.  It "generally opposes" what it recognized "could drive up the cost of housing even more in Massachusetts or strip equity from homeowners.”  Thanks so much for taking such a courageous stand, Massachusetts Association of Realtors.

Next on his list, Gov. Baker wants to make the mandatory seat belt law primary enforced, meaning motorists can be pulled over and ticketed just for not strapping in.  This has been the goal of nanny-staters and the insurance lobby since we defeated the first mandatory seat belt law on the 1986 ballot.  The insurance lobby has always wanted to see it become a surchargeable offense so they can increase their premiums.

Finally, even the state Republican Party seems to have had enough of Charlie Baker's transformation if not destruction of their political and philosophical brand.

I'm feeling this is Charlie's final term as governor by choice, that he intends to move on to something else when it runs out, if not sooner.

Chip Ford
Executive Director


 

State House News Service
Tuesday, January 22, 2019

CLT rips Baker's "breach of trust" on tax increases
By Colin A. Young


An anti-tax group lashed out at Gov. Charlie Baker on Tuesday, calling the Republican governor "a disappointment" after he rolled out a plan last week to generate about $1 billion over the next decade by hiking the excise tax paid on real estate transfers.

Citizens for Limited Taxation blasted Baker's proposal to increase the real estate transfer tax to fund a program that will help cities and towns deal with the effects of climate change as a "scheme" and an "assault on taxpayers."

Baker on Friday announced a proposal to raise the excise rate from $2 per $500 of assessed value to $3 per $500 of value, saying it represents "a point-two percent increase." The governor said his plan, which he said is designed to generate $137 million annually for climate adaptation projects, will be a good value for taxpayers and residents.

"This is an excise tax that's basically about property and the proposal we're making here is to protect property," he said Friday. "We think, in the long run, the cost/benefit on this one is a good deal for Massachusetts residents."

CLT on Tuesday called that comment from the governor "a lame defense of this latest breach of trust" and slammed him for the tax increases he's previously approved, like new assessments on the health care industry and taxes on short-term rentals.

The Republican governor has touted his general opposition to new taxes and fees, but in just the last roughly 10 days he has proposed taxing daily fantasy sports, legalizing and taxing sports wagering, and increasing the tax on real estate transactions.

"Gov. Baker has an excuse for every betrayal. He's smooth, he's slippery, and he's sliding down the slope, seemingly a victim of Stockholm syndrome," CLT said. "For a candidate who campaigned on opposition to raising taxes and fees, Gov. Baker has become -- well, a disappointment."

As a candidate for governor, in 2013, Baker said he is "a reform before revenue guy and I'm going to be the taxpayers' best friend on that whole question."


The New Boston Post
Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Citizens for Limited Taxation Thwacks Charlie Baker Over Tax Increases
By NBP Staff


A leading Massachusetts anti-tax group is condemning Governor Charlie Baker’s support for an increase the state’s excise tax on property deeds, calling him “a disappointment.”

“Gov. Baker has an excuse for every betrayal,” said Chip Ford, executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation, in a written statement Tuesday. “He’s smooth, he’s slippery, and he’s sliding down the slope, seemingly a victim of Stockholm syndrome.”

Stockholm syndrome refers to hostages identifying with their kidnappers, as happened in Stockholm, Sweden in August 1973. The image suggests the Republican governor, who campaigned against increasing taxes before he was first elected in 2014, has come to identify with pro-tax Democrats on Beacon Hill.

Ford noted that Baker signed into law in June 2018 the so-called Grand Bargain, which includes an increase in the payroll tax designed to generate $800 million to pay for a new family and medical leave program.

At the time Baker justified the tax increase by saying it funds a new government program as opposed to merely providing more money for an existing government program. Ford finds that reasoning specious.

“Has the governor ever come across a tax hike that didn’t have some ‘benefit that’s attached’ for somebody? Every time spending is increased it benefits somebody, and every time someone benefits from government spending that benefit is paid by taxpayers,” Ford said in the statement.

But Baker isn’t even using that reasoning for the deeds tax, Ford notes. Instead, the governor acknowledged last week that the new excise tax will be used to increase funding for an existing program – “climate adaptation.”

“Over the last four years, we have increasingly witnessed the effects that climate change has on communities and infrastructure across the Commonwealth, and know that the investments we make today are critical to ensure cities and towns are prepared to face the challenges of tomorrow,” Baker said. “This proposal will build on the over $600 million we have already invested to mitigate and prepare for the adverse effects of climate change and help to build more resilient communities, and we look forward to working with the Legislature to get this passed.”

The governor’s office called the proposed appropriation an “investment” by state government in climate adaptation, to be paid for “by a modest increase in the excise on real estate transfers,” amounting to $137 million additional funds for the state’s Global Warming Solutions Trust Fund.

“For a candidate who campaigned on opposition to raising taxes and fees,” Ford said in the statement, “Gov. Baker has become – well, a disappointment.”


The Boston Herald
Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Charlie Baker set to roll out budget proposal
By Mary Markos


Gov. Charlie Baker unveils his budget Wednesday, with a proposed tax hike and some of his spending plans released in the past few weeks.

The administration has outlined some proposals that will be in the Fiscal Year 2020 budget, including an increase on real estate transfer tax to pay for climate adaption programs, expanded Medicare coverage and a bill to adjust the school funding formula.

Baker is proposing to spend $75 million on climate adaption programs, which are meant to incentivize cities and towns to invest in “climate-smart infrastructure,” and would be paid for by what the administration called a “modest” increase in the excise tax on real estate sales. The excise rate, which is paid by the seller of a property, would jump from $2 per $500 of value to $3, amounting to $137 million annually toward the Global Warming Solutions Trust Fund.

The real estate industry generally opposes the tax hike, said Justin Davidson, general counsel and director of government affairs with the Massachusetts Association of Realtors.

“Our concern is that this could have one of two effects on the market: it could drive up the cost of housing even more in Massachusetts or strip equity from homeowners,” Davidson said. “It really comes down to a fairness issue. Everyone benefits from a better climate and everyone should contribute to a better solution. It shouldn’t be something that’s just put on the backs of homeowners and home-sellers.”

The median price for a single-family home in December in Massachusetts was $375,000, according to the MAR, which would bring the tax from $1,710 to $2,565 on that home under the proposed law.

Baker made clear in his inaugural address that he would recommend updates to the education funding formula, which hasn’t been changed since 1993. Advocates have been pressing the issue since before the Foundation Budget Review Commission found that Massachusetts schools were underfunded by between $1 billion and $2 billion in 2015.

Baker is also proposing to expand the eligibility for Medicare Savings Programs to allow more low-income seniors to qualify. Under his proposal, the state would spend $7 million every year to leverage more than $100 million in federal funds for Medicare prescription drug subsidies. Expanding the program would bring the number of eligible low-income seniors from 18,000 to around 43,000.

“We see this as a really important and valuable first step in bridging the gap to affordable health care for seniors,” said Carolyn Villers, executive director of the Massachusetts Senior Action Council. “A lot of folks are forced to make choices between food and medication or other basic needs, so we’re really excited to see this in the budget … it’s a great way to benefit seniors who are really living on the edge in Massachusetts.”

The administration will also include a total of $1.129 billion in unrestricted general government aid, and they filed a bill last week seeking $200 million in Chapter 90 transportation funds.


State House News Service
Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Seat belts, device use are focuses in Guv's road safety bill
By Matt Murphy


Gov. Charlie Baker has some advice for Massachusetts drivers: Buckle up and put your phone down.

The governor on Tuesday proposed his most sweeping set of road safety rules yet, calling for Massachusetts to join 16 other states in requiring hands-free cell phone use while driving and proposing to allow police to stop motorists for not wearing a seat belt.

The legislation filed by the Republican marks the first time Baker has put forward his own hands-free driving bill since he first came out in support of the idea in late 2017.

The governor packaged the hands-free driving proposal and a primary seat belt enforcement provision with a number of reforms that Baker has advocated for in recent years, including mandatory lower speed limits in work zones.

"Keeping the Commonwealth's network of roads as safe as possible for everyone using them is one of our administration's top public safety priorities," Baker said in a statement, calling the legislation a "common sense" proposal to reduce distracted driving.

Drivers in Massachusetts are already required under law to wear seat belts or be fined, but police are not allowed to pull a vehicle over for a seat belt infraction unless they have another reason to do so.

Opponents of primary enforcement have raised concerns in the past about racial profiling.

The bill would also require anyone convicted of a first offense for operating under the influence who applies for a hardship license to use an ignition interlock device for a minimum of six months, and be subject to penalties from the Registry of Motor Vehicles for attempting to drive after drinking or tampering with the device.

According to the state, 15,662 people were seriously injured on roads in Massachusetts between 2012 and 2016 and 1,820 were killed, including nine road workers.

Baker in 2017 filed a bill to enforce lower speed limits in highway construction zones, which are currently just suggestions. At that time, Baker came out in support of a hands-free driving requirement, based in part on advancements that made in-vehicle computers and Bluetooth devices cheaper and more accessible.

His new position represented an evolution from just nine months earlier when he said, "I don't want to get out of the business of making it possible for people to talk to other people when they're driving. Because I think the texting thing is a big problem. I'm not sure I believe that the talking thing is."

The governor's call for the Legislature to send a bill to his desk by last summer, however, went unanswered.

The Senate passed a hands-free bill that petered out in the House, despite that branch's most vocal opponent Byron Rushing coming around to endorse a Senate amendment that alleviated some of his concerns with racial profiling.

Rushing, who was a senior member House Speaker Robert DeLeo's leadership team, is no longer in the House after losing re-election in November, and it remains to be seen who, if anyone, will pick up where he left off on the issue.

The governor's new bill would prohibit anyone driving from holding or touching their phone "except to perform a single tap or swipe to activate, deactivate, or initiate hands-free mode." While lawmakers in 2010 banned texting, emailing and web browsing while driving, all of Massachusetts's neighboring states in New England already require hands-free devices for talking and texting.

The Safe Roads Alliance, which has been advocating for years for hands-free legislation, cheered the Baker administration's proactive approach to the issue this session. The group will be at the State House on Wednesday to lobby legislators to support the governor's bill and others filed this session.

The primary seat belt enforcement provision is also new for the governor.

A study released last summer by the University of Massachusetts Traffic Safety Research Program on behalf of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security found seat belt usage rose nearly 8 percent to 81.6 percent from 2017 to 2018, but still trailed the national usage rate of 90.1 percent in 2016.

Massachusetts is one of 15 states without a primary enforcement law, meaning police here must observe another moving violation in order to pull over a vehicle in which the driver or the passengers are not wearing seat belts.

The governor's bill also requires state-owned heavy trucks to have side guards, convex mirrors and "cross-over" mirrors by Jan. 1, 2020, followed by all state and municipal contractors by 2022. And new, increasingly popular modes of transportation like electric scooters or pedal-powered bicycles would be treated, under the law similar to bicycles, with users subject to the same helmet and traffic rules.


The Boston Herald
Monday, January 21, 2019

A Boston Herald editorial
MassGOP makes a stand


The Massachusetts Republican Party has once again shocked political observers in the Bay State, electing former Andover State Rep. and staunch conservative Jim Lyons the new chair of the state GOP late last week. Lyons, known for his strong stance on social issues, was elected 47 votes to 30 by the Massachusetts Republican State Committee Thursday night, defeating party treasurer and establishment pick Brent Andersen for the role.

This was a major upset considering Andersen had earlier claimed to have 45 committed votes out of the 80-member state committee. But the Republican base has been flexing its muscles in Massachusetts for a while now, thumbing its nose at Charlie “most popular governor in America” Baker and his anti-Trump, moderate vision for the Republican Party.

And successful though Baker is as governor, his formula has proven difficult to translate into electoral victory for other members of his party in Massachusetts, as even moderate Republicans with Baker’s explicit endorsement struggle to gain traction with voters. This has left Baker without any real leverage to exert on the veto-proof Democratic majority in the legislature.

Lyons offers a new way forward. While unapologetically conservative on the issues, and a firebrand during his time in the State House, he endorsed Baker for re-election in 2018 over anti-establishment candidate Scott Lively. He has shown he is willing to build bridges with moderates while keeping his principles intact, and he has the grassroots credentials to grow the party from the ground up. Electing Lyons is an exciting move for MassGOP, a genuine attempt to try something different after years of infighting and frustrated electoral hopes.

Massachusetts voters deserve to have real choices at the ballot box, to have more than one party with a real seat at the policy-making table. Let’s hope that under Lyons’ leadership, with an energized base, the Republican Party can live up to that vision.

 

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    (781) 639-9709

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