The Springfield Union-News
Wednesday, April 10, 2002
Teachers unions push tax increases
By Mary Ellen O'Shea
SPRINGFIELD -- Taxes should be raised and loopholes eliminated
before the state makes cuts in public education that will set back years of progress, union officials said.
Presidents of unions representing teachers in the city and
the state, as well as at state colleges, met with Union-News editors yesterday to make a pitch for raising money for
educational needs.
The state's projected $2 billion shortage must not be offset
with classroom cuts, said Stephen E. Gorrie, Massachusetts Teachers Association president.
Ronald D. Story, Massachusetts Society of Professors
president, and Timothy T. Collins, Springfield Education Association president, also urged that education be a funding
priority.
"We feel that it would be extremely unfair for education to
take the brunt of this situation. We have set high learning standards for our children, and the funding needs to be there
to make sure they achieve them," Gorrie said....
Their message coincides with a $1.1 million television
advertising campaign that will make the same appeal to residents across the state.
Gorrie believes that the public will support raising money
for schools, as education has been repeatedly identified as a priority in polls.
The union leaders said that doing things like eliminating
the scheduled income tax rollback could save $450 million, and a sales tax increase of one percent could raise up to $700
million a year. Loopholes could also be eliminated in the capital gains tax laws to raise
money....
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The Boston Globe
Wednesday, April 10, 2002
Business groups call tax hike part of solution
By Rick Klein
Globe Staff
As the Legislature grapples with a gaping budget gap, four
of the state's most influential business groups are calling for $700 million in new taxes, and say they're open to boosting
the income tax from 5.3 percent to 5.6 percent.
The organizations - Associated Industries of Massachusetts,
the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, and the Massachusetts Taxpayers
Foundation - said the state must close its estimated $2 billion gap with a
mix of spending cuts and new revenue. The state should cut $700 million from proposed spending, take $500
million from the $1.5 billion in its rainy day fund, and increase taxes by another
$700 million, the groups say. "The $2 billion gap we just don't believe can be dealt with with spending cuts
alone," said Richard Lord, AIM's president. "You really need a blended
approach."
While Democrats on Beacon Hill are talking publicly about
the need for new taxes, the support of business leaders is somewhat unexpected, since they have traditionally favored tax
cuts, not increases. Their support for increases could help rally support in the Legislature for
new taxes.
The business groups offered three alternatives for generating $700 million in extra revenue:
The state could freeze the income tax at 5.3 percent,
increase the cigarette tax by 50 cents per pack, and undo several tax cuts given to working families and the elderly in
the 1990s.
Lawmakers could freeze the income tax, preserve most of the
cuts that benefit working families, and adjust the Lottery prize payout to free up about $150 million in revenue.
Lawmakers could take just one tax vote, putting the income
tax back at last year's rate, 5.6 percent. Future income tax reductions should be tied to economic indicators, the groups
say.
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The Boston Herald
Wednesday, April 10, 2002
Rappaport, in break with Romney,
inks no-new-tax pledge
by David R. Guarino and Joe Battenfeld
GOP lieutenant governor hopeful James Rappaport, in a
sharp-right break from ticket-topper Mitt Romney, has signed a
no-new-tax pledge and is embracing a bid to dismantle the state's bilingual education law.
The two-barreled rift is the first open sparring between the
two nominees since Romney snubbed Rappaport by endorsing his own candidate, Kerry Murphy Healey.
Rappaport said his stances are not an effort to woo
conservative support from the Romney-Healey team, but aides admitted the moves might be embraced by staunch
Republicans.
"One of the things is that I'm very clear where I stand on
these issues," Rappaport said. "At the end of the day, the buck will stop with Mitt because he's governor but that doesn't mean
I don't have my positions." ...
Rappaport also put himself at odds with Romney over taxes,
signing a Citizens for Limited Taxation "pledge" not to approve any new taxes or tax hikes. Rappaport said he would not
back off signing the pledge because Romney is now the first GOP nominee in 12 years not to
follow the no-new-tax mantra in print.
"I think (the pledge) shows your principles and your
commitment that, should you be elevated to governor by circumstances, where you stand on the issue," Rappaport said.
He said the two issues show he isn't worried about currying
favor with Romney.
In an interview before the convention last week, Healey made
it clear she would join Romney in refusing to sign the anti-tax pledge, even though she signed it in two failed
campaigns for state rep.
"I do not plan to sign that pledge," Healey said.
"I did sign it in
both 1998 and 2000 ... but Mitt has said, and I think wisely, that he will hold off signing that now."
Fehrnstrom yesterday said Healey will now sign it.
"She has since had a discussion with Mitt on this issue,
they have agreed to disagree on the importance of signing a pledge but they both agree on the need to keep tax rates low,"
Fehrnstrom said....
Ed Hayward contributed to this report.
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Chicago Sun-Times Syndicate
Sunday, April 7, 2002
Romney resists no-tax pledge
By Robert Novak
Barbara Anderson, who as executive director of
Citizens for Limited Taxation failed to talk Mitt Romney into signing a
pledge not to raise taxes, was one of his original boosters to become the Republican candidate for governor of Massachusetts.
Anderson sat down with Romney for 40 minutes to try to get
him to sign the pledge. The state's last three Republican governors (William Weld, Paul Cellucci and Jane Swift) had
taken the no-tax pledge. Romney told her he would not raise taxes but would not sign.
Riding a crest of national acclaim for rescuing the Salt Lake City Olympics, Romney forced
acting Gov. Swift out of this year's race for governor.
Romney dismissed Anderson's argument that failure to sign
the pledge would weaken his bargaining position and encourage the Democratic-controlled state legislature to enact higher
taxes. However, the Boston Globe quickly congratulated Romney for being open to tax
hikes.
Robert Novak is a nationally syndicated columnist. He can be
reached at: novakevans@aol.com
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The Boston Globe
Wednesday, April 10, 2002
Swift seen ready to deal on taxes in fiscal talks
By Frank Phillips
Globe Staff
After months of insisting she would not budge on the issue,
Acting Governor Jane Swift is quietly laying the groundwork to agree to delay the state income tax rollback if she sees
similar compromises from Democratic leaders on her budget proposals, administration
sources say.
Swift, unshackled politically since she dropped her
gubernatorial bid last month, is ready to make the turnaround as part of her effort to forge a budget agreement on Beacon
Hill to address the state's expanding deficit, the sources said.
She wants the Democrats, in turn, to entertain her money-saving ideas, including trimming the
prize payouts in the state lottery and reducing payments to the state pension fund.
Publicly, Swift is sticking with her strong antitax
position, in which she has argued that freezing the tax rate at 5.3 percent, rather than rolling it back to 5 percent as
scheduled next year, would be a tax hike.
But privately she has signaled a willingness to put the
issue on the table when she meets with Democratic leaders for sensitive budget negotiations later this week.
Even her aides have softened the public antitax rhetoric.
Asked yesterday if she is ready to bend on the issue, her spokesman, James Borghesani, said Swift is headed into the
meeting with House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran and Senate President Thomas F. Birmingham with
the presumption that all revenue-raising and budget-cutting issues are up for
consideration.
"For the sake of these discussions and her goal of getting a
budget in place and on time and in balance, there has to be an atmosphere of an open exchange of ideas," Borghesani said.
Some of her advisers are concerned about potential fallout
from her reversal. But others say the quiet cooperation on the budget between the three branches - almost unheard of during
the past 12 years - could lead to a breakthrough and offer a bigger payoff politically.
Birmingham said he detects a shift in Swift's tone but is
not sure she is ready to back off her opposition to delaying the rollback. "I believe her tone is changing, and her tone
will be less adversarial and less histrionic. But I don't yet see a substantiative change in her position on
taxes," he said.
With little public notice, Swift signed off last week to
another tax change, which she had previously opposed and called a tax hike. She agreed to sign a bill that separates
Massachusetts from a federal law that speeds up depreciation rebates to businesses that
make equipment purchases. The change was contained in the recently approved federal
economic stimulus package and would have cost Massachusetts $300 million
in fiscal 2003.
On the income tax, some Democratic lawmakers are advocating
freezing the tax at 5.3 percent, a level it reached Jan. 1 under the three-year phased-in reduction approved by
voters in 2000. But others, including Birmingham, have suggested raising
the rate to its pre-January level of 5.6 percent. Swift would only go along with a freeze at 5.3 percent, the
administration sources said.
One of the sources indicated that Swift would also agree to
a plan in which the Legislature would pass a 50-cent per pack increase in the cigarette tax, and she would veto it, but not
campaign loudly to sustain her veto, or aggressively attack lawmakers who supported the
increase. The cigarette tax hike would generate $150 million.
One Swift adviser yesterday doubted that she would suffer
politically for her shift on the income tax. For one thing, the adviser noted, polls suggest that a majority of voters prefer a
freeze on the rollback to cuts in spending.
In addition, many Republican legislators will go along with
the freeze and the cigarette tax, protecting her from any attacks from the right, the adviser said, adding, "People don't
want blood on the streets from serious budget cuts, and they realize this would help prevent some
of that."
Still, other top aides are concerned about the political
consequences. "That's incredibly difficult because she has been so firm on the issue," said one senior staff member.
The state budget deficit is expected to reach $700 million
this year. For fiscal 2003, which begins July 1, the gap is estimated to be $2 billion.
A legislative source said Swift has a crucial private budget
meeting set up for Friday with Finneran and Birmingham as part of their effort try to find common ground on their proposals
for dealing with the ballooning budget problems. The three are expected to try to come to
some agreement over revenue projections and growth for several budget-busting accounts -
Medicaid, public safety, and education.
The administration sources stressed that Swift would not put
her antitax position on the table until she senses movement from Finneran and Birmingham on her alternative money-saving
ideas.
Birmingham has indicated some openness to Swift's proposals.
But publicly, Finneran has scoffed at Swift's idea for paying a smaller percentage of sales revenues out as prizes to
lottery players, and decreasing the size of the annual payments to eliminate the state's pension
liability.
Swift says her lottery plan would bring in $274 million, but
opponents have argued that prize reductions would defeat the purpose by driving away lottery players and reduce revenues,
which are distributed to cities and towns as local aid.
Finneran, along with state Treasurer Shannon O'Brien, also
contends the pension payment reductions would end up costing the state billions of dollars.
Freezing the income tax rollback at 5.3 percent would gain
the state $225 million in revenues for next year's budget, state officials say.
Another dispute is over allocating the annual payments the
state receives from a settlement of a lawsuit with tobacco companies.
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The Boston Herald
Wednesday, April 10, 2002
Timing of tax debate questioned by some
by Elisabeth J. Beardsley
House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran has slated controversial
tax hike votes on the eve of the deadline for election-year challenges - rendering it virtually impossible for angry
citizens to storm the ballot.
Finneran has scheduled debate on the giant tax hike package
- $2 billion in hikes spanning 16 taxes - for the week of April 29.
The deadline for submitting nomination signatures - 150 for
House seats and 300 for Senate seats - is Tuesday, April 30.
Debate is expected to be rancorous and prolonged, making it
likely that only a few of the 16 taxes will have been taken up by the time the election filing deadline passes at 5 p.m.
Tuesday.
"It's politically motivated," charged House Republican
Leader Francis Marini (R-Hanson). "If you vote to raise taxes in January, some citizen may get irritated enough to get on the
ballot. But the last week of April, they're not going to have time."
Finneran flatly denied that he's trying to insulate House
members from challenges.
"What cynical person would suggest that?" Finneran said.
"It's almost preposterous. I mean, I can't keep a straight face."
Finneran added that he's been beating the drum about the
fiscal crisis - and warning of tax hikes - for several months.
"There's no denial of opportunity whatsoever," Finneran
said. "People are free to run for office any time that they choose."
House leaders plan to roll out their budget proposal the
week before the tax debate. They've said it won't include tax hikes.
Instead, House budget writers plan to slash $2 billion from
programs, a move certain to enrage activists of every stripe.
The full budget is scheduled for debate during the second
week of May - almost a full month later than debates in recent years.
"They'll get everybody upset and have special interest
groups running all over the State House, screaming," said Citizens for Limited Taxation chief
Barbara Anderson. "Then they'll find out whether they have an opponent or not. If they
don't, Finneran owns them."
As of last week, only five legislative challengers had filed
papers. The GOP state committee says it's fielding about 60 candidates - less than half of House seats.
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The Fall River Herald News
Tuesday, April 9, 2002
Swansea rejects override
By Deborah Allard-Bernardi
Herald News Staff Reporter
SWANSEA -- Voters at Monday's Annual Town Election, shot down a
$2.5 million Proposition 2½ override and the creation of an open space preservation act.
Basically saying they won't allow an increase in their
property taxes for any reason, a landslide 69 percent of voters said no to Proposition 2½, (3,531 to 1,428) and 67 percent
said no to protecting open space (3,399 to 1,405)....
Officials have been predicting a $2 million budget shortfall, and during the election campaign,
have warned that without the Proposition 2½ override, there would be serious
cuts in town services, and layoffs in schools, fire and police departments. Residents may also have to pay
a fee to have their garbage hauled away.
If the budget is not balanced, there is also a threat of the
state coming in to take over the town's finances.
Despite the uncertain outlook for town employees and
services, residents apparently feel the town is not managing its money appropriately.
At polling places, residents were pretty verbal in shooting
down the idea of a Proposition 2½ override.
"There's a big problem," one man said. "They can't keep
taxing people without being held accountable."
"They definitely don't how to manage their money," said
Steve Medeiros. He said the state may have to get involved, and Swansea needs to make some tough choices like cutting back
on teachers and school buses.
Another resident said he wouldn't vote for Proposition 2½
because he thinks there's a lot of "hanky panky" going on with the town's finances.
Frank Sullivan, a member of Citizens for Limited
Taxation, was in high spirits when he learned the results of the election.
"We got our message out," Sullivan said. "The Citizens for
Limited Taxation are quite satisfied with the results."
Previous Proposition 2½ overrides also did not fare well
with voters. In 1996, voters were asked to add $877,000 to the town's tax base, but that override was shot down by a vote of
5,624 to 1,121....
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