The Boston Herald
Wednesday, April 24, 2002
Anti-tax activist Anderson recovering from bad fall
by Jessica Heslam
Anti-tax activist Barbara Anderson awoke Monday after being
in and out of consciousness for six days after a fall in her Marblehead home, her companion said yesterday.
"She's doing good. She's totally back to normal," Chip Ford
said of Anderson, the vocal leader of Citizens for Limited Taxation.
Ford said he discovered Anderson semi-conscious on the floor
in her home when he went over there April 16.
Anderson was rushed to Salem Hospital, where doctors
discovered brain swelling and bleeding as well as a hairline skull fracture, according to Ford. Anderson was then flown to
an undisclosed Boston hospital, where she underwent surgery to reduce the swelling.
Anderson was in the intensive care unit yesterday, Ford
said.
"She was basically unconscious and sedated until Monday," he
said. "Even the hospital staff is surprised how suddenly she recovered."
Ford said Anderson does not remember how she fell.
"She does not remember anything about Tuesday (April 16). It
is a mystery," Ford said. "Doctors are running tests and trying to figure out what happened."
Anderson had complained of a headache the night before the
fall, Ford said, and might have had a reaction to medication she just had started taking to treat a blood disorder that
causes her blood to thicken.
Anderson is the executive director of Citizens for Limited
Taxation, which spearheaded the campaign for Proposition 2½ to limit property tax increases in the early 1980s. Ford is
director of operations for CLT.
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Call your legislators. Call Gov. Swift's office.
Please do it now.
The governor's phone number is: (617) 727-6250.
Find and contact your state rep and senator
She's done a lot for you over the last two decades.
Now, do this for Barbara!
The Boston Globe
Wednesday, April 24, 2002
House said to eye major tax hikes
Less risk is seen with fewer votes
By Rick Klein
Globe Staff
After scouring volumes of old laws and fee schedules, House
leaders yesterday unveiled more than 150 options to raise money through tax and fee increases, from raising the current
$2.50 bicycle registration fee to increasing the income tax, to boosting the fee charged for a
state inspection of a dairy farm.
But fewer than a dozen options are likely to get serious
consideration this year, and it appears the House is zeroing in on a handful of large tax increases to make up $1 billion or
more of next year's expected shortfall.
Specific proposals may differ, but the House appears likely
to weigh: freezing or increasing the income tax; raising the cigarette tax between 50 cents and $1 per pack; boosting
gasoline and alcohol levies; taxing capital gains like regular income; and repealing several tax breaks
given to businesses and individuals over the past decade.
"The big-ticket items are the ones that people are attracted
to, because one or two votes and you're out of the hole," said House Taxation Committee chairman Paul C. Casey, a
Winchester Democrat who helped lead a task force that presented the revenue options to the
full House.
Representatives will have the chance to close part of the $2
billion budget gap next week when the House debates ways to increase revenue. House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran is
vowing to stay neutral during the debate, and has said that any member
will be able to bring revenue proposals to the floor.
Still, yesterday's list serves to illuminate how few tax or
fee increases are both palatable and lucrative enough to be considered. Despite the acute budget deficit, most of the
revenue possibilities, including the establishment of casino gambling in Massachusetts, remain long
shots.
Some members may favor raising the state dairy inspection
fee, which has stood at $50 since 1914, but it's unlikely to generate significant revenue because there are so few working
dairy farms in the Bay State. Other fees mentioned by the committee also are unlikely to provide
much for the state's coffers, including permits for transporters of baked goods
($25), funeral director licenses (currently up to $100), and fees for replacement permit papers for motor
boat owners ($1).
"Obviously, in a political environment, people would rather
take one large vote than 100 small votes," said state Representative William G. Greene Jr., a Billerica Democrat and
House chairman of the Committee on Commerce and Labor. "I don't think everybody fully
understands the scope of what a billion is. It's a thousand million. We're not going to do it on
bicycle taxes. We have to raise some serious money, or cut some serious money."
House members will see the cuts tomorrow, when the House
Ways and Means Committee unveils a budget proposal that slashes state spending by $2 billion, including a 10 percent cut
in aid to school districts. The bare-bones budget would serve, in part, to motivate members
to raise taxes, since many want to ensure funding for schools and other favorite spending
areas.
Several tax increases, including a freeze of the voter-approved income tax rollback and an
increase in the cigarette tax, enjoy widespread support on Beacon Hill and are
expected to easily pass the House and the Senate. But some options emerging as favorites in the House
are certain to be met with fierce opposition.
Top Finneran deputies have publicly discussed reducing the
personal income tax exemption, which was doubled to $4,400 in 1998, by 50 percent. Such a move, which would generate
about $515 million next year, is gaining popularity among members seeking to avoid raising
the income tax rate and who believe most of their constituents don't even know that the
exemption was increased.
Liberal House members, however, say they will fight it, and
Senate leaders have signaled that it would be dead on arrival in their branch. Senate Ways and Means chairman Mark C.
Montigny called it "one of the most important tax breaks we have ever passed" because it
affects all taxpayers.
"I'd hate to think that because it's an easier political
sell that that would be the first place to go," said Montigny, a New Bedford Democrat. "Given the disproportionate benefit to
wealthier taxpayers in the boom times of the '90s, it seems to me that's the last place you
should look."
Finneran's leadership team will be polling members over the
next few days to gauge support for various tax increases, and most members expect a package to emerge with at least the
tacit support of House leaders. But some House members say they'll use next week's
revenue discussions to raise their favored options, regardless of whether they are supported
by Finneran's team.
State Representative George Rogers, a New Bedford Democrat
who has fought for years for casino gambling, said he will offer a proposal for a single, privately run casino to open in
Southeastern Massachusetts. The revenue working group offered several casino-related
options in its report, but House leaders distanced themselves from the issue by
recommending that a special commission study it before casinos are allowed to open.
In most cases, two-thirds of legislators will have to
support a tax increase for it to become law, since Acting Governor Jane Swift has promised to veto any such measure.
The Boston Globe
Wednesday, April 24, 2002
Birmingham pledges fight on school cuts in 2003 budget
Says he'd raise tax to keep aid
By Rick Klein and Anand Vaishnav
Globe Staff
Calling a House plan to slash school funding a "nightmarish
vision" that he will fight "with every fiber of my being," Senate President Thomas F. Birmingham yesterday said he'll seek
to raise the income tax to preserve K-12 education aid.
"I will resist a 10 percent cut to education aid, and I will
resist a 1 percent cut," Birmingham told a State House meeting of school committee members and superintendents from across
Massachusetts. "Let me assure you: I have no intention of presiding over the dismantling of
the progress we have made in public schools over the past decade."
Birmingham said he will push Senate colleagues to place the
income tax back at last year's level of 5.6 percent, to free up $700 million in the fiscal year that begins July 1. But he
cautioned that there may not yet be an appetite among lawmakers for doing more than
freezing the tax rollback at 5.3 percent.
"I'll fight for it as I'd fight for anything I believe in,"
said Birmingham, a Chelsea Democrat who is running for governor. "[But] I don't want to get too far ahead of the
members here."
The House Ways and Means budget proposal to be released this
week would slash aid to school districts by 10 percent across the board, taking $320 million away from schools in
fiscal 2003. That move has been dismissed as a scare tactic, but House
leaders say it's a realistic depiction of the state's budget crisis if the Legislature doesn't find new revenue
sources.
While Birmingham hopes to spare Chapter 70 - the state's
major source of financing public schools - he acknowledged that other areas of education may face the budget ax.
But House Ways and Means Committee chairman John H. Rogers
told the same gathering to expect slashes to Chapter 70 money when the House's $21.8 billion budget is unveiled.
Rogers, a Norwood Democrat, said he is trying to be as "honest as possible."
"Yes, we did cut Chapter 70 in this budget, and I hope we'll
restore it on the House floor," Rogers said.
Both officials directed their remarks to about 300 school
committee members and superintendents brought together by the Massachusetts Association of School Committees
for a daylong conference on Beacon Hill. While speakers tackled controversies
over the MCAS exam and bilingual education, no issue riled the crowd as much as the state's glum
finances.
Before Rogers and state Representative Peter J. Larkin, the
co-chair of the Legislature's Education Committee, school board members outlined the educational hits they would take if
state officials slashed Chapter 70. Such cuts would disproportionately hit poorer towns that
have no tax base and rely on Chapter 70 to support their schools - towns like
Winchendon, whose school budget depends almost entirely on what it receives from state coffers.
Winchendon School Committee chairwoman Susan Zink stepped to
the dais and handed Rogers paper keys for her town's three schools, saying the state effectively would shut them
down if the Chapter 70 cuts survived. The schools would lose sports programs, business
classes, and extra-curricular activities, she said.
"We have left the golden years of the Education Reform Act
and returned to the dark ages - to a darkness I could not have believed possible," Zink said.
A similar grimness hangs over Oxford public schools, which
face losing $2.9 million out of a $13.9 million budget. School Committee members and the superintendent came armed with
a petition signed by 107 people, handed to them yesterday morning by concerned parents.
Rogers did present one positive piece of the House budget:
Full financing of the state's "circuit breaker" program, which will help reimburse districts for placing special-education
students in costly private institutions.
Still, Rogers urged the School Committee members to back
their legislators on proposals to raise revenues, which may include new taxes or state fees. Many of them seemed ready to
lend that support, saying they planned to lobby their town's State House delegation to freeze
the income tax rollback at 5.3 percent, if not raise it.
"The Legislature is challenging them as much as they were
challenging the Legislature," said Glenn S. Koocher, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School
Committees.
Faced with Birmingham's vow to protect education funding and
Rogers's statements that it could be cut, School Committee members said they are assuming the worst. Many districts
plan fees on athletics and music programs to raise money, drawing ire from parents and
students used to getting the services for free.
In North Reading, officials are preparing for a $2.15
million override, about half of which would go to the school district.
Birmingham's remarks are "the boldest statements I've heard
yet," North Reading School Committee member Stephen Jervey said. "It would be a huge boost for public education."
Cohasset School Committee member Chartis Tebbetts was more
pessimistic, saying the budget woes may be within Birmingham's gubernatorial ambitions but beyond his ultimate
control.
"Senator Birmingham is not in a position to take any issue
off the table. It was a little disingenuous for him to say that," Tebbetts said. "He's running for governor, he wants to
keep the troops in line. Representative Rogers's comments about being honest and keeping
everything open - that was more helpful."
Call your legislators. Call Gov. Swift's office.
Please do it now.
The governor's phone number is: (617) 727-6250.
Find and contact your state rep and senator
She's done a lot for you over the last two decades.
Now, do this for
Barbara!
Associated Press
Wednesday, April 24, 2002
House lurching toward agreement on tax package
BOSTON - Higher cigarette taxes, a freeze in the income tax
rollback and a flat capital gains tax are emerging as favorites as House lawmakers lurch toward an agreement on tax hikes.
At a closed door caucus Tuesday, a panel appointed by House
Speaker Thomas Finneran outlined dozens of possible hikes, from higher gas and sales taxes to charging prisoners $5 a
day and adding 1,500 slot machines to dog tracks.
But the proposed hikes gaining the most momentum would bring
in hundreds of millions of dollars while inflicting the least political damage.
"The big ticket items are the things people are attracted to
because it's one or two votes and you're out of the hole," said state Rep. Paul Casey, D-Winchester, a member of the panel.
Finneran has warned of a $2 billion spending gap for next
fiscal year if lawmakers fail to come up with new revenues.
In 2000, voters approved a ballot question to lower the
state's income tax rate from 5.95 percent to 5 percent over three years.
Freezing the rollback at 5.3 percent would generate an extra
$230 million in the fiscal year beginning July 1. Rolling it back to 5.6 percent would generate $685 million.
Raising the cigarette tax by a dollar per pack would bring
in about $225 million. Setting a 5.3 percent tax rate for all capital gains would bring in about $260 million.
Capital gains taxes are taxes on the sale of property and
investments. Currently investors who hold onto their property or investments for more than six years pay no taxes.
Casey said there is a "likelihood" the House would approve a
freeze in the income tax and support a cigarette hike.
"It's not a question of when. It's a matter of how much," he
said.
Another panel member, Rep. Michael Rodrigues, D-Westport,
said there is "a rising tide" in favor of a flat capital gains tax but downplayed another option presented to lawmakers:
casino gambling.
"Casino gambling options are very, very complicated" and
likely could not be in place for the new fiscal year, Rodrigues said.
Critics said the House is moving too fast.
"My plea to the members of the legislative leadership is not
to believe there are only two choices: cut spending or increase taxes," acting Gov. Jane Swift said.
Swift said the House should look at other options, including
dipping deeper into reserves and reducing the amount paid out in Lottery prizes.
The tax battle is expected to heat up next week when members
take the debate to the House floor.
On Thursday, the House Ways and Means committee is expected
to release a budget plan that relies solely on reserves and cuts, including a 10 percent reduction in state education aid.
Critics said the move is a scare tactic designed to pressure
lawmakers into approving higher taxes.
Senate President Thomas Birmingham, D-Chelsea, said he
opposes any cuts to Education Reform spending.
"With every fiber of my being I will resist a 10 percent cut
to public education aid. I will resist a one percent cut," he said.
Birmingham said lawmakers should consider freezing the
income tax rate at 5.3 percent or raising it to 5.6 percent. Birmingham also backed a hike in the cigarette tax.
In part to stem criticism that House leaders were focused
only on a handful of tax options, lawmakers were presented with dozens of possible increases.
Options included repealing tax deductions for charitable
giving and tapping the state's head injury trust fund.
Lawmakers were even given a list of state fees with an eye toward raising them. The fees
include $3 for supervision of mink farms and $5 for the introduction of fish and fish eggs
into state waters.
The MetroWest Daily News
Wednesday, April 24, 2002
Birmingham calls for tax hike:
Moore says he's 'inclined to support' Senate plan
By Michael Kunzelman
BOSTON - State senators from the western suburbs gave mixed
reviews yesterday to Senate President Thomas Birmingham's call for an income-tax hike, a move he said would
stave off deep cuts in state aid to schools.
Birmingham said raising the income tax to last year's level
could stave off a 10 percent cut in local aid to schools, a plan he deemed "a nightmarish vision of our education future."
"With every fiber of my being, I will resist a 10 percent
cut to public education aid. I will resist a 1 percent cut," Birmingham told a State House gathering of school committee
members.
Birmingham's call for raising the income-tax rate from 5.3
to 5.6 percent received the conditional support of several state senators.
"I certainly would be open to considering it," said state
Sen. Richard Moore, D-Uxbridge. "There would be cutting no matter what we do, but if it would achieve something closer to
level-funding of local aid, I would be inclined to support it."
An aide to state Sen. Cynthia Creem also said the Newton
Democrat is "inclined" to support an income-tax hike if it is accompanied by a "larger package" of revenue-generating
measures.
Like a growing number of their colleagues, state Sen. Susan
Fargo, D-Lincoln, and state Sen. Pamela Resor, D-Acton, said they favor freezing the income-tax rate rather than rolling
it back to 5 percent, as planned.
Resor said she couldn't rule out supporting an income-tax
hike, but she wants assurances the rollback would proceed as planned once state revenues improve.
"I think there are other revenue options that are more
progressive, ones that tax people who can afford it," Resor added.
Fargo said she supports a "blended package of tax increases
and cuts." "I'm not necessarily opposed to it at this point," she said of an income-tax hike. "I just want to see how bad
things really are before I decide."
State Sen. Cheryl Jacques, D-Needham, said she isn't
"reflexively for or reflexively against" tax hikes. "Everything is on the table," she said. "There are no sacred cows because
of the dire fiscal straits we're in today."
Birmingham's colleagues agreed his support for the tax
increase is a gamble for someone who is in the thick of a gubernatorial race.
"I don't know if this is necessarily a plus," Moore said.
"It may be a bit of a gamble, and it could turn out to be a courageous gamble."
As early as tomorrow, the House is expected to unveil a
budget plan that calls for a 10 percent cut in local aid, including school funding. But the proposal doesn't factor in
any tax increases or other new revenue-generating measures.
During a closed-door caucus yesterday, House members weighed
options that could soften the blow of across-the-board budget cuts.
Raising the income tax to 5.6 percent or freezing it at 5.3
percent are among the long list of options, according to a report prepared by members of a "revenue enhancement" working
group.
State Rep. Cory Atkins, a Concord Democrat whom House
Speaker Thomas Finneran appointed to the working group, said she has been campaigning against the income-tax
rollback since 1999.
"People were screaming for tax relief, but it was relief
from property taxes, not income-tax relief," Atkins said. The working group's report identifies more than four dozen options
for raising money, including:
Raising the cigarette tax by as much as $1 per pack, which
would raise an estimated $150 million to $225 million annually.
Raising the excise tax on motor vehicles from $25 per $1,000
of a car's value to $30 per $1,000, a proposal that would generate about $110 million.
Reducing or eliminating the state's contribution to the
pension fund this year, which would save an estimated $130 million to $150 million.
Charging prisoners $5 per day for the "cost of their care,"
raising $18 million annually.
Atkins said some of the options - such as diverting $7
million from the Head Injury Trust Fund - won't find widespread support.
"Honestly, who is going to take money from that?" she said.
"It's not going to get my vote."
The House is scheduled to debate the revenue options next
week. The Senate isn't expected to take up the budget until late next month.
Call your legislators. Call Gov. Swift's office.
Please do it now.
The governor's phone number is: (617) 727-6250.
Find and contact your state rep and senator
She's done a lot for you over the last two decades.
Now, do this for
Barbara!
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