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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
Saturday, December 21, 2019
"The Boston Gas
Party" in 2020?
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Charlie Baker
shows up to a GOP fundraising dinner and the maitre d' asks,
"Governor, how many at your table?"
Baker replies,
"I'm a party of one."
This may sound
like the setup to a bad joke, but increasingly the governor
is finding himself estranged from the mainstream leanings of
his party. In a week when Republicans were rallying around
their president as Democrats in the House made Donald Trump
just the third president in history to be impeached, all
Baker could muster was that he hoped the Senate could give
Trump a "fair trial."
And Trump isn't
the governor's only problem within the Republican Party.
New Hampshire Gov.
Chris Sununu this week took a rhetorical blow torch to the
Transportation Climate Initiative that Baker's environmental
and transportation teams have spent a year working to
develop. Sununu called TCI a "financial boondoggle" and a
program that New Hampshire wants no part of....
So perhaps it was
no surprise that when Baker was asked this week about his
place in the Republican Party, he described himself as
"still a big fan" of ... himself.
"I have no trouble
being a Republican defined the way I want to define it,"
Baker told Boston Public Radio host Jim Braude.
Baker said he
joined the Grand Old Party for Reagan and stayed for Weld
and Cellucci. But even before then, a pre-teen Baker was
smitten with another figure from the party – a White House
Christmas Party to be exact. "Pat Nixon was really cool,"
Baker conceded, having met the former first lady when his
dad worked in the Nixon administration....
The impact on gas
prices is what had Sununu running for the White Mountains,
and could lead other governors to follow his trail.
Theoharides noted,
however, that gas prices can vary between the states by more
than 17 cents for reasons that have nothing to do with
governments trying to discourage fossil fuel consumption.
The TCI debate
promises to rage on into the spring, and could influence the
direction the House moves with respect to the new revenue
Speaker Robert DeLeo wants to gin up in the new year for
transportation. In a nutshell, the TCI-related gas price
impacts will be layered on top of any gas tax increase
proposals....
STORY OF THE WEEK:
TCI forecasts a gas price increase before the gas tax debate
can even happen.
State House News Service
Friday, December 20, 2019
Weekly Roundup - Pat Nixon Was Really Cool
Gov. Charlie Baker
was against automatic gas tax increases before he was for
them.
These photos are
from 2014, when Tall Deval was running for governor as,
believe it or not, a friend of the taxpayers.
Boy, have times
changed.
Now the imperious
RINO fraud is cheerleading for the TCI — the Transportation
Climate Initiative — which makes the automatic gas tax hike
of 2014 seem like an outpouring of pure Athenian democracy.
I mean, in 2014
the hacks at the State House at least tried to engineer
their heist via a constitutional mechanism, to wit,
legislation, which could then be repealed by everybody
standing around that “Stop Automatic Tax Hikes” sign.
And that’s exactly
what happened. Even though the payroll patriots outspent the
working classes 30-1, the automatic gas tax was repealed
53-47 — a much wider margin than Tall Deval enjoyed in his
40,000-vote squeaker over gubernatorial opponent Marsha
Coakley.
To put it another
way, five years ago Tall Deval needed us a lot more than we
needed him....
California’s
already got this scam going. Gas prices are close to five
bucks a gallon. That’s Charlie Baker’s dream for
Massachusetts, and our nightmare.
This TCI tax is a
regional scheme — the hacks are acting like the worst kind
of mob, trying to screw up their courage to screw the
taxpayers up and down the Eastern seaboard all at once, on
the grounds that we can’t stop all of them. To more fully
understand the outlines of this multibillion-dollar heist,
go to massfiscal.org.
It really smells.
That’s why Tall Deval is leading the charge.
Thank goodness New
Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu has already said no way. I asked
him Wednesday night if he thought the TCI was a scam.
“Let’s just say
it’s … scammy,” Sununu said.
Charlie Baker,
as he was running for governor, protesting the gas tax.
Courtesy photos
The Boston Herald
Friday, December 20, 2019
Charlie Baker’s gas tax cements his RINO legacy
By Howie Carr
Perhaps N.H. Gov.
Chris Sununu would be willing to give a TED talk to
Massachusetts lawmakers — he has much to teach them.
Sununu rejected
the Transportation Climate Initiative backed by Gov. Charlie
Baker, calling the bid to reduce carbon emissions and raise
money for transportation projects by hiking gas prices a
“financial boondoggle” and a burden on drivers.
A state official
expressing concern for taxpayers — and doing something to
keep prices from rising — what a concept....
A spokeswoman for
Vermont Gov. Phil Scott said the state is “reviewing and
analyzing the draft (memorandum of understanding) in full,
so it’s too early to weigh in at this point.”
One can imagine
Vermont residents, and those who live in the other affected
states, are looking at the prospect of a 17-cent hike in gas
prices and are willing to “weigh in.”
Connecticut Gov.
Ned Lamont noted “We’re watching that and obviously this is
a regional initiative that a lot of our fellow states are
watching as well. That’s nothing of what I’ve signed onto at
this point. What I have signed onto is what I want to do to
fix our transportation system.”
In the TCI poker
game, only Sununu has played his hand....
Fortunately, not
all Massachusetts lawmakers are on the TCI bandwagon.
“This tax, and
that’s exactly what it is, is not only a detriment to pursue
but an absolute wrecking ball to the financial well-being of
working class citizens in Massachusetts,” state Rep.
Nicholas Boldyga said. “When is enough enough? The return on
investment when it comes to carbon emissions reduction is
dismal. Which is why that argument should be dumped just
like this tax.”
A Boston Herald editorial
Friday, December 20, 2019
Baker should follow Sununu’s lead and nix TCI
Lawmakers and gas
station owners are calling on Gov. Charlie Baker to get
approval from the Legislature before signing onto a regional
compact that would raise gas prices in an attempt to combat
climate change.
“What I find
ironic is if (Donald) Trump was proposing to do something
like this by executive order, all the politicians would be
screaming their outrage at the top of their lungs and our
attorney general would have already filed a lawsuit to stop
it,” state Rep. Shawn Dooley, R-Norfolk, told the Herald.
Baker indicated
last week that he would exercise his executive power to
implement the Transportation Climate Initiative, which would
charge fuel companies for the carbon emissions associated
with the gas and diesel they sell and result in a price hike
of 5 to 17 cents per gallon in the first year. He cited the
Global Warming Solutions Act of 2008, saying it gives him
the authority to sign on through an executive order.
Officials have not
said how high prices might go in subsequent years and told
reporters earlier this week that they did not examine how
the economic impacts would change if neighboring states
opted out, as New Hampshire now has done. Critics have said
that forcing up gas prices in Massachusetts will send
drivers and businesses to New Hampshire....
Jonathan Shaer,
executive director or the New England Convenience Store and
Energy Marketers Association, represents the wholesalers
that would likely end up charging drivers for the fees they
incur from the measure. He raised concerns about a lack of
transparency and clear understanding of the cost increase,
in addition to a separate gas tax that’s currently being
considered by the Legislature.
“What is the
aggregate of that? Now we’re not just talking about a TCI
fee, we’re talking about TCI plus a gas tax. The Legislature
needs an opportunity to have that conversation and give
citizens an opportunity to understand that both are being
discussed,” Shaer said. “That’s just good policy making.”
...
Joint
Transportation Committee Chairman Rep. William Straus also
raised concerns about the ambiguity around the costs
involved in the measure.
“It’s hard to know
exactly what the number is going to be here and so that
concerns me,” Straus said. “I think any governor benefits
with going above and beyond working with the Legislature
even if he possesses sole authority to act at this point.”
The Boston Herald
Friday, December 20, 2019
Baker under pressure to put TCI before lawmakers
The state's lead
negotiator on a multi-state pact to lower carbon emissions
from vehicles said Thursday she was not surprised New
Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu withdrew his state from talks,
as he slammed the program as a "financial boondoogle."
Energy Secretary
Kathleen Theoharides said Thursday after testifying before
the Senate Global Warming Committee that New Hampshire's
participation in the still-developing Transportation Climate
Initiative was not essential to its success.
Asked if she was
surprised by Sununu's reaction, Theoharides simply said,
"No."
However, as the
chair of the coalition of Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states
pursuing the regional cap-and-invest program, Theoharides
said a "critical mass" of participation from the 12 original
states and District of Columbia will be necessary to make
TCI successful.
"We certainly
don't think of this as a financial boondoggle," Theoharides
told the News Service....
Theoharides said
the TCI coalition hasn't yet examined how many states it
would take to make a regional pact work. Other participating
jurisdictions include Connecticut, Delaware, Maine,
Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island,
Vermont, Virginia and the District of Columbia.
"We haven't done
specific modeling on that, and I think one of the reasons we
haven't is because right now our goal is to get as many
states as possible. But we certainly are looking for states
to make this a meaningful market with real power,"
Theoharides said.
"We certainly will
be talking more about what that size is as we move towards
the spring," she added.
Sen. Michael
Barrett, the vice chair of the Senate Committee on Global
Warming and Climate Change, suggested that Massachusetts
could join a market for carbon with California if the TCI
coalition falls apart....
New Hampshire was
one of nine states in the coalition that would have required
the approval of its Legislature to join TCI in the spring
when the program details are finalized.
Only in
Massachusetts, Maryland and New York does the governor
already have the authority to sign their states up
unilaterally.
Along with New
Hampshire, Maine and New York were initially considered to
be "observer" states when the TCI effort began in December
2018, but Theoharides said those distinctions have blurred
over time.
"All of the states
are participating at the same level now, working toward a
spring sign on," she said.
Barrett suggested
that the three models for carbon emission reductions,
peaking at 25 percent, were "quite moderate" and probably
not enough to achieve his goal of net zero emissions by
2050.
Both Theoharides
and Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack, however,
said it's vital to start generating money for investments in
cleaner transportation to giver drivers and alternative to
their cars before using price more aggressively to change
driving behaviors.
State House News Service
Friday, December 20, 2019
TCI Success Will Require “Critical Mass” of States to Join
Looking just
beyond next week, the Legislature launches the second leg of
its two-year session on New Year's Day. On that day, the
income tax rate will fall from 5.05 to 5 percent, the
minimum wage will rise from $12 to $12.75 and automatic
voter registration is scheduled to begin through processes
established at MassHealth and the Registry of Motor
Vehicles.
State House News Service
Friday, December 20, 2019
Advances - Week of Dec. 22, 2019
Twenty years ago
the Red Sox still played in the shadow of an imagined curse.
The New England Patriots had been to two Super Bowls but
never won. Tom Brady was a sixth-round draft pick and a
fourth-string quarterback. Traffic on the Central Artery
backed up above ground.
A little more than
20 years ago, 1.5 million Massachusetts voters told the
state to roll back the personal income tax rate from 5.85%
to 5%. Question 4 on the November 2000 statewide ballot, a
citizen-driven referendum, won with 56% of the vote. It was
a mandate the Legislature only partially accommodated and as
years went by ignored....
Still, it’s
frustrating that the slow deflate of the income tax was
drawn out for another 15 years. Even as the state’s
financial condition improved, with a vibrant economy and
increased tax revenues, our elected representatives left the
income tax sunset on the slow setting.
Some would argue
that eliminating or reducing taxes is against the nature of
government, that they only go up but never go away. It’s a
cynical view but one the Massachusetts Legislature
reinforced time and again, year after year.
And, at this point
it isn’t really about the money. Most taxpayers will see
only a modest benefit from finally dropping the income tax
rate to 5% — perhaps enough to have a good Friday or
Saturday night. The real issue is the principle of the
thing. How many taxpayers voted for a 5% personal income tax
rate in November 2000, never to see it actually happen,
having moved away or died in the span of the human
generation that passed before it actually came to be?
A Salem News Editorial
Thursday, December 19, 2019
The slow descent of the income tax
After two decades of waiting, Massachusetts
residents will finally see that flat 5% income-tax rate they
successfully voted for — too late though for some of the
major tax-reduction advocates to see their work come to
fruition.
“There are a lot of taxpayers who worked on
that campaign who never saw the income tax reach 5%, as the
voters mandated 20 years ago,” Director of Citizens for
Limited Taxation Chip Ford told the Boston Herald.
“Finally, it’s going to go back to 5% as promised. I’d say
too little, too late, but that’s what you get from state
government.”
The individual income tax rate will be
reduced from 5.05% to 5% effective Jan. 1, the Baker
Administration announced Friday.
That should have occurred 17 years ago....
Two years after its passage, however,
lawmakers froze the income tax at 5.3% to fund budget
shortfalls. Facing a voter backlash, the Democrat-controlled
Legislature reluctantly created a mechanism to reduce the
tax rate when the state’s annual revenue increases exceeded
2.5%.
Facing a voter backlash, the
Democrat-controlled Legislature reluctantly created a
mechanism to reduce the tax rate when the state’s annual
revenue increases exceeded 2.5%.
But even then, the formula clearly reflected
the government’s intention to forestall any tax-rate
reduction for as long as possible. It only allowed for a
paltry .05% annual income-tax rate decrease when that 2.5%
revenue target was reached.
It took years before the commonwealth’s
economy could support such revenue figures. For the first 10
years, there was no rate change. But reductions did occur in
2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016, leaving the rate at 5.10%....
We’re thinking especially of Barbara
Anderson, the longtime anti-tax activist who along with
Ford, marshalled the effort to get this question on the
state ballot. Unfortunately, Anderson died of leukemia in
2016.
It seems many lawmakers believe there’s
never enough money to support all their spending priorities.
They’d probably point out that the $88 million that won’t be
picked from taxpayers’ pockets in fiscal 2020 and the $185
million in fiscal 2021 represent an insignificant amount
that could be better utilized for one of their pet programs.
While it’s true workers will just see
incremental increases in their paychecks, that 5% income-tax
rate sends a message.
While taxes remain a necessary fact of life,
the Taxachusetts label isn’t.
A friendly business environment — not ever
higher taxes — represents the best way to generate revenue.
A Lowell Sun editorial
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
Take that ‘Taxachusetts’
Sometimes, a dream
deferred can finally come true.
In 2000,
Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly supported Question 4 to
reduce the income tax rate from 5.95% to 5%. The Legislature
stepped in and set aside the results of the ballot question.
They raised the tax rate, and then allowed it to be lowered
one-half a percent if a series of artificial constructs they
invented were met. This happened a couple of times over the
years, but now, 20 years later, that formula will finally
allow the tax rate to drop to what voters voted for 20 years
ago.
I wrote about my
own involvement in that effort last May, when my friend
Chip Faulkner of Citizens for Limited Taxation
died. To put it onto the ballot, volunteers like me pester
people outside post offices and supermarkets to create a
ballot question to repeal the Dukakis “emergency” tax hike
from 5% to 5.95%....
Not every deferred
dream has to dry up and wither away; and given past
performance, we will always need Citizens for Limited
Taxation.
The Cape Cod Times
Thursday, December 19, 2019
For patient taxpayers, a dream deferred may still come true
By Cynthia Stead
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Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
The Royal
Governor of Massachusetts, Sir Charles Baker the Second,
continues to pursue his decree that taxes on the
commoners shall rise, but resistance to his
pronouncement is building among the serfs and subjects.
Such beleaguered citizens long ago listed their
grievances when announcing the end of their patience,
stating their complaints in part:
He has combined with others to
subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our
constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving
his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
He has erected a multitude of
New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to
harass our people and eat out their substance.
For imposing Taxes on us
without our Consent:
For taking away our Charters,
abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering
fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own
Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with
power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
Those excerpts
from The Declaration of Independence of 1776
were as true then as they
are becoming today.
The People's
Governor of the neighboring state of Live Free Or Die
New Hampshire has unceremoniously rejected Royal
Governor Baker's rapacious tomfoolery, calling it a
"fiscal boondoggle." Even the neighboring states
of liberal Vermont and taxaholic Connecticut are
balking, withholding their respective judgments.
This past
Monday we celebrated the historic Boston Tea Party of
1773, on December 16 — the
event 246 years ago which ignited a revolution that
changed the world.
Instead of
dumping tea into Boston Harbor, perhaps the next
revolt will be launched over gas
— "The Boston Gas Party" of 2020?
This is the
final CLT Update you'll get this year so I squeezed a
lot into it. It's time to shut down and get to
work on my new computer system, a critical project still on hold.
Whether these Updates will start again in the New Year,
whether or not CLT will continue into 2020, has yet to
be determined.
If this is to
be CLT's "last hurrah," then after 45 years the
organization will go out on one final
success: Returning to taxpayers an additional $88
million in 2020 and another $185 million in 2021.
That last step of our successful 2000 ballot campaign
that finally rolled back the
"temporary" income tax hike of 1989 kicks in
on
January 1. Perhaps that's a good note on which to
bow out.
That's just
the latest big savings CLT has provided all
Massachusetts taxpayers over its 45 years as the state's
premiere taxpayers' advocate; another $273 million added to the multi-billions of
their dollars that CLT has saved them collectively over
the decades. For me it remains inexplicable that CLT's works and accomplishments have for so long been so
unrecognized and under-appreciated while CLT struggles
daily just to exist hand-to-mouth, so it can keep doing it for
millions of oblivious beneficiaries.
Thank you to
those whose contributions through the year got CLT to
the end of 2019. It has been
a non-stop, truly hectic year, folks! [See:
The
Year In Review] We
couldn't have done it without your support and that of a
diminishing number of loyal members; wouldn't have bothered
even trying.
Merry
Christmas, Chanukah Sameach, and best wishes to all for
a healthy and prosperous New Year and the new decade
ahead!
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Chip Ford
Executive Director |
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State House News
Service
Friday, December 20, 2019
Weekly Roundup - Pat Nixon Was Really Cool
Recap and analysis of the week in state
government
By Matt Murphy
Charlie Baker shows up to a GOP fundraising
dinner and the maitre d' asks, "Governor, how
many at your table?"
Baker replies, "I'm a party of one."
This may sound like the setup to a bad joke, but
increasingly the governor is finding himself
estranged from the mainstream leanings of his
party. In a week when Republicans were rallying
around their president as Democrats in the House
made Donald Trump just the third president in
history to be impeached, all Baker could muster
was that he hoped the Senate could give Trump a
"fair trial."
And Trump isn't the governor's only problem
within the Republican Party.
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu this week took a
rhetorical blow torch to the Transportation
Climate Initiative that Baker's environmental
and transportation teams have spent a year
working to develop. Sununu called TCI a
"financial boondoggle" and a program that New
Hampshire wants no part of.
"We certainly don't think of this as a financial
boondoggle," Energy Secretary Kathleen
Theoharides said Thursday about Sununu's
comments.
So perhaps it was no surprise that when Baker
was asked this week about his place in the
Republican Party, he described himself as "still
a big fan" of ... himself.
"I have no trouble being a Republican defined
the way I want to define it," Baker told Boston
Public Radio host Jim Braude.
Baker said he joined the Grand Old Party for
Reagan and stayed for Weld and Cellucci. But
even before then, a pre-teen Baker was smitten
with another figure from the party – a White
House Christmas Party to be exact. "Pat Nixon
was really cool," Baker conceded, having met the
former first lady when his dad worked in the
Nixon administration.
That attitude may serve Baker well as he works
to bring on board as many of the 12 states that
began the Transportation Climate Initiative as
he can. The coalition, led by Theoharides,
released a draft memo of understanding this week
presenting three options for driving down carbon
emissions from cars and trucks.
The most cautious approach would reduce
emissions by 20 percent by 2032 and add an
estimated 5 cents to the price of a gallon of
gas. The most ambitious path contemplated would
reduce emissions by 25 percent, but cost as much
as 17 cents a gallon.
But it would also generate up to $7 billion a
year by 2032 for states to invest in cleaner
transportation alternatives like electric car
rebates, buses and bike paths.
The impact on gas prices is what had Sununu
running for the White Mountains, and could lead
other governors to follow his trail.
Theoharides noted, however, that gas prices can
vary between the states by more than 17 cents
for reasons that have nothing to do with
governments trying to discourage fossil fuel
consumption.
The TCI debate promises to rage on into the
spring, and could influence the direction the
House moves with respect to the new revenue
Speaker Robert DeLeo wants to gin up in the new
year for transportation. In a nutshell, the
TCI-related gas price impacts will be layered on
top of any gas tax increase proposals.
The potential money from TCI is still several
years away from becoming reality, and in the
meantime, Baker said that in January he plans to
request the remainder of the $50 million he
asked the Legislature to deliver for expedited T
maintenance.
The House and Senate withheld $18 million in the
budget bill finalized last week, with the
speaker questioning how Baker planned to spend
the money and whether the governor was sincere
in his assertion that it was needed for safety.
Whether its $32 million or $50 million, MBTA
General Manager Steve Poftak said the transit
agency anticipates putting together a plan by
March to address the safety and culture concerns
raised in a recent report by a task force led by
former U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
At that time, Poftak has said more money will
definitely be needed.
Rep. Jennifer Benson, a Lunenburg Democrat,
won't have to worry about voting on new taxes,
because she announced this week that she's
leaving the House on Jan. 8. It will leave a
void at the top of the Health Care Financing
Committee ahead of a seven-month stretch during
which health care reform was expected to
significant attention.
Benson was tapped as the next president of the
progressive Alliance for Business Leadership,
succeeding Jesse Mermell who stepped down to run
for Congress in the 4th District.
The vice-chair of the committee is Rep. Dan
Cullinane of Boston.
If the speaker follows the template he used last
session when Peter Kocot passed away in February
of the second year in the middle of work on a
health care bill, he'll leave Cullinane where he
is and assign the heavy lifting to someone like
Majority Leader Ron Mariano. Though that
strategy didn't work out so well in 2018.
Comptroller Andrew Maylor's strategy to coax an
agreement out of the House and Senate on an
overdue fiscal 2019 closeout budget worked a
little better, even if the players on the field
didn't run the play exactly how it was drawn up.
The Legislature may have ignored Maylor's
self-imposed deadline for a deal, but did stick
around until the wee hours last Wednesday to get
a budget done.
And that, it turns out, meant Maylor could fly
off to Disney World for a vacation this week
without the burden of worrying about how he will
be able to produce the state's annual financial
report, which is already almost two months late.
His staff was hard at work on that back in
frigid Boston.
Returning for a moment to that whole impeachment
thing, it's worth noting that all nine members
of the Massachusetts delegation to the House
voted in favor of the two articles of
impeachment against the president, including
Rep. Stephen Lynch, who waited until Monday to
make it clear how he'd vote.
Rep. Jim McGovern, who controlled a lot of the
speaking time as Rules Committee chairman, made
sure to give ample floor time to members from
Massachusetts, including Rep. Lori Trahan who
this week learned that the Ethics Committee will
open a full investigation into a loan she gave
her campaign in 2018.
STORY OF THE WEEK: TCI forecasts a gas price
increase before the gas tax debate can even
happen.
The Boston Herald
Friday, December 20, 2019
Charlie Baker’s gas tax cements his RINO legacy
Old photos tell the Transportation Climate
Initiative story
By Howie Carr
Gov.
Charlie Baker was against automatic gas tax
increases before he was for them.
These photos are from 2014, when Tall Deval was
running for governor as, believe it or not, a
friend of the taxpayers.
Boy, have times changed.
Now the imperious RINO fraud is cheerleading for
the TCI — the Transportation Climate Initiative
— which makes the automatic gas tax hike of 2014
seem like an outpouring of pure Athenian
democracy.
I mean, in 2014 the hacks at the State House at
least tried to engineer their heist via a
constitutional mechanism, to wit, legislation,
which could then be repealed by everybody
standing around that “Stop Automatic Tax Hikes”
sign.
And that’s exactly what happened. Even though
the payroll patriots outspent the working
classes 30-1, the automatic gas tax was repealed
53-47 — a much wider margin than Tall Deval
enjoyed in his 40,000-vote squeaker over
gubernatorial opponent Marsha Coakley.
To put it another way, five years ago Tall Deval
needed us a lot more than we needed him.
And now, this is how he repays the favor — by
trying to jam through a second gas tax, on top
of the already outrageous 44.9 cents (federal
and state) per gallon. It’s all in the guise of
an arbitrarily imposed “carbon fee,” which is
going to be a lot harder, if not impossible, for
the taxpayers to repeal via the referendum
process.
Of course Tall Deval and the rest of his
shameless, tax-fattened greedheads are claiming
this immediate 17 cent per gallon hike is to
protect the polar bears, but no one’s buying
that.
Like the ill-gotten gains they were conniving to
grab in 2014, much of this latest highway
robbery is in reality destined to bail out the
MBTA pension fund, i.e., the Bulgers, at least
two of whom retired with full pensions while in
their mid-40s.
I don’t know which of these photos is my
favorite — maybe the one with Tall Deval
grimacing as then-Rep. Geoff Diehl excoriates
the takers and defends the makers. Back then we
always wondered if Baker was as committed to
repealing the automatic gas-tax increase as
people who worked for a living — and this photo
makes us remember why we were so skeptical.
At least five years ago he knew what it was like
to actually have to pay for filling up your car.
Check out those prefracking prices — $3.99 for
high-test. Right now those are the bad old days.
If Tall Deval gets his way now, they’ll be the
good old days.
California’s already got this scam going. Gas
prices are close to five bucks a gallon. That’s
Charlie Baker’s dream for Massachusetts, and our
nightmare.
This TCI tax is a regional scheme — the hacks
are acting like the worst kind of mob, trying to
screw up their courage to screw the taxpayers up
and down the Eastern seaboard all at once, on
the grounds that we can’t stop all of them. To
more fully understand the outlines of this
multibillion-dollar heist, go to massfiscal.org.
It really smells. That’s why Tall Deval is
leading the charge.
Thank goodness New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu
has already said no way. I asked him Wednesday
night if he thought the TCI was a scam.
“Let’s just say it’s … scammy,” Sununu said.
You’ll never see Tall Deval at a gas pump again
— or in front of a pro-taxpayer sign, for that
matter. But given his deep commitment to
fighting climate change, I’m sure his New Year’s
resolution is to give up his State Police car
and ride into the city every morning on the T’s
commuter rail — preferably on one of those
wonderful Depression-era cars where the heat
only kicks in every third day.
Shouldn’t be a problem for Tall Deval though.
Hacks like him are so full of hot air they can
keep the entire train nice and toasty.
The Boston Herald
Friday, December 20, 2019
A Boston Herald editorial
Baker should follow Sununu’s lead and nix TCI
Perhaps N.H. Gov. Chris Sununu would be willing
to give a TED talk to Massachusetts lawmakers —
he has much to teach them.
Sununu rejected the Transportation Climate
Initiative backed by Gov. Charlie Baker, calling
the bid to reduce carbon emissions and raise
money for transportation projects by hiking gas
prices a “financial boondoggle” and a burden on
drivers.
A state official expressing concern for
taxpayers — and doing something to keep prices
from rising — what a concept.
The perceived draw for the climate change
compact is the chance to reduce carbon
emissions. A noble goal, but the initiative
doesn’t take into account that many residents
don’t live close to public transportation, don’t
trust public transportation to be reliable and
actually need their cars. Live in the suburbs?
You must be punished for your folly.
As the Boston Herald’s Mary Markos reported, 10
Atlantic seaboard states and the District of
Columbia have been negotiating the TCI, and are
reviewing the plan. Sununu’s move could spur
other states to bow out.
A spokeswoman for Vermont Gov. Phil Scott said
the state is “reviewing and analyzing the draft
(memorandum of understanding) in full, so it’s
too early to weigh in at this point.”
One can imagine Vermont residents, and those who
live in the other affected states, are looking
at the prospect of a 17-cent hike in gas prices
and are willing to “weigh in.”
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont noted “We’re
watching that and obviously this is a regional
initiative that a lot of our fellow states are
watching as well. That’s nothing of what I’ve
signed onto at this point. What I have signed
onto is what I want to do to fix our
transportation system.”
In the TCI poker game, only Sununu has played
his hand.
For Baker, and Massachusetts, the question now
is: What’s next? Would we go it alone, or with
few allies, in order to garner revenue for the
MBTA — financial boondogle be damned?
Critics have pointed out the problems it would
cause if the Bay State was in while New
Hampshire was out.
“With much higher fuel costs Massachusetts small
businesses on the New Hampshire border now risk
losing customers to a lower cost state, as well
as the sale of soda, cigarettes and snacks,”
Christopher Carlozzi, state director of the
National Federation of Independent Business,
said. “Consumers will already travel over the
border to save a few cents a gallon, but if it’s
17 cents they certainly will drive to New
Hampshire for cheaper gas, which hurts
Massachusetts state revenues.”
Those who don’t live close enough for a feasible
drive to gas up in the Granite State would then
bear the brunt.
Fortunately, not all Massachusetts lawmakers are
on the TCI bandwagon.
“This tax, and that’s exactly what it is, is not
only a detriment to pursue but an absolute
wrecking ball to the financial well-being of
working class citizens in Massachusetts,” state
Rep. Nicholas Boldyga said. “When is enough
enough? The return on investment when it comes
to carbon emissions reduction is dismal. Which
is why that argument should be dumped just like
this tax.”
Yes, addressing climate change is important —
but to pursue a tax on people who drive cars
without consideration for the ease in which they
might make a switch to public transportation,
how location factors in transportation
accessibility and options, and the unfairness of
taxing those who don’t take the T to pay for
improvements to it is not the way to do it.
Just ask Gov. Sununu.
The Boston Herald
Friday, December 20, 2019
Baker under pressure to put TCI before lawmakers
By Mary Markos
Lawmakers and gas station owners are calling on
Gov. Charlie Baker to get approval from the
Legislature before signing onto a regional
compact that would raise gas prices in an
attempt to combat climate change.
“What I find ironic is if (Donald) Trump was
proposing to do something like this by executive
order, all the politicians would be screaming
their outrage at the top of their lungs and our
attorney general would have already filed a
lawsuit to stop it,” state Rep. Shawn Dooley,
R-Norfolk, told the Herald.
Baker indicated last week that he would exercise
his executive power to implement the
Transportation Climate Initiative, which would
charge fuel companies for the carbon emissions
associated with the gas and diesel they sell and
result in a price hike of 5 to 17 cents per
gallon in the first year. He cited the Global
Warming Solutions Act of 2008, saying it gives
him the authority to sign on through an
executive order.
Officials have not said how high prices might go
in subsequent years and told reporters earlier
this week that they did not examine how the
economic impacts would change if neighboring
states opted out, as New Hampshire now has done.
Critics have said that forcing up gas prices in
Massachusetts will send drivers and businesses
to New Hampshire.
“The Administration looks forward to working
with the Legislature to determine how best to
invest the proceeds of TCI in ways that work
best for Massachusetts communities,” Baker
spokeswoman Anisha Chakrabarti said in a
statement.
Jonathan Shaer, executive director or the New
England Convenience Store and Energy Marketers
Association, represents the wholesalers that
would likely end up charging drivers for the
fees they incur from the measure. He raised
concerns about a lack of transparency and clear
understanding of the cost increase, in addition
to a separate gas tax that’s currently being
considered by the Legislature.
“What is the aggregate of that? Now we’re not
just talking about a TCI fee, we’re talking
about TCI plus a gas tax. The Legislature needs
an opportunity to have that conversation and
give citizens an opportunity to understand that
both are being discussed,” Shaer said. “That’s
just good policy making.”
“We already know how people feel about gas tax,
it’s very sensitive,” Shaer added, citing a 2014
ballot initiative that he said “crushed” a gas
tax hike of 24 cents a gallon and automatic
hikes for years to come.
“To not give the citizens of Massachusetts the
opportunity to weigh in, in terms of if they’re
willing to pay and how much they’re willing to
pay, I think is a mistake,” Shaer said, “and I
say that as a person who represents the
companies that are going to have to interface
with those motorists.”
Joint Transportation Committee Chairman Rep.
William Straus also raised concerns about the
ambiguity around the costs involved in the
measure.
“It’s hard to know exactly what the number is
going to be here and so that concerns me,”
Straus said. “I think any governor benefits with
going above and beyond working with the
Legislature even if he possesses sole authority
to act at this point.”
State House News
Service
Friday, December 20, 2019
TCI Success Will Require “Critical Mass” of
States to Join
By Matt Murphy
The
state's lead negotiator on a multi-state pact to
lower carbon emissions from vehicles said
Thursday she was not surprised New Hampshire
Gov. Chris Sununu withdrew his state from talks,
as he slammed the program as a "financial
boondoogle."
Energy Secretary Kathleen Theoharides said
Thursday after testifying before the Senate
Global Warming Committee that New Hampshire's
participation in the still-developing
Transportation Climate Initiative was not
essential to its success.
Asked if she was surprised by Sununu's reaction,
Theoharides simply said, "No."
However, as the chair of the coalition of
Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states pursuing the
regional cap-and-invest program, Theoharides
said a "critical mass" of participation from the
12 original states and District of Columbia will
be necessary to make TCI successful.
"We certainly don't think of this as a financial
boondoggle," Theoharides told the News Service.
"It's states working together to achieve
significant, multi-generational goal, which is
reducing climate change, and being able to use
the proceeds on an individual level in each of
their states to invest in the clean
transportation system of the future."
The coalition released detailed financial models
this week as it moves closer to asking states to
sign on to the pact next spring to drive down
emissions from the transportation sector by
requiring fuel suppliers to purchase allowances
for every ton of carbon their fuel wold emit
when burnt. Transportation emissions accounts
for over 40 percent of all carbon pollution in
the region, and the cap-and invest program could
generate up to $7 billion by 2032 for states to
invest in clean alternatives.
The states are exploring three scenarios to
reduce emissions from cars and trucks by 20
percent, 22 percent or 25 percent by 2032.
Depending on the cap chosen by states, the
program could add between 5 cents to 17 cents to
the price of a gallon of gas.
"We are already taking substantial steps to curb
our carbon emissions, & this initiative, if
enacted, would institute a new gas tax by up to
17 cents per gallon while only achieving minimal
results. This program is a financial boondoggle
and the people of NH will never support it,"
Sununu said immediately after the draft memo of
understanding was released Tuesday.
Other governors considered to be on the fence,
like Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, have not yet
commented publicly on the draft proposal.
Theoharides said the TCI coalition hasn't yet
examined how many states it would take to make a
regional pact work. Other participating
jurisdictions include Connecticut, Delaware,
Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New York,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia
and the District of Columbia.
"We haven't done specific modeling on that, and
I think one of the reasons we haven't is because
right now our goal is to get as many states as
possible. But we certainly are looking for
states to make this a meaningful market with
real power," Theoharides said.
"We certainly will be talking more about what
that size is as we move towards the spring," she
added.
Sen. Michael Barrett, the vice chair of the
Senate Committee on Global Warming and Climate
Change, suggested that Massachusetts could join
a market for carbon with California if the TCI
coalition falls apart.
While Theoharides said its true that states do
not need to be contiguous for a carbon market to
function, she said the ideal scenario would be
to make it work with states on the East Coast
that share transportation networks.
"It is helpful to have states that touch each
other, that share borders and transportation
networks," Theohardies said. She said the price
increases under consideration were smaller than
some of the current differences in gas prices
between states or the fees to use a credit card
at the pump.
"It's a very small price and so we don't expect
people to be crossing state borders to get
cheaper prices based on what we're setting up
here, but it certainly makes it easier if states
in the same geography are all participating in
the same program," Theoharides said.
New Hampshire was one of nine states in the
coalition that would have required the approval
of its Legislature to join TCI in the spring
when the program details are finalized.
Only in Massachusetts, Maryland and New York
does the governor already have the authority to
sign their states up unilaterally.
Along with New Hampshire, Maine and New York
were initially considered to be "observer"
states when the TCI effort began in December
2018, but Theoharides said those distinctions
have blurred over time.
"All of the states are participating at the same
level now, working toward a spring sign on," she
said.
Barrett suggested that the three models for
carbon emission reductions, peaking at 25
percent, were "quite moderate" and probably not
enough to achieve his goal of net zero emissions
by 2050.
Both Theoharides and Transportation Secretary
Stephanie Pollack, however, said it's vital to
start generating money for investments in
cleaner transportation to giver drivers and
alternative to their cars before using price
more aggressively to change driving behaviors.
State House News
Service
Friday, December 20, 2019
Advances - Week of Dec. 22, 2019
With
Christmas falling on a Wednesday, Beacon Hill
will join most other employers next week for a
bifurcated work week. The House and Senate will
each hold a pair of sessions, and Gov. Charlie
Baker plans to meet with legislative leaders
Monday afternoon, prior to the annual Menorah
lighting. Activity slows on Tuesday for
Christmas Eve, and likely won't pick up much on
Thursday, a popular day for retail returns.
Before the holiday, a public hearing is planned
on alcohol license bills, an area where
lawmakers like to dabble when communities run up
against license limits and need more.
Comptroller Andrew Maylor's office continues
work on the state's annual Statutory Basis
Financial Report, which was due in October but
delayed by the late enactment of the final
fiscal 2019 appropriations bill. The report
won't be complete next week, a Maylor spokesman
said Friday, and officials in that office were
still working to get the report out to
independent auditors for review.
Looking just beyond next week, the Legislature
launches the second leg of its two-year session
on New Year's Day. On that day, the income tax
rate will fall from 5.05 to 5 percent, the
minimum wage will rise from $12 to $12.75 and
automatic voter registration is scheduled to
begin through processes established at
MassHealth and the Registry of Motor Vehicles.
Auto and homeowners insurance discounts
available to policyholders covered due to
affiliations with companies, unions and alumni
associations are at risk unless laws are
extended beyond 2019 - a bill (H 4152) to do so
cleared the House on Dec. 16 but has not
surfaced in the Senate.
The state's longtime, top campaign finance
regulator is set to leave his post on Friday.
OCPF Director Michael Sullivan is retiring, but
plans to stay in a part-time capacity to
transition House, Senate and mayoral candidates
into the newly required depository bank
reporting system, an aide said. Picking
Sullivan's successor is up to a commission
consisting of Secretary of State William Galvin,
GOP Party Chair Jim Lyons, Democratic Party
Chair Gus Bickford, and a dean of a law school
to be appointed by Gov. Baker.
A pair of early 2020 deadlines fall on Jan. 15.
By that day, legislative leaders and the Baker
administration are supposed to agree on a tax
revenue base for shared use during fiscal 2021
budget development. And unless lawmakers agree
to another extension or alternative law,
simulcast betting operators will lose their
authorization to continue taking wagers on the
15th.
The Salem News
Thursday, December 19, 2019
A Salem News Editorial
The slow descent of the income tax
Twenty
years ago the Red Sox still played in the shadow
of an imagined curse. The New England Patriots
had been to two Super Bowls but never won. Tom
Brady was a sixth-round draft pick and a
fourth-string quarterback. Traffic on the
Central Artery backed up above ground.
A little more than 20 years ago, 1.5 million
Massachusetts voters told the state to roll back
the personal income tax rate from 5.85% to 5%.
Question 4 on the November 2000 statewide
ballot, a citizen-driven referendum, won with
56% of the vote. It was a mandate the
Legislature only partially accommodated and as
years went by ignored.
Instead, Beacon Hill dropped the tax rate to
5.3% and passed a law conceding the rest — but
only in small doses, and only if the state met
certain financial targets. The first of those
steps didn’t come for another decade. The final
one didn’t come until last week.
Gov. Charlie Baker’s office made an announcement
on Friday that, as of Jan. 1, the personal
income tax rate will fall to 5%, in line with
the wishes of the electorate. In the statement,
Baker noted, “… we are finally making happen
what voters called for almost 20 years ago.”
It’s hard to compare the Massachusetts of 20
years ago to today. The state’s finances were in
far different shape. Two years after the tax
question, Beacon Hill was carving into the money
it sends to cities and towns, forcing mayors,
town managers, city councils and selectmen to
reconcile, at least partially, the demands of
taxpayers with their own budgets.
Today, by contrast, state budgets increase local
aid while the Legislature drags its feet over
how to spend more than $1 billion from last
year’s surplus.
So, it’s not hard to imagine why lawmakers
resisted the constraints of Question 4. It’s one
thing to acknowledge the wishes of taxpayers,
it’s another to do so all at once — and at the
expense of so many things taxpayers expect.
Still, it’s frustrating that the slow deflate of
the income tax was drawn out for another 15
years. Even as the state’s financial condition
improved, with a vibrant economy and increased
tax revenues, our elected representatives left
the income tax sunset on the slow setting.
Some would argue that eliminating or reducing
taxes is against the nature of government, that
they only go up but never go away. It’s a
cynical view but one the Massachusetts
Legislature reinforced time and again, year
after year.
And, at this point it isn’t really about the
money. Most taxpayers will see only a modest
benefit from finally dropping the income tax
rate to 5% — perhaps enough to have a good
Friday or Saturday night. The real issue is the
principle of the thing. How many taxpayers voted
for a 5% personal income tax rate in November
2000, never to see it actually happen, having
moved away or died in the span of the human
generation that passed before it actually came
to be?
Of course, Question 4 was also a testament to
the messy, often impractical nature of
citizen-led petitions. They play to the worst
instincts of the electorate. Even the most well
formed omit important details, or are blind to
their consequences. Just look to legal pot for a
case study, though that one also illustrates how
the Legislature, once handed a referendum, can
warp and distort the result.
But, again, those are issues resolved in the
short term. Legal pot was passed, rewritten,
implemented and sold in Massachusetts in less
than one-quarter the time the state spent
ratcheting down the income tax to the 5%
threshold set at the ballot box.
A legislature unresponsive to the wishes of
those it governs is reminiscent of another case
study from history, albeit much older. That one
involved an act of defiance inspired by the
Townsend Acts and Parliament’s maneuver to force
the East India Company’s cheap tea, along with
the taxes imposed on it, upon the colonies. It
was 246 years ago this past Monday that about
200 people got together and dumped the tea into
Boston Harbor.
The Lowell Sun
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
A Lowell Sun editorial
Take that ‘Taxachusetts’
After
two decades of waiting, Massachusetts residents
will finally see that flat 5% income-tax rate
they successfully voted for — too late though
for some of the major tax-reduction advocates to
see their work come to fruition.
“There are a lot of taxpayers who worked on that
campaign who never saw the income tax reach 5%,
as the voters mandated 20 years ago,”
Director of Citizens for Limited Taxation Chip
Ford told the Boston Herald. “Finally, it’s
going to go back to 5% as promised. I’d say too
little, too late, but that’s what you get from
state government.”
The individual income tax rate will be reduced
from 5.05% to 5% effective Jan. 1, the Baker
Administration announced Friday.
That should have occurred 17 years ago.
That referendum-inspired law initially set an
income-tax rate at 5.6% for tax year 2001, 5.3%
for tax year 2002, and 5% for tax year 2003 and
thereafter.
Two years after its passage, however, lawmakers
froze the income tax at 5.3% to fund budget
shortfalls. Facing a voter backlash, the
Democrat-controlled Legislature reluctantly
created a mechanism to reduce the tax rate when
the state’s annual revenue increases exceeded
2.5%.
But even then, the formula clearly reflected the
government’s intention to forestall any tax-rate
reduction for as long as possible. It only
allowed for a paltry .05% annual income-tax rate
decrease when that 2.5% revenue target was
reached.
It took years before the commonwealth’s economy
could support such revenue figures. For the
first 10 years, there was no rate change. But
reductions did occur in 2012, 2014, 2015 and
2016, leaving the rate at 5.10%.
Revenues couldn’t trigger another tax reduction
in 2017, but that didn’t stop legislators from
voting themselves a 40-to-60% pay raise. It
obviously didn’t bother them to approve this
type of self-serving state spending despite
budget constraints.
In fact, we mentioned at the time of the vote
that Gov. Charlie Baker expressed concern about
that money grab because the state faced a $500
million structural deficit heading into fiscal
year 2018.
But recent robust revenue figures — including
the prior fiscal year’s $1 billion surplus —
finally set the stage for that 5% income-tax
rate to become a reality.
And as the CLT’s director mentioned, the length
of time it took to reach this goal deprived many
of the principal tax-cut champions from enjoying
this victory.
We’re thinking especially of Barbara Anderson,
the longtime anti-tax activist who along with
Ford, marshalled the effort to get this question
on the state ballot. Unfortunately, Anderson
died of leukemia in 2016.
It seems many lawmakers believe there’s never
enough money to support all their spending
priorities. They’d probably point out that the
$88 million that won’t be picked from taxpayers’
pockets in fiscal 2020 and the $185 million in
fiscal 2021 represent an insignificant amount
that could be better utilized for one of their
pet programs.
While it’s true workers will just see
incremental increases in their paychecks, that
5% income-tax rate sends a message.
While taxes remain a necessary fact of life, the
Taxachusetts label isn’t.
A friendly business environment — not ever
higher taxes — represents the best way to
generate revenue.
The Cape Cod Times
Thursday, December 19, 2019
For patient taxpayers, a dream deferred may
still come true
By Cynthia Stead
Sometimes, a dream deferred can finally come
true.
In 2000, Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly
supported Question 4 to reduce the income tax
rate from 5.95% to 5%. The Legislature stepped
in and set aside the results of the ballot
question. They raised the tax rate, and then
allowed it to be lowered one-half a percent if a
series of artificial constructs they invented
were met. This happened a couple of times over
the years, but now, 20 years later, that formula
will finally allow the tax rate to drop to what
voters voted for 20 years ago.
I wrote about my own involvement in that effort
last May, when my friend Chip Faulkner of
Citizens for Limited Taxation died. To
put it onto the ballot, volunteers like me
pester people outside post offices and
supermarkets to create a ballot question to
repeal the Dukakis “emergency” tax hike from 5%
to 5.95%. Then-Gov. Paul Cellucci had appealed
to the Taxation Committee that the emergency was
over and the rate should be lowered. Chairman
Paul Casey, D-Winchester, said there was nothing
in the legislation passed indicating it was not
permanent, flabbergasting the audience, until
another member spoke up and said no, really,
Gov. Dukakis had said it was meant to be
temporary; the chairman said he didn’t remember
that at all. Cellucci then wholeheartedly
supported the ballot question by Citizens for
Limited Taxation, who had gotten Proposition 2½
passed earlier, to lower the rate to 5%.
But when the paperwork was turned in, Secretary
of State Bill Galvin was troubled by what were
called “stray marks” – notes, cross-outs,
remarks, etc., that signers had added to the
petition. That could possibly confuse subsequent
signatories who would not understand what they
were signing. He wanted his office to be able to
decide which sheets would be acceptable and
which should be rejected as too confusing. But
the state Supreme Judicial Court took it a step
further and said that any mark would nullify the
entire sheet, which Galvin opposed – because
that would affect all petitions, not just ones
he wanted to scrutinize. But the stray marks
rule is still in force today.
This was not exactly what John Adams had in mind
when he put the right of free petition into the
Massachusetts Constitution, but Citizens for
Limited Taxation went back out and collected the
80,239 signatures – again. So in 2000, voters
overwhelmingly voted to approve the 5% tax rate.
The Legislature then set that vote aside and
created some revenue targets that would need to
be met in succeeding years to allow the rate to
fall. Voters were outraged, but not enough to
stop incumbents from being reelected with no
repercussions. And since they also voided the
Clean Elections Law by refusing to appropriate
the required funds, free petition was looking
more and more like a charade.
But hey – here we are only 20 years later, and
the will of the voters will finally be complied
with.
Getting back to that 5% rate has another effect.
It will reinstate the deduction for charitable
donations that lawmakers also nullified 20 years
ago, using the same invented revenue targets.
Until now, deductions for charity could be made
only on Federal 1040 tax returns but not on
Massachusetts income tax. Question 7, passed the
same year as the tax rollback, created a
charitable deduction, pointing out that we are
one of only eight states that do not allow it,
and we rank 48th out of 50 in the nation
according to measures of charitable generosity.
In the argument against, Sen. Michael Morrissey,
D-Norfolk and Plymouth, wrote, “Don’t be fooled
by an appeal to your generosity, which is really
intended to create a loophole that will cost
Massachusetts taxpayers millions”; he argued
that the rich would just avoid their fair share
by donating to charity. The fiends!
I had thought that since Citizens for Limited
Taxation is a registered 501(c)(3) organization
we could take advantage of our newfound tax cut
by making a donation to it in memory of
Barbara Anderson or Chip Faulkner, neither
of whom lived to see the law that they worked
for and got passed by the people – not the
Legislature – come into use. Alas, their
foundation, Citizens Economic Research
Foundation, also died with their passing and the
exempt status was surrendered. But lack of a
deduction is no reason to skip giving a donation
to Citizens for Limited Taxation. We were never
able to take it off our state taxes anyway. They
are the institutional memory.
Not every deferred dream has to dry up and
wither away; and given past performance, we will
always need Citizens for Limited Taxation.
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Citizens for Limited Taxation ▪
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