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Post Office Box 1147 ●
Marblehead, Massachusetts 01945 ●
(781) 639-9709
“Every Tax is a Pay Cut ... A Tax Cut is a Pay Raise”
45 years as “The Voice of Massachusetts Taxpayers”
— and
their Institutional Memory — |
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CLT UPDATE
Monday, August 12, 2019
"The
Best Legislature Money Can Buy" —
Vacation Week #1
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The first week of Beacon Hill's unofficial
summer vacation rolled by with a handful of lawmakers
kayaking down the Merrimack River, another launching a
mayoral campaign, and the Baker administration finishing up
some overdue homework.
And OK, it was the governor who gave his own
transportation department the assignment a year ago to study
the state's unrelenting traffic, so it wasn't a
hard-and-fast deadline. Gov. Charlie Baker last week said to
expect the report -- which had been anticipated at the end
of July but was pushed aside to make room for some urgent
actions on budget language -- at the beginning of this week.
The long-awaited report finally landed on
Thursday. While it wasn't the beginning of the week in
strictly technical terms, the press conference where Baker
and Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack announced
congestion has worsened to a "tipping point" in
Massachusetts was the governor's first public event during
an otherwise sleepy week at the State House....
The state Democratic Party knocked Baker
over his light public schedule, although top legislative
Democrats and those holding constitutional offices were
similarly out-of-view....
Those ideas could give legislators something
to chew on as they gear up for the transportation revenue
debate House Speaker Robert DeLeo has said he wants to have
this fall....
Groups filed a total of 16 petitions with
Healey, who plans to announce on Sept. 4 which ones meet the
certification requirements to move on to the next phase of
signature collection.
Thirteen of those would be bound for next
year's ballot, and the other three are proposed
Constitutional amendments that would also need to clear the
Legislature before heading before voters in 2022. The
amendments would restore voting rights to people
incarcerated on felony convictions, declare that
corporations are not people, and set up a path for the
potential exclusion of abortion services from state-funded
health care.
The other ballot questions deal with topics
ranging from ranked-choice voting to whale protection to
nursing home funding to digital auto repair information to
beer and wine sales to "sanctuary state" restrictions to
state employee payouts.
State House News Service
Friday, August 9, 2019
Weekly Roundup - Summer Jam
Lawmakers and many others in Massachusetts
are on a summer hiatus, as sharks edge closer to
tourist-packed Cape Cod beaches and EEE-carrying mosquitoes
fester in the southeast swamps. At the capitol, there was
little evidence of a full-time Legislature at work this week
and that's likely to continue for the rest of the month,
barring an unexpected turn of events....
On the political side, President Donald
Trump is coming to New Hampshire Thursday for a rally in
Manchester.
State House News Service
Friday, August 9, 2019
Advances - Week of Aug. 11, 2019
While officials continue to crunch the
numbers on the surplus from last fiscal year, the
Department of Revenue announced Monday that tax
collections in the first month of the new budget year came
in just higher than expectations.
Revenue collections for July totaled $2.025
billion, which is $6 million or 0.3 percent higher than the
monthly benchmark and $115 million or 6 percent higher than
tax collections in July 2018, DOR said....
Massachusetts ended the last fiscal year
having collected $29.69 billion in tax revenue, an increase
of nearly 7 percent over the previous year and eclipsing
budget benchmarks by $1.1 billion....
The year-end numbers mean lawmakers and the
governor will likely have a sizeable fiscal 2019 surplus to
dole out, though a good chunk of the over-benchmark revenues
are linked to capital gains collections and will be
diverted, by law, into the state rainy day fund. The
Executive Office of Administration and Finance is
calculating how much surplus money is available for state
spending after the required transfers are made.
Last week, the credit rating agency S&P
Global Ratings issued a report on what state and local
governments will have to do in fiscal year 2020 to "keep
their hands on the wheel" while "GDP projections are
trending downward and the risk of recession is rising."
"We are in the midst of the longest
expansion on record, but with slower growth comes the
challenge for local governments to provide the services for
a changing world when revenues might not be keeping pace,"
the report said.
State House News Service
Tuesday, August 6, 2019
July tax collections rise 6 percent over last July
Citing the state's recent economic
performance, a tech sector business organization focused on
state tax policy said the state's fiscal disciple is
improving, but warned of long-term stability risks if the
state pursues "over taxation."
The Massachusetts High Technology Council,
one of the groups that successfully petitioned [the state
Supreme Judicial Court] to remove the proposed 4 percent
surtax on household income above $1 million from last year's
ballot, said it wants to understand the "forces behind
unrelenting calls for new and increased taxes, even as
Massachusetts revenue collections have risen steadily to
historic levels."
The endeavor comes as lawmakers are working
hard to get the income surtax question onto the 2022 ballot
and as the House is gearing up for a debate over
transportation financing, with tax hikes on the table.
The group pointed to fiscal 2019, in which
state tax collections totaled $29.69 billion, an increase of
nearly 7 percent over the previous year and eclipsing budget
benchmarks by $1.1 billion. Tax collections were up 15
percent over fiscal 2017, the group said. Just one month
into fiscal 2020, tax collections are up 6 percent over last
year.
"With tax collections rising at twice the
rate of inflation since 2015, Massachusetts does not have a
revenue problem despite repeated claims that billions in new
taxes must be imposed to support state spending," the
council wrote in its newsletter....
Earlier this week, Associated Industries of
Massachusetts President and CEO John Regan said that
businesses "already burdened with business and compliance
costs" could be put under greater stress if the Legislature
opts for tax increases.
"Beacon Hill is awash with calls for more
revenue. But the slowing of the economy during the second
quarter means this is exactly the wrong time to place
additional cost burdens on business," Regan said. "If the
economy goes into a downturn while costs are increasing that
will create big challenges for employers."
State House News Service
Thursday, August 8, 2019
Biz group bracing against push for tax increases
Gov. Charlie Baker is eyeing the
construction of special high-priced fast lanes to ease
rush-hour congestion he says has hit a “tipping point,” but
regular drivers are slamming the luxury lanes as unfair,
galled by the idea of watching the rich race by them.
“I think it’s a bad idea to award wealth
with speed,” said Adam Norcott, 43, of Marshfield, who
commutes to Cambridge. “They should make it more attractive
to take the train in. People feel trapped, so they take
their car.”
From a MassDOT dense report released
Thursday that analyzes traffic and recommends ways to
relieve congestion, Baker singled out the so-called “managed
lanes” as having “significant merit.” The proposal calls for
building additional tolled lanes along major routes, with
“floating pricing” depending on the volume of traffic — with
higher rates during rush hour, for an estimated minimum of
$20-$30 a week. Buses would have free access.
“I believe it’s the fairest and most doable
option with respect to congestion pricing models,” Baker
said. “While drivers have a choice to commute in a faster
lane for a cost, drivers who remain in the untolled lane
will also experience lighter volume from those who peel off
to the faster lane.”
The Boston Herald
Friday, August 9, 2019
Gov. Charlie Baker eyes high-priced luxury lanes to fix
traffic woes
But drivers say no fair letting the wealthy speed by
This week, as the Herald’s Mary Markos
reported, a MassDOT report on the matter featured a few
fixes. One is the so-called “managed lane.” The proposal
calls for building additional tolled lanes along major
routes, with “floating pricing” depending on the volume of
traffic — with higher rates during rush hour, for an
estimated minimum of $20-$30 a week. Buses would have free
access.
The man in the Corner Office is a fan.
“I believe it’s the fairest and most doable
option with respect to congestion pricing models,” Gov.
Charlie Baker said....
However, what should have been a
comprehensive analysis of the traffic congestion problem
around the City of Boston appears to be more of a “Cashing
in on Misery” handbook, in which the immediate, reflexive
conclusion is to soak the taxpayer and hope for the best.
These solutions give little regard to the
people suffering — the commuters — but instead emphasize
fixes that will allow for a tiny elite to enjoy some
relief....
Greg Sullivan of the Pioneer Institute said,
“The knock against the idea of tolled lanes is that it
creates two classes of drivers — the rich and the poor.”
We beg your pardon, Greg. Not just two
classes, there is a third. In similar lanes created in the
Soviet Union and still in existence today, you find the
Politburo types — the political elite. The kind of
apparatchik who waits in no line and answers to no member of
the lowly proletariat.
Which brings us to the question:
Will members of the Legislature be issued
special lane access? Will that nicety be among the gift bag
full of perks on everything they receive for their “public
service”? Does anybody think House Speaker Robert DeLeo will
sit in gridlock like the rest of us when he can cruise down
the VIP lane eating Chinese takeout?
We’ve seen this movie before.
Enough.
Many in leadership are numb to the plight of
normal people as they’re driven around in gas-guzzling SUVs,
often by cops, never worrying about traffic or parking. But,
leaders on Beacon Hill should do the hard thing before
sticking it to taxpaying commuters....
Once again, they must do the hard things
they were elected to do.
A Boston Herald editorial
Sunday, August 11, 2019
Luxury Lanes a Soviet specialty
Baker’s “Managed lanes” a gift to the rich and powerful
Small businesses can’t catch a break.
Between overbearing regulations and minimum wage hikes, it
is getting harder and harder to keep the lights on, never
mind competing with Walmart and Amazon.
Now, lawmakers on Beacon Hill are looking to
make things even tougher on America’s economic engine by
passing Fair Workweek Act legislation that would put
stringent employee-scheduling requirements on business
owners.
As the Herald’s Jaclyn Cashman reported, a
bill by state Sen. Marc Pacheco (D-Taunton) would force
businesses in the hospitality, retail or food service
sectors that employ more than 50 people to give their
workers a schedule 14 days in advance. Business owners who
failed to do so on time would face fines of $75 for each day
that the schedule is not posted. Another bill circulating on
the Hill would require all employers to schedule seven days
in advance, with similar penalties....
The spirit of the initiative is laudable: to
give workers more stability in their work schedules and thus
more stability in their lives. Unfortunately it is
completely impractical. Though there are exceptions given to
employers for things like severe weather, public
transportation failures or other emergencies, the effect of
this would be to destabilize and ultimately damage many
businesses.
A Boston Herald editorial
Thursday, August 8, 2019
Beacon Hill is bad for business
Fair Workweek Act unfair for employers
A group of four freshman Democratic
lawmakers, backed by more than a dozen others, issued a
statement Thursday to "demand" that Congress ban assault
weapons and implement universal background checks for
firearm purchases across the United States.
Reps. Lindsay Sabadosa of Northampton, Nika
Elugardo of Jamaica Plain, Tami Gouveia of Acton and Maria
Robinson of Framingham issued the statement on the heels of
two mass shootings last weekend to "fully denounce the white
supremacist rhetoric that continues to be perpetuated and
normalized in our country and that is one of the root causes
of these acts of violence."
"We acknowledge that racist, homophobic,
xenophobic, nationalistic, and militaristic statements by
people in positions of power have continued to bolster white
domestic terrorism and the never-ending cycle of violence in
our country, particularly when coupled with weak federal gun
laws," the group wrote in the statement. "Therefore, we
demand that our federal government act immediately to ban
assault weapons and institute universal background checks
with no loopholes. While we too offer our 'thoughts and
prayers,' we acknowledge our own complicity in white
supremacy culture and the need to take real and immediate
action to stop gun violence and discriminatory rhetoric that
plagues our country."
State House News Service
Friday, August 9, 2019
State lawmakers demand Congress act on gun control
After deadly mass shootings in Texas and
Ohio over the weekend, Democratic Senate candidate Shannon
Liss-Riordan went beyond the usual demands for gun control
on Tuesday to call for the repeal of the Second Amendment.
The Brookline labor attorney suggested that
anything less than abolishing the Constitutional right to
own a firearm amounts to "fake urgency" in the face of these
more frequent episodes of violence and mass casualties.
But her decision to go out on a limb was met
with some criticism from Democrats that she was "pandering"
to liberal primary voters and potentially overlooking more
achievable solutions to gun violence.
"Politics as usual in Washington has been
devastating for the victims of gun violence and their
families. I am tired of half steps, old ideas and fake
urgency around the problem we face: the presence of guns in
our communities. Enough is enough. It is time we take real
action and repeal the Second Amendment," Liss-Riordan said
in a statement.
"I agree with the late Justice John Paul
Stevens: the Second Amendment is 'a relic of the 18th
century.' We need leaders in Washington who understand that,
and have the courage and the will to fight to repeal the
Second Amendment," she added.
Liss-Riordan, a Brookline labor attorney, is
running in the 2020 primary against incumbent U.S. Edward
Markey and businessman Steve Pemberton.
State House News Service
Tuesday, August 6, 2019
Liss-Riodan backs repealing Second Amendment
For the price of just one cup of coffee, you
can feed one of our poor, starving legislators. Unlike the
taxpayers of Massachusetts, they cannot afford to feed
themselves. They’ve barely gotten a handful of pay raises in
the last few years.
As our friends at the Globe reported in
December, our poor House speaker is living on a pittance.
“DeLeo, for example, made $157,500 last year, thanks to his
base salary,” the Globe reported, in addition to “an $80,000
stipend, and $15,000 in office expenses. After the hikes go
into effect, his total compensation will balloon to $169,100
— a jump of $11,600.”
Someone set up a GoFundMe account....
DeLeo dropped $4,745 of taxpayer money on
food from the Hong Kong Dragon in Winthrop — the speaker’s
district — so that lawmakers could chow down in style during
the budget process. Most human beings on earth will never
see a $4,745 Chinese food delivery order in their lives, but
most people don’t work on Beacon Hill.
No matter what the speaker says, that is an
exorbitant amount of money spent on a massive amount of
food....
DeLeo further contends that the delivery was
needed to keep lawmakers and staff focused on the budget
process. “It makes life easier in terms of trying to get
things done,” he said. “There’s no need to break for a
longer period of time.”
Considering the secretive budget process was
the longest slog in recent memory — making Massachusetts the
last state in the country to approve a budget for the second
year in a row — we’re not sure how well that worked. Apart
from the $4,745 of taxpayer money budgeted for Chinese food
delivery, none of the other fiscal priorities appear to have
been settled in such a timely manner.
Obviously, there is no good excuse for the
needlessly costly spread, and that is why they tried to hide
it. They hide everything: the perennial taxpayer-funded
feasts, the publicly funded payouts (think hush money) to
cover for bad behavior, the closed-door budget meetings....
Elected politicians work on behalf of the
people. The people do not work on behalf of the politicians
as financiers for their bad behavior behind closed doors.
A Boston Herald editorial
Friday, August 3, 2019
Our poor, starving legislators
Speaker’s defense of fine dining on the taxpayer’s dime
falls short
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Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
The Best
Legislature Money Can Buy has concluded the first week
of its lengthy well-paid summer vacation.
The State
House News Service reported in Friday's Weekly Roundup:
"In
all, it was a good week to start fleshing out those
"What I Did on My Summer Vacation" essays — which
will probably be a better read if you, as some
lawmakers did this week, flew down to Nashville for
the annual National Conference of State Legislatures
gathering . . ."
I wonder if
they learned anything of value during their junket to Nashville, the
capital city
of country music and the economically booming, income tax-free Tennessee?
Like
neighboring Kentucky,
the Tennessee legislature ("General Assembly") is part
time. It is constitutionally limited to ninety "legislative days"
per two-year term. Legislators there are paid a base
salary of $19,009, with a per diem expense of $171 per
legislative day, only while in session during those
ninety days over two years.
Tennessee has
no income tax.
I wonder how
uncomfortable vacationing Bay State legislators felt in such
a bright red — no, scarlet
— state? I wonder if
experiencing so many of the country's citizens (not
subjects) living so much more free
enlightened any of the Beacon Hill pols?
Nah, I doubt
it. They probably thought they'd been dropped into
some "less-enlightened" foreign country by mistake.
The State House News Service reported:
Revenue
collections for July totaled $2.025 billion, which
is $6 million or 0.3 percent higher than the monthly
benchmark and $115 million or 6 percent higher than
tax collections in July 2018, DOR said . . .
Massachusetts ended the last fiscal year having
collected $29.69 billion in tax revenue, an increase
of nearly 7 percent [$1.916 billion] over the previous year and
eclipsing budget benchmarks by $1.1 billion.
Tax revenue is still pouring into the
state's treasury faster than The Best Legislature
Money Can Buy again predicted, even with its
"revised benchmark" estimate. This is
even after the conference
committee added $600 million more spending to the
original $42.7 billion budget initially passed by the
House and Senate in the spring.
$115 million more in July poured in
during just the
first month of this new fiscal year than July a year
ago.
Think legislators can find a way to
squander it quickly before declaring another "crisis"
and demanding higher taxes?
As noted in the CLT Update of August 3
("No-Veto
Charlie's $43.3B budget keeps pols "fat, happy, and
satiated") the State House News Service
noted:
During
their negotiations, the conference committee led by
Rep. Aaron Michlewitz and Sen. Michael Rodrigues
revised revenue projections for this year upward by
$600 million.
When the
Legislature wanted to spend $600 million more than the
House and Senate initially agreed to spend it simply
"revised" the previously agreed upon "benchmark"
— a nebulous amount of
revenue, months earlier predicted by consensus of a
group of economic "experts," to be extracted by the
state.
Still, the
Legislature is pushing the "Millionaire's Tax"
constitutional amendment for another $2 billion, and
plans to return from its long vacation and propose
further tax hikes, House Speaker Robert DeLeo has vowed.
The state's
business community is recoiling. Not only does the
Legislature plan to gradually tax them out of existence,
but intends to first strangle them with more costly and
impractical laws and regulations.
Will the last
taxpayer to leave Massachusetts please shut off the
lights?
Never mind.
Lights across the commonwealth will have gone dark
before then — pack a
flashlight in your bug-out bag.
Gov. Charlie
Baker's administration released its long-anticipated "Congestion
in the Commonwealth 2019"
report, and perhaps its most controversial
recommendation is for "special high-priced fast lanes to
ease rush-hour congestion." A Boston Herald
editorial best described it, "Luxury Lanes a Soviet specialty,"
noting:
In similar
lanes created in the Soviet Union and still in
existence today, you find the Politburo types — the
political elite. The kind of apparatchik who waits
in no line and answers to no member of the lowly
proletariat.
Which brings us to the question:
Will members of
the Legislature be issued special lane access?
We all know the answer to that
from experience. Just remember those Mass.
Turnpike passes legislators used and abused while there
were tollbooths, a practice that no doubt continues with
the electronic EZPass and tolling gantries system.
You can see
from the other reports that Massachusetts politicians,
especially legislators, have way too much idle time on
their hands to spin up increasingly crazy new ideas and
proposals — each trying to
out-do the last crazy scheme to transform Massachusetts
and the nation into something never intended.
Never mind
more, always more "gun safety" laws. Some have
finally dropped the façade, abandoned any pretense of
"limits" and are calling for outright repeal of the
Second Amendment. Though absurd, it is at least
and at last honest. I wonder how honesty
happened from the Left?
"How
to boil a frog" in action is my conclusion, and the
water is getting awfully warm.
Here's a quote
I came across last week that caught my attention:
"The Left sees
our Freedom of Speech as Violence and the Left sees
their Violence as Freedom of Speech."
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Chip Ford
Executive Director |
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State House News
Service
Friday, August 9, 2019
Weekly Roundup - Summer Jam
By Katie Lannan
The first week of Beacon Hill's unofficial
summer vacation rolled by with a handful of
lawmakers kayaking down the Merrimack River,
another launching a mayoral campaign, and the
Baker administration finishing up some overdue
homework.
And OK, it was the governor who gave his own
transportation department the assignment a year
ago to study the state's unrelenting traffic, so
it wasn't a hard-and-fast deadline. Gov. Charlie
Baker last week said to expect the report --
which had been anticipated at the end of July
but was pushed aside to make room for some
urgent actions on budget language -- at the
beginning of this week.
The long-awaited report finally landed on
Thursday. While it wasn't the beginning of the
week in strictly technical terms, the press
conference where Baker and Transportation
Secretary Stephanie Pollack announced congestion
has worsened to a "tipping point" in
Massachusetts was the governor's first public
event during an otherwise sleepy week at the
State House.
The state Democratic Party knocked Baker over
his light public schedule, although top
legislative Democrats and those holding
constitutional offices were similarly
out-of-view.
In all, it was a good week to start fleshing out
those "What I Did on My Summer Vacation" essays
-- which will probably be a better read if you,
as some lawmakers did this week, flew down to
Nashville for the annual National Conference of
State Legislatures gathering or took a four-day
kayak trip to highlight the regional importance
of the Merrimack River than if you tried to
drive anywhere inside Route 128.
That's where, according to the Massachusetts
Department of Transportation report, 14 hours of
the day count as a "peak period" for traffic....
Those ideas could give legislators something to
chew on as they gear up for the transportation
revenue debate House Speaker Robert DeLeo has
said he wants to have this fall.
Any major policy that doesn't get hammered out
in the twelve remaining weeks of formal business
lawmakers will have left for this year after
Labor Day will get carried over into 2020, when
three current members of the General Court might
be taking off for new gigs.
Rep. Shaunna O'Connell joined Melrose Rep. Paul
Brodeur and Westfield Sen. Donald Humason in
this year's field of lawmakers eyeing jumps to
their respective city halls. O'Connell, a
Taunton Republican, announced her mayoral bid on
Monday afternoon, less than an hour after Baker
tapped the current mayor, Democrat Thomas Hoye,
as interim Bristol County register of
probate....
Groups filed a total of 16 petitions with
Healey, who plans to announce on Sept. 4 which
ones meet the certification requirements to move
on to the next phase of signature collection.
Thirteen of those would be bound for next year's
ballot, and the other three are proposed
Constitutional amendments that would also need
to clear the Legislature before heading before
voters in 2022. The amendments would restore
voting rights to people incarcerated on felony
convictions, declare that corporations are not
people, and set up a path for the potential
exclusion of abortion services from state-funded
health care.
The other ballot questions deal with topics
ranging from ranked-choice voting to whale
protection to nursing home funding to digital
auto repair information to beer and wine sales
to "sanctuary state" restrictions to state
employee payouts.
Odds are good that the full baker's dozen won't
make it all the way to the 2020 ballot, but some
of the ones that don't could end up inspiring
legislative activity along the way.
With a handful of challengers already having
launched campaigns, next year's Democratic
primary ballot for Congress and Senate will be
more crowded than usual.
One significant difference in what's currently a
three-way U.S. Senate primary race emerged in
the wake of last weekend's mass shootings in
Ohio and Texas, as Brookline labor lawyer
Shannon Liss-Riordan declared herself to be
"tired of half steps, old ideas and fake urgency
around the problem we face" and called for
repeal of the Second Amendment.
State House News
Service
Friday, August 9, 2019
Advances - Week of Aug. 11, 2019
Lawmakers and many others in Massachusetts are
on a summer hiatus, as sharks edge closer to
tourist-packed Cape Cod beaches and EEE-carrying
mosquitoes fester in the southeast swamps. At
the capitol, there was little evidence of a
full-time Legislature at work this week and
that's likely to continue for the rest of the
month, barring an unexpected turn of events.
The debate over ways to deal with distracted
driving has eased, with handheld device use
permitted for the foreseeable future as four
Democrats and two Republicans enter their third
month of private talks on hands-free bills that
passed overwhelmingly in both branches. Gov.
Charlie Baker this week hosted meetings in his
office regarding the new $43.3 billion budget,
which his administration is beginning to
implement, as well as on education. No one can
say for sure where the K-12 education financing
and reform bill that's been promised will end
up, or even when a bill will finally emerge from
the Education Committee. The only certainty is
lawmakers are leaving themselves less and less
time to sort through funding adequacy and equity
issues that will be tough to agree upon.
The offshore wind energy debate is simmering,
with companies finalizing bids this month for a
procurement of up to 800 megawatts of power.
Baker is working with Vineyard Wind and the
state's Congressional delegation on a "cure
plan" to prevent the possible collapse of that
venture's 800 megawatt project, in line to be
the first utility-scale offshore wind farm in
the country. An interim report is due out next
week on management failures at the Registry of
Motor Vehicles. And an environmental advocacy
group plans to shed light on contaminated
beaches in Massachusetts.
On the political side, President Donald Trump is
coming to New Hampshire Thursday for a rally in
Manchester. Sixth Congressional District
residents, as well as potential candidates in
that district, are waiting to see how long Rep.
Seth Moulton will stay in the presidential race.
And U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, who has largely
ignored two Democrats running to unseat him,
hosts a town hall Thursday in New Bedford. The
week ahead will be capped off with the sales tax
holiday on the weekend of Aug. 17-18, a summer
tradition intended to entice consumers to spend
more, while saving a little.
State House News Service
Tuesday, August 6, 2019
July tax collections rise 6 percent over last
July
By Colin A. Young
While officials continue to crunch the numbers
on the surplus from last fiscal year, the
Department of Revenue announced Monday that
tax collections in the first month of the new
budget year came in just higher than
expectations.
Revenue collections for July totaled $2.025
billion, which is $6 million or 0.3 percent
higher than the monthly benchmark and $115
million or 6 percent higher than tax collections
in July 2018, DOR said.
Though revenue officials appeared pleased with
collections in the first month of fiscal 2020,
the department also downplayed the importance of
July collections. The month accounts for just
6.7 percent of all annual collections and there
are no quarterly estimated payments due for most
individuals and businesses, DOR said.
"July revenues were close to benchmark," Revenue
Commissioner Christopher Harding said in a
statement. "As expected, there was solid growth
over July 2018 in withholding and sales tax
revenues. Given the brief period covered in the
report, July results should not be considered
predictive of total FY20 revenues."
Massachusetts ended the last fiscal year having
collected $29.69 billion in tax revenue, an
increase of nearly 7 percent over the previous
year and eclipsing budget benchmarks by $1.1
billion.
The year-end numbers mean lawmakers and the
governor will likely have a sizeable fiscal 2019
surplus to dole out, though a good chunk of the
over-benchmark revenues are linked to capital
gains collections and will be diverted, by law,
into the state rainy day fund. The Executive
Office of Administration and Finance is
calculating how much surplus money is available
for state spending after the required transfers
are made.
Last week, the credit rating agency S&P Global
Ratings issued a report on what state and local
governments will have to do in fiscal year 2020
to "keep their hands on the wheel" while "GDP
projections are trending downward and the risk
of recession is rising."
"We are in the midst of the longest expansion on
record, but with slower growth comes the
challenge for local governments to provide the
services for a changing world when revenues
might not be keeping pace," the report said.
S&P said its economists pegged the likelihood of
a recession in the next 12 months at 25 to 30
percent, up from 10 to 15 percent last fall.
Analysts said the New England region can expect
continued economic growth, but at a slower rate
that will generally lag behind national growth
rates. Greater Boston and southern New Hampshire
are predicted to fare better than others in New
England.
"We believe that the Boston-area economy, fueled
by growth in tech and related industries and
underpinned by stable financial and service
sector employment will provide outsized growth
in eastern Massachusetts and southern New
Hampshire, relative to both the region and the
nations," the report said.
The credit rating firm also noted that "weather
remains a perennial topic for local governments"
and could be an issue that stresses state and
local government finances, especially in New
England.
"With dense populations and significant taxable
properties along the coasts, the region remains
exposed to coastal storms, as well as general
increases in the sea levels and other weather
and climate related risks," S&P Global Ratings
wrote. "Exposure mitigation and potential tax
base loss both directly affect government
revenues and a pro-active approach will be
critical for local governments looking to
maintain credit quality. Additionally, rising
costs to secure hard assets, improve stormwater
and sewer flow, and other climate change
mitigation projects exacerbate tight municipal
budgets already pressured due to slow economic
growth and long-term demographic pressures."
Late in July, the Massachusetts House
unanimously passed a bill to establish a new
grant program to help cities and towns confront
climate change impacts and to borrow more than
$1 billion to pay for it.
A priority for House Speaker Robert DeLeo, the
bill (H 3997) would create the GreenWorks
infrastructure program under the Executive
Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs to
help communities address things like the threat
of rising seas and floodwaters, and the damage
that's already been done.
With lawmakers on a recess and no formal
sessions scheduled, the bill is pending before
the Senate Committee on Bonding, Capital
Expenditures and State Assets, which is chaired
by Sen. Michael Moore.
State House News
Service
Thursday, August 8, 2019
Biz group bracing against push for tax increases
By Colin A. Young
Citing the state's recent economic performance,
a tech sector business organization focused on
state tax policy said the state's fiscal
disciple is improving, but warned of long-term
stability risks if the state pursues "over
taxation."
The Massachusetts High Technology Council, one
of the groups that successfully petitioned [the
state Supreme Judicial Court] to remove the
proposed 4 percent surtax on household income
above $1 million from last year's ballot, said
it wants to understand the "forces behind
unrelenting calls for new and increased taxes,
even as Massachusetts revenue collections have
risen steadily to historic levels."
The endeavor comes as lawmakers are working hard
to get the income surtax question onto the 2022
ballot and as the House is gearing up for a
debate over transportation financing, with tax
hikes on the table.
The group pointed to fiscal 2019, in which state
tax collections totaled $29.69 billion, an
increase of nearly 7 percent over the previous
year and eclipsing budget benchmarks by $1.1
billion. Tax collections were up 15 percent over
fiscal 2017, the group said. Just one month into
fiscal 2020, tax collections are up 6 percent
over last year.
"With tax collections rising at twice the rate
of inflation since 2015, Massachusetts does not
have a revenue problem despite repeated claims
that billions in new taxes must be imposed to
support state spending," the council wrote in
its newsletter.
The group said it is concerned that political
leaders could make decisions that halt the
momentum of the private sector, which it said
"has buoyed the commonwealth." Compounding that
concern are "the calamitous economic results" in
states like Connecticut, Illinois and New
Jersey, where the council said policymakers
"unwisely relied on over taxation of productive
economic activity to manage their fiscal
affairs."
"Recent national rankings of states' relative
fiscal health ... rate Massachusetts poorly and
in the same company as the fiscal basket cases
cited above," the group wrote.
The High Tech Council, in addition to calling
attention to the state's "significant long-term
fiscal challenges decades in the making," also
heaped some praise on state policymakers for
having taken recent steps to improve fiscal
stability.
"Specifically, actual and budgeted contributions
to the state's 'rainy day' Fiscal Stabilization
Fund from FY18 through FY20 will total $2.2
billion, bringing the fund balance up to $3.3
billion," the council wrote.
Earlier this week, Associated Industries of
Massachusetts President and CEO John Regan said
that businesses "already burdened with business
and compliance costs" could be put under greater
stress if the Legislature opts for tax
increases.
"Beacon Hill is awash with calls for more
revenue. But the slowing of the economy during
the second quarter means this is exactly the
wrong time to place additional cost burdens on
business," Regan said. "If the economy goes into
a downturn while costs are increasing that will
create big challenges for employers."
Business groups have decried the Boston area's
public transportation woes as a hindrance to
growth and some, including various chambers of
commerce, have formed a working group to amplify
the business community's voice and proposed
solutions in the debate.
The signaling from business groups about taxes
could set up a collision of interests in the
fall as lawmakers eye transportation
improvements that businesses desire but also tax
increases opposed by business officials.
The Boston Herald
Friday, August 9, 2019
Gov. Charlie Baker eyes high-priced luxury lanes
to fix traffic woes
But drivers say no fair letting the wealthy
speed by
By Mary Markos
Gov. Charlie Baker is eyeing the construction of
special high-priced fast lanes to ease rush-hour
congestion he says has hit a “tipping point,”
but regular drivers are slamming the luxury
lanes as unfair, galled by the idea of watching
the rich race by them.
“I think it’s a bad idea to award wealth with
speed,” said Adam Norcott, 43, of Marshfield,
who commutes to Cambridge. “They should make it
more attractive to take the train in. People
feel trapped, so they take their car.”
From a MassDOT dense report released Thursday
that analyzes traffic and recommends ways to
relieve congestion, Baker singled out the
so-called “managed lanes” as having “significant
merit.” The proposal calls for building
additional tolled lanes along major routes, with
“floating pricing” depending on the volume of
traffic — with higher rates during rush hour,
for an estimated minimum of $20-$30 a week.
Buses would have free access.
“I believe it’s the fairest and most doable
option with respect to congestion pricing
models,” Baker said. “While drivers have a
choice to commute in a faster lane for a cost,
drivers who remain in the untolled lane will
also experience lighter volume from those who
peel off to the faster lane.”
Over the next year, MassDOT will analyze the
feasibility of implementing the luxury lanes on
highways in Greater Boston. James Rooney of the
Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, said,
“MassDOT’s Congestion Report is confirmation of
what we already know to be true about traffic
congestion in and around Boston – it’s bad. The
report also reinforces the need to address our
public transit issues with more urgency.”
Chris Dempsey of Transportation for
Massachusetts said his advocacy group supports
the managed lanes concept, but only by using
existing infrastructure, such as the HOV lanes,
rather than building new roadways.
“We think that will actually be
counterproductive to our goal of reducing
traffic congestion,” Dempsey said. “If you build
additional lanes it attracts more cars on the
roads, and it makes other roads more congested
because you’ve induced the demand.”
Matt Casale of the Massachusetts Public Interest
Research Group said, “It’s hard to take
seriously any proposal that recommends adding
highway capacity in 2019. We have known for
decades that building new highway lanes, even if
they are tolled, doesn’t fix congestion — it
encourages more driving … We urge the governor
to put the brakes on this idea.”
Greg Sullivan of the Pioneer Institute said,
“The knock against the idea of tolled lanes is
that it creates two classes of drivers — the
rich and the poor. Those tolls could add up to a
lot. It’s not affordable rates, that’s the
problem, but I do think there are places where
it does make sense, especially where you can use
rapid transit buses.”
A highway in Virginia, cited in the report, has
attracted national attention with daily tolls
spiking over $40 because there are no limits on
the price that solo drivers can be charged as
congestion increases.
“Not everybody can afford that,” said Arqui
Velez, who leaves his home in Central Falls,
R.I., at 4:30 a.m. to get to Dorchester by 7
a.m. He called luxury lanes a “horrible” idea.
“So while most people have to sit in traffic,
people who have money just skip it. It’s
inconsiderate. Something needs to be done, but
not that.”
“No, no, no,” said Jazmine Anderson, 22, who
commutes from Quincy to Boston. “We’re just
trying to get to work, and we’re already paying
an arm and a leg for food and housing.”
The Boston Herald
Sunday, August 11, 2019
A Boston Herald editorial
Luxury Lanes a Soviet specialty
Baker’s “Managed lanes” a gift to the rich and
powerful
Anybody commuting into the city of Boston knows
that things have gotten worse, year after year.
Gridlock is the name of the game on 93 North and
South, where a commute of just a few miles can
last an hour or more.
This week, as the Herald’s Mary Markos reported,
a MassDOT report on the matter featured a few
fixes. One is the so-called “managed lane.” The
proposal calls for building additional tolled
lanes along major routes, with “floating
pricing” depending on the volume of traffic —
with higher rates during rush hour, for an
estimated minimum of $20-$30 a week. Buses would
have free access.
The man in the Corner Office is a fan.
“I believe it’s the fairest and most doable
option with respect to congestion pricing
models,” Gov. Charlie Baker said.
However, what should have been a comprehensive
analysis of the traffic congestion problem
around the City of Boston appears to be more of
a “Cashing in on Misery” handbook, in which the
immediate, reflexive conclusion is to soak the
taxpayer and hope for the best.
These solutions give little regard to the people
suffering — the commuters — but instead
emphasize fixes that will allow for a tiny elite
to enjoy some relief.
The ordinary commuter inching along in the
“Golden”-lane era will get to view the free flow
of luxury cars zooming past him, having paid for
their traffic freedom at a premium, but
nonetheless free.
“Not everybody can afford that,” said Arqui
Velez, who leaves his home in Central Falls,
R.I., at 4:30 a.m. to get to Dorchester by 7
a.m. “So while most people have to sit in
traffic, people who have money just skip it.
It’s inconsiderate.”
If commuters like Arqui are forced through
necessity to pay for the “golden lane,” will
companies subsidize their workers for the cost
or will getting to work essentially result in a
pay cut for them?
Greg Sullivan of the Pioneer Institute said,
“The knock against the idea of tolled lanes is
that it creates two classes of drivers — the
rich and the poor.”
We beg your pardon, Greg. Not just two classes,
there is a third. In similar lanes created in
the Soviet Union and still in existence today,
you find the Politburo types — the political
elite. The kind of apparatchik who waits in no
line and answers to no member of the lowly
proletariat.
Which brings us to the question:
Will members of the Legislature be issued
special lane access? Will that nicety be among
the gift bag full of perks on everything they
receive for their “public service”? Does anybody
think House Speaker Robert DeLeo will sit in
gridlock like the rest of us when he can cruise
down the VIP lane eating Chinese takeout?
We’ve seen this movie before.
Enough.
Many in leadership are numb to the plight of
normal people as they’re driven around in
gas-guzzling SUVs, often by cops, never worrying
about traffic or parking. But, leaders on Beacon
Hill should do the hard thing before sticking it
to taxpaying commuters.
There should be outreach to companies and
collaborative ideas around options for employees
to work from home or remote locations.
The MBTA should be fixed now, not in three
years, and not after a study of an audit of a
review of an evaluation. Now.
Stop hack construction projects that tie up
traffic for miles so that crews can do things
like replace lightbulbs.
Once again, they must do the hard things they
were elected to do.
The Boston Herald
Thursday, August 8, 2019
A Boston Herald editorial
Beacon Hill is bad for business
Fair Workweek Act unfair for employers
Small businesses can’t catch a break. Between
overbearing regulations and minimum wage hikes,
it is getting harder and harder to keep the
lights on, never mind competing with Walmart and
Amazon.
Now, lawmakers on Beacon Hill are looking to
make things even tougher on America’s economic
engine by passing Fair Workweek Act legislation
that would put stringent employee-scheduling
requirements on business owners.
As the Herald’s Jaclyn Cashman reported, a bill
by state Sen. Marc Pacheco (D-Taunton) would
force businesses in the hospitality, retail or
food service sectors that employ more than 50
people to give their workers a schedule 14 days
in advance. Business owners who failed to do so
on time would face fines of $75 for each day
that the schedule is not posted. Another bill
circulating on the Hill would require all
employers to schedule seven days in advance,
with similar penalties.
This measure would be deleterious to those in
the food service industry because the demands on
a restaurant or caterer are fluid and often
unpredictable. Restaurants must meet the demands
of their customers, so they must be flexible.
There are “pop-up” events in banquet facilities
all the time and demands fluctuate.
George Montilio, who owns Montilio’s Bakery in
Brockton, explained to the Herald that if one of
these bills were to become law, it would cripple
his business.
“My concern is this is just one more thing we
will be penalized with while trying to run our
business in a normal fashion,” Montilio said.
“Why do we need to get the government involved?
We respect our employees and do our best to give
them a schedule in advance but people call out
sick all the time and we must be able to adjust.
We also can get slammed with last-minute massive
orders that would require extra employees.”
If the Fair Workweek Act is passed into law as
currently constituted, it would undoubtedly lead
to similar legislation in other industries. That
would be disastrous for many.
Jay Kennedy, who owns Kennedy Carpets in East
Weymouth, told the Herald that this kind of
legislation would be a big problem for him.
“This is impossible,” he said. “We don’t book
our work 14 days in advance. I can’t tell the
guys two days in advance where they are working.
We book jobs today that have to be done
tomorrow. This is obscene … then add this onto
the family leave act … how are small businesses
able to adjust? The government is too involved
in small business. … You need flexibility in a
small business and this bill will take that
away.”
“Employees deserve to know their work schedules
with a reasonable amount of advance notice,”
Pacheco said in a statement. “The bill I filed
would provide a fair and transparent process in
the Commonwealth for people employed by large
food service, retail, and hospitality businesses
and franchises. Many of the hardworking
Massachusetts employees that would be covered
are low-wage, hourly workers with families and
children and other responsibilities in their
lives beyond the workplace that they need the
ability to schedule around.”
The spirit of the initiative is laudable: to
give workers more stability in their work
schedules and thus more stability in their
lives. Unfortunately it is completely
impractical. Though there are exceptions given
to employers for things like severe weather,
public transportation failures or other
emergencies, the effect of this would be to
destabilize and ultimately damage many
businesses.
State House News
Service
Friday, August 9, 2019
State lawmakers demand Congress act on gun
control
By Colin A. Young
A group of four freshman Democratic lawmakers,
backed by more than a dozen others, issued a
statement Thursday to "demand" that Congress ban
assault weapons and implement universal
background checks for firearm purchases across
the United States.
Reps. Lindsay Sabadosa of Northampton, Nika
Elugardo of Jamaica Plain, Tami Gouveia of Acton
and Maria Robinson of Framingham issued the
statement on the heels of two mass shootings
last weekend to "fully denounce the white
supremacist rhetoric that continues to be
perpetuated and normalized in our country and
that is one of the root causes of these acts of
violence."
"We acknowledge that racist, homophobic,
xenophobic, nationalistic, and militaristic
statements by people in positions of power have
continued to bolster white domestic terrorism
and the never-ending cycle of violence in our
country, particularly when coupled with weak
federal gun laws," the group wrote in the
statement. "Therefore, we demand that our
federal government act immediately to ban
assault weapons and institute universal
background checks with no loopholes. While we
too offer our 'thoughts and prayers,' we
acknowledge our own complicity in white
supremacy culture and the need to take real and
immediate action to stop gun violence and
discriminatory rhetoric that plagues our
country."
Seventeen other lawmakers, all Democrats, signed
onto the statement: Sens. Michael Barrett, Jamie
Eldridge, Patricia Jehlen, Barry Finegold,
Edward Kennedy, Jason Lewis and Joan Lovely, and
Reps. Jim Hawkins, David LeBoeuf, Jack Lewis,
Christina Minicucci, Liz Miranda, Tram Nguyen,
Denise Provost, Ted Speliotis, RoseLee Vincent
and Bud Williams.
Massachusetts already has a ban on assault
weapons and Attorney General Maura Healey in
recent years has stepped up enforcement of the
prohibition on copycat assault weapons.
State House News
Service
Tuesday, August 6, 2019
Liss-Riodan backs repealing Second Amendment
By Matt Murphy
After deadly mass shootings in Texas and Ohio
over the weekend, Democratic Senate candidate
Shannon Liss-Riordan went beyond the usual
demands for gun control on Tuesday to call for
the repeal of the Second Amendment.
The Brookline labor attorney suggested that
anything less than abolishing the Constitutional
right to own a firearm amounts to "fake urgency"
in the face of these more frequent episodes of
violence and mass casualties.
But her decision to go out on a limb was met
with some criticism from Democrats that she was
"pandering" to liberal primary voters and
potentially overlooking more achievable
solutions to gun violence.
"Politics as usual in Washington has been
devastating for the victims of gun violence and
their families. I am tired of half steps, old
ideas and fake urgency around the problem we
face: the presence of guns in our communities.
Enough is enough. It is time we take real action
and repeal the Second Amendment," Liss-Riordan
said in a statement.
"I agree with the late Justice John Paul
Stevens: the Second Amendment is 'a relic of the
18th century.' We need leaders in Washington who
understand that, and have the courage and the
will to fight to repeal the Second Amendment,"
she added.
Liss-Riordan, a Brookline labor attorney, is
running in the 2020 primary against incumbent
U.S. Edward Markey and businessman Steve
Pemberton.
Markey, in the aftermath of the shootings,
blamed Republican leadership in Congress for
blocking votes in the Senate on legislation that
would ban assault weapons and high-capacity
magazines and require universal background
checks.
The junior senator also said Congress should
"close loopholes that allow domestic abusers and
terrorists to purchase deadly weapons and that
allow straw purchasers to flood our streets with
guns."
"Democrats have introduced a litany of
common-sense and lifesaving proposals to prevent
gun violence. But this bloodshed keeps happening
because Mitch McConnell and too many of his
Republican colleagues refuse to listen to the
American people begging and pleading for
change," Markey said on Twitter.
Pemberton also told the News Service that he
supports a ban on assault weapons and high
capacity magazines, as well as background checks
and other "critical measures."
"The second amendment has been coopted and
twisted by the NRA and gun manufacturers, and we
should absolutely have a serious discussion
about abolishing it. But calling for that now in
the wake of multiple deadly shooting misses the
urgency of the moment," Pemberton said in a
statement. "Abolishing the second amendment will
take years at best to accomplish. We can't wait
for that."
The former foster child whose father was killed
by gun violence described the issue as "deeply
personal."
"Future generations of their families will bear
the burden of their loss. Too many of our
current elected officials don’t understand the
urgency of this issue. If they did, they would
cancel the August vacation and return to
Congress this week to pass gun safety
legislation that would save lives all across
this country," he said.
A spokeswoman for Markey did not respond to a
request for comment about Liss-Riordan's
position on the Second Amendment, but other
Democrats questioned the decision.
"New low bar for primary voter pandering with
ideas going nowhere: MA Sen candidate @ShannonForMA
calling for abolishing Second Amendment,"
Tweeted David Guarino, a political consultant
for Democratic candidates, including Attorney
General Maura Healey.
Addressing the violence in El Paso and Dayton,
President Donald Trump on Monday mentioned "red
flag laws," which are in place in Massachusetts,
as one possible way to address violence, and on
Twitter called for "strong background checks"
and the possible pairing of gun control and
immigration reform.
"Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger,
not the gun," Trump said.
At least 31 people were killed in two separate
incidents over the weekend, with one gunman in
El Paso opening fire in a Wal-Mart in that
border city after publishing a racist manifesto
online condemning hispanic immigrants, and
another targeting a nightlife district in
Dayton, Ohio.
The Boston Herald
Friday, August 3, 2019
A Boston Herald editorial
Our poor, starving legislators
Speaker’s defense of fine dining on the
taxpayer’s dime falls short
For the price of just one cup of coffee, you can
feed one of our poor, starving legislators.
Unlike the taxpayers of Massachusetts, they
cannot afford to feed themselves. They’ve barely
gotten a handful of pay raises in the last few
years.
As our friends at the Globe reported in
December, our poor House speaker is living on a
pittance. “DeLeo, for example, made $157,500
last year, thanks to his base salary,” the Globe
reported, in addition to “an $80,000 stipend,
and $15,000 in office expenses. After the hikes
go into effect, his total compensation will
balloon to $169,100 — a jump of $11,600.”
Someone set up a GoFundMe account.
Asked Thursday about a lavish taxpayer-paid
Chinese food feast for House lawmakers in April,
costing the taxpayer nearly five thousand
dollars, DeLeo explained, “People have to eat.”
People do have to eat. We thank Speaker DeLeo
for shining a light on the human condition.
Yes, we are having a little fun with this issue,
but in truth, Speaker DeLeo has personified the
hubris and disdain for the taxpayer that has
metastasized on Beacon Hill.
DeLeo dropped $4,745 of taxpayer money on food
from the Hong Kong Dragon in Winthrop — the
speaker’s district — so that lawmakers could
chow down in style during the budget process.
Most human beings on earth will never see a
$4,745 Chinese food delivery order in their
lives, but most people don’t work on Beacon
Hill.
No matter what the speaker says, that is an
exorbitant amount of money spent on a massive
amount of food.
“At some point, you know, people have to eat,”
DeLeo said Thursday.
No one doubts that people have to eat. People do
not have to eat takeout from Winthrop that costs
someone else nearly five thousand dollars.
Everybody in the legislature gets paid well and
some make a small fortune. Almost all of them
have received multiple raises in the last few
years — have you?
DeLeo further contends that the delivery was
needed to keep lawmakers and staff focused on
the budget process. “It makes life easier in
terms of trying to get things done,” he said.
“There’s no need to break for a longer period of
time.”
Considering the secretive budget process was the
longest slog in recent memory — making
Massachusetts the last state in the country to
approve a budget for the second year in a row —
we’re not sure how well that worked. Apart from
the $4,745 of taxpayer money budgeted for
Chinese food delivery, none of the other fiscal
priorities appear to have been settled in such a
timely manner.
Obviously, there is no good excuse for the
needlessly costly spread, and that is why they
tried to hide it. They hide everything: the
perennial taxpayer-funded feasts, the publicly
funded payouts (think hush money) to cover for
bad behavior, the closed-door budget meetings.
The Legislature is exempt from public records
laws and DeLeo intends to keep it that way. How
else to shield public officials who have been
accused of sexual harassment?
The Chinese food delivery is not the end of the
world, but it is the tip of the iceberg and it
is symbolic of the abuse of power those in
leadership on Beacon Hill practice all too
often.
We believe that legislators should abide by
public records laws so the public can see what
lawmakers are doing. Elected politicians work on
behalf of the people. The people do not work on
behalf of the politicians as financiers for
their bad behavior behind closed doors.
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Citizens for Limited Taxation ▪
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