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After
nearly 50 years, Citizens For Limited Taxation is
turning off the lights at the end of 2022, and its
final leader on Thursday said he expected CLT's
members would bolster the ranks of another Bay State
fiscal watchdog.
CLT
Executive Director Chip Ford gave his blessing to
the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance in a press
conference Thursday, saying he was "passing the
torch onto the new generation" and calling them "the
only game [left] in town" now that CLT is closing up
shop....
Ford said
he is confident that MassFiscal will carry on his
group's legacy of fighting tax increases, supporting
tax cuts, and defending CLT initiatives that made it
into law, like Proposition 2½ and the Chapter 62F
revenue cap.
Prop. 2½,
which limits the annual growth in property taxes,
"revolutionized property tax administration and is a
fundamental feature of the Massachusetts municipal
fiscal landscape," the state Division of Local
Services proclaims on its website.
Ford
emphasized that defending Proposition 2½ from
alterations or repeal was former CLT director
Barbara Anderson's main concern.
"If that
goes away, I don't know what happens to the
taxpayers of Massachusetts. None of them will be
able to live there any longer," he said.
"It's a
blessing for Massachusetts that we have it,"
MassFiscal spokesman Paul Diego Craney said of 2½.
"And it's MassFiscal's job to continue to protect it
as long as we can." ...
"Working
for CLT, it's never been a job, it's been a
vocation. It's been a life," said Ford. 'It's time
to enjoy personal time, the 73-year-old added,
noting that the other two leaders of CLT -- Barbara
Anderson and Chip Faulkner -- both died at age 73.
"I work
literally 12, 16, 18 hours a day, seven days a week,
365 days a year. I am so used to making excuses for
having no social life," Ford said.
Former
Boston talk show host Avi Nelson, an occasional
Herald contributor, offered his congratulations on
Ford's retirement and asked if he would remain
"active at all" with MassFiscal on upcoming
projects.
"On a
working basis, no. I'm retired," Ford replied,
though he would make his "institutional memory"
available.
Craney
said the "invitation is always open," and Ford's
"always welcome to give me a call, and I plan to
give him a call, and I plan to give him a call quite
a bit when things pop up."
State
House News Service
Thursday, December 15, 2022
MassFiscal Takes Anti-Tax Torch From
CLT
Advocacy Group Once Led By Barbara Anderson Closing
Shop
Beacon
Hill is about to lose one of its most prominent
taxpayer watchdogs.
Citizens
for Limited Taxation, a group founded by fiery
Marblehead activist Barbara Anderson that pushed
through citizen initiatives on proposition 2½ and a
1986 tax rebate law, plans to dissolve amid
fundraising issues, dwindling membership and a lack
of new leaders to take over the organization.
Chip Ford,
the group’s executive director, said after nearly a
half century the time has come to pack it up.
“I’ve kept
it going as long as I could,” said Ford, 73, who now
lives in Kentucky. “But the time has definitely come
to shut it down.” ...
Ford moved
to Kentucky after taking over as executive director,
but kept the group registered in Massachusetts and
maintained a P.O. Box in Marblehead.
At one
point, he was planning to shut the group down due to
a lack of financial support, but was swayed by
longtime CLT members to keep it going.
“I thought
I was done, but they flooded me with phone calls and
emails urging us not to abandon them,” Ford said.
“So I kept it going for another four years.”
But more
recently, he said, the group’s support has waned
again, along with its fundraising contributions.
And at 73,
he says he just can’t continue to work the long
days.
Ford says
the group is going out on a high note with nearly $3
billion in taxpayer refunds going out this month,
thanks to the tax rebate law CLT put on the ballot.
“This
seems as good a time as any,” he said. “I’ve been
working with MassFiscal for years and I’m
comfortable with walking away letting them take
over.”
The Salem
News
Thursday, December 15, 2022
Taxpayer watchdog group to dissolve
After 48
years as a staple in the state’s watchdog community,
Citizens for Limited Taxation officially closed its
doors Thursday — finally handing off the
anti-taxation mantel.
“It’s time
for CLT to close down,” said CLT executive director
Chip Ford. “It’s time for me to take my leave. And
I’m just thrilled that we have somebody to pass the
torch on to, and I am confident the politics team
and Mass Fiscal are going to be able to hold the
line as CLT has done for almost half a century.”
CLT was
founded in 1974 by businessman Edward F. King to
organize the push against a ballot question
proposing a graduated income tax constitutional
amendment. For the fourth time, the amendment was
defeated.
The recent
$3 billion tax refund was triggered by a CLT law
passed in 1986.
On the
November 2022 midterm ballot, 48 years later, the
sixth iteration of the proposal now called the
“Millionaire’s Tax” was finally approved by voters —
tidily bookending CLT’s lobbying career.
But in the
middle, the organization jumped in on just about
every one of the state’s legislative tax fights.
Under
executive director Barbara Anderson, CLT
successfully lobbied for municipal and real estate
tax limits through 1980’s Proposition 2½ and help
rally against the unsuccessful fifth graduated
income tax ballot question.
Both
executive director Barbara Anderson and associate
director Chip Faulkner, served at the organization
until their deaths at age 73, in 2016 and 2019
respectively.
Having
reached 73 years old last month, Chip Ford said, he
knew “it was time to find some new blood.”
“I’m not
particularly superstitious,” Ford said, “but why
tempt the fates? With Paul Craney and his team at
MassFiscal so ably advancing the mission this is a
good time and place for CLT and me to take our
leave.”
The
Boston Herald
Thursday, December 15, 2022
Citizens for Limited Taxation,
long-standing fiscal conservatism powerhouse,
‘passes the torch’
The
retiring executive director of Citizens for Limited
Taxation on Thursday accused Gov. Charlie Baker of
cowardice in withdrawing his bid to pardon Gerald
Amirault and Cheryl Amirault LeFave, who were
convicted in a high-profile child sexual abuse case
at the Fells Acre Day Care Center in Malden in 1984.
Baker on
November 18 sought a pardon for the brother and
sister, who have always professed their innocence,
but withdrew his bid on Wednesday after several
members of the Governor’s Council indicated they
would not approve his request.
“Shame on
him," said Chip Ford, the executive director of
Citizens for Limited Taxation.
“He should
have called their bluff, or put the Governor’s
Council on record, not blink first,” said Ford.
“There was no reason why he would withdraw that
except cowardice.”
Ford’s
comments on the Amirault case overshadowed the
central message of a virtual press conference he
called – to announce Citizens for Limited Taxation
was shutting down after 48 years and to urge the
organization’s followers, which he said numbered
1,500, to join forces with the Massachusetts Fiscal
Alliance....
Ford
brought up the Amirault case toward the end of his
press conference, clearly angry with Baker’s
decision to drop his bid for a pardon. Amirault
worked for Citizens for Limited Taxation briefly
after he was released from prison on parole in 2004
and clearing his name was a high priority for the
organization.
Several
members of the Governor’s Council questioned why
Baker would back a pardon when his own Advisory
Board of Pardons opposed it.
Ford
pointed to a
newspaper column written by his predecessor,
Barbara Anderson, who died in 2016. The January 22,
2015 column said Baker’s father was the first to
offer help in finding a job for Gerald Amirault. The
column said Baker himself pledged to move for a
pardon if he was elected governor after meeting
Gerald Amirault and his daughter on the campaign
trail. Baker’s opponent at the time was Martha
Coakley, one of Amirault’s prosecutors.
CommonWealth Magazine
Thursday, December 15, 2022
CLT chief accuses Baker of
cowardice on Amirault pardons
Speaks out as tax-cutting group shuts down after 48
years
A tax
limiting public policy group that has saved billions
of dollars for Massachusetts taxpayers is shutting
down at the end of the month.
Citizens
for Limited Taxation is passing its torch to
Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, it was announced
Thursday morning. The organization's parting gift
after nearly 50 years of service to taxpayers is the
return of $3 billion in tax revenue surplus funds.
The funds stem from the 1986 Chapter 62F law, a tax
cap ballot question the organization championed.
Chip Ford,
who serves as executive director of Citizens For
Limited Taxation, said in a Thursday morning press
conference that simply the time had come for the
organization to shutter after several decades and
has full confidence in MassFiscal Alliance carrying
the torch.
“It’s a
new era, time for new energy to move the tax
limitation movement forward in Massachusetts,” Ford
said in the release. “For going on half a century,
CLT has carried the burden of leadership in that
indispensable mission. The time has come to pass the
tax limitation torch on to another generation.
Fortunately for Bay State taxpayers, and especially
for CLT members, Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance is
positioned well to run with that torch.”
Spanning
six decades, Citizens for Limited Taxation claims to
have saved tens of billions of dollars for state
taxpayers.
The
Center Square
Thursday, December 15, 2022
MassFiscal Alliance to bear
taxpayer torch as Citizens For Limited Taxation
shutters
Chip Ford,
the executive director of CLT announced that the
group will end its 48-year operation at the end of
the year.
“It’s a
new era, time for new energy to move the tax
limitation movement forward in Massachusetts,” said
Ford. “For going on half a century CLT has carried
the burden of leadership in that indispensable
mission. The time has come to pass the tax
limitation torch on to another generation.
Fortunately for Bay State taxpayers, and especially
for CLT members, Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance is
positioned well to run with that torch.”
CLT led
the charge for many tax savings measures over the
years including passage of Proposition 2½ which
limited property taxes, repeal of the 1975 7.5
percent surtax and the roll back of the 1989 income
tax hike. Most recently, CLT was responsible for the
return of $2.9 billion to taxpayers based on Chapter
62F, a 1986 law proposed by CLT and approved by the
voters. That law requires that tax revenue above a
certain amount collected by the state go back to the
taxpayers. The state has determined that the net
state tax revenues of $41.8 billion for the fiscal
year ended June 30, 2022 is some $2.9 above the
allowable state tax revenues of $38.8 million.
Beacon
Hill Roll Call
Friday, December 16, 2022
Citizens for Limited Taxation (CLT) Closes Down
Hands Off To The Mass Fiscal Alliance
By Bob Katzen
