For Immediate Release
Wednesday, March 14, 2001
Contact: Barbara Anderson - (508) 384-0100
Chip Ford - (781) 631-6842
CLT anticipates TEAM's support
for Voluntary Tax check-off
Finally, everyone can be a winner!
CLT anticipates the support of our erstwhile opponents of Question 4, the Tax Equity Alliance of
Massachusetts (TEAM), for our equitable income tax check-off proposal.
CLT's bill, S.1734, offers TEAM and the 1,055,181 voters (the 41 percent that voted against the income
tax rollback) a second opportunity to win. S,1734, CLT's Voluntary Tax (VT)
check-off, sponsored by state Sen. Jo Ann Sprague (R-Walpole), proposes:
1) All state personal income tax forms shall contain a check-off box which permits taxpayers to contribute
to the Voluntary Tax, as if Question 4 had been defeated.
2) The state personal income tax Schedules and Instructions booklet shall contain a table which provides
the difference between the statutory income tax on personal income (Parts A
and B) at its rate for that tax year, and the rate of 5.8 percent for tax year 2001, and 5.75 percent thereafter. This
difference is the Voluntary Tax contribution.
3) A line shall be added to state personal income tax forms on which the VT contribution can be added to
the statutory income tax on personal income (Parts A and B) before calculation of the total state income
tax.
4) The Department of Revenue shall keep records of the number of taxpayers who choose to elect the
Voluntary Tax contribution and the amount of revenue collected by the VT
contribution in addition to the statutory state income tax.
If all million-plus voters elect the Voluntary Tax check-off, they can claim personal victory over Question
4 while providing funds for additional state spending.
CLT also supports H.2093 sponsored by state Rep. Fran Marini (R-Hanson), a version of our Voluntary
Tax proposal revised by his office.