The Boston Herald
Monday, May 6, 2002
A Boston Herald editorial
There's one way to stop The Beast
The glee with which members of the Massachusetts House voted
to take more than $1 billion extra a year out of the pockets of hard-working taxpayers was quite simply obscene.
They applauded, they cheered, they patted each other on the
back for this sublime accomplishment of reversing just about everything voters had gone to the polls and in
overwhelming numbers voted to do.
The income tax rollback not only is stopped dead in its
tracks, but under the most optimistic economic predictions the rate wouldn't hit 5 percent until 2009. The charitable
deduction, also approved at the ballot box, is suspended "indefinitely." Let the decent folks at the United
Way and the Salvation Army share the pain too!
The state's low capital gains tax rates are effectively
doubled. Do you suppose legislators will give back the pay raise that then-Gov. Bill Weld allowed them in exchange for the
lower rates? But hell, if they're so eager to overrule the voters, why should any deal with a
now-gone governor mean anything?
"We do target all groups across the board," bragged House
Taxation Committee Chairman Paul Casey (D-Winchester), as if that were something to be proud of. Yes, throwing in a cut
in the personal exemption - which will cost an average family of four $262 a year - is a
wonderful accomplishment in the warped brain of Rep. Casey.
Ah, but this week the other shoe will drop. With $1 billion
more in taxes to play with, the feeding frenzy can begin.
You see for all their crocodile tears about the pain and
suffering of the state's neediest, there are no guarantees the neediest will be better served. Why, after all, restore
millions to, say, mental health services, when there's money to be spent now on patronage and pork for
everyone?
Herald reporter David Guarino found Rep. Carol Donovan
(D-Woburn) had filed amendments that would add $750 million altogether and she couldn't be more proud of
herself. He also found a few gems like the $47 million Rep. James Miceli
(D-Wilmington) wants for Tewksbury Hospital, the $1.3 million three Lowell Democrats want for the
Middlesex Northern Registry of Deeds in that city and the $135,000 Rep. Eugene
O'Flaherty (D-Chelsea) wants for a "Life Focus Center" in Charlestown.
Yes, it would all be kind of a hoot, if it weren't coming
directly out of our own wallets. It's just the kind of thing taxpayers voted to prevent back in 2000 by attempting not just
to give themselves a tax cut, but at the same time to put that free-spending Beast their tax dollars
created on a leaner diet.
But voters forgot something more important - that The Beast
is made up of the people they keep sending to Beacon Hill. That's what has to change. And if people are angry enough,
maybe this fall it will.
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The Boston Herald
Monday, May 6, 2002
Poll finds most voters back freezing state tax cut
HERALD POLL/by Joe Battenfeld
Defying predictions of an election-year revolt, most
Massachusetts voters support legislation to raise some taxes to stave off painful spending cuts, a new Boston Herald poll
shows.
The poll shows a clear majority of voters - 62 percent - are
willing to freeze their own mandated income tax rollback at the rate of 5.3 percent - the proposal passed by the House
last week. Only 29 percent of voters oppose the freeze measure.
By a slim margin, 45 percent to 41 percent, voters even
support pushing the tax rate back to 5.6 percent, according to the poll. There is also overwhelming backing for raising the
cigarette tax, with 60 percent voicing approval of a $1-a-pack increase.
But the poll shows voters have a distinctly limited appetite
for the tax-cut frenzy on Beacon Hill.
Fifty percent of voters oppose a House-approved measure to
reinstate the long-term capital gains tax at 5.3 percent, while just 30 percent support it.
And more than two thirds of voters reject a proposal floated
by some lawmakers to hike the sales tax from 5 percent to 6 percent.
Herald pollster R. Kelly Myers said the results show that
lawmakers and other elected officials may not face the wrath of voters as long as tax hikes are limited - and targeted for
spending on programs such as education and human services.
"There's clearly been a change in the way people view the
income tax," said Myers, director of RKM Research and Communications. "Two years ago when the state was flush in
money, it made sense for voters to roll back the rate, but now in economic hard times and as the
state considers significant cuts in programs, there's been a turnaround and more people are
willing to make the sacrifice on taxes."
The poll of 400 registered Bay State voters, which has a
margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percent, was conducted May 1-3, in the middle of a legislative move to raise taxes.
The House Thursday approved freezing the voter-approved
income tax rollback, as well as a package of other tax hikes, including a $1,000 decrease in the personal exemption and an
elimination of the deduction for charitable contributions.
The tax hike package is expected to be a major issue in this
year's gubernatorial campaign, with GOP gubernatorial candidate Mitt Romney planning to capitalize on the vote by the
Democrat-controlled House.
Myers said if the Senate moves to expand the tax package in
the coming days, support for tax hikes could erode quickly, playing into the hands of Romney and other tax foes.
"There's limits as to what (voters) would support," he said.
"Any plan to renege too much on the voter-approved rollback will be met with some voter backlash."
Freezing the income tax rate at 5.3 percent appears to be
the most palatable idea for voters, cutting across partisan lines.
More than 60 percent of Democrats, independents and
Republicans support the freeze.
But raising the rate to 5.6 percent, an idea backed by
Senate President Thomas F. Birmingham, gets less support, with less than 40 percent of independent voters and
Republicans supporting it.
Raising the rate all the way back to 5.95 percent, a move
backed by some lawmakers, would draw sharp opposition from voters, the poll shows.
"It would be a very difficult sell and there's likely to be
quite a bit of backlash," Myers said.
Support for new taxes appears to be directly tied to fears
of massive cuts in spending, which lawmakers predict would be needed to close a $2 billion budget deficit.
More than 57 percent of voters say they'd support tax
increases to offset cuts in Medicaid and other human services, and 63 percent would back higher taxes to go toward education
spending.
A majority of voters also support higher taxes to pay for
police and protective services.
A plurality of voters also say they wouldn't support raising
taxes to pay for parks and recreation spending, and for road and bridge construction.
"There's relatively strong support for paying taxes if the
voters believe the money is going to certain key areas: education, Medicaid, human services and protective services,
Myers said.
The poll found broad support for a cigarette tax increase,
but "virtually no support for an increase in the sales tax."
There also appears to be backing for a proposal by acting
Gov. Jane Swift to raise money by reducing payouts to lottery winners - an idea so far resisted by the Legislature and
Treasurer Shannon O'Brien. By a 10 percent margin, 52-42, voters support the plan.
But voters are sharply split over a legislative proposal to
raise cash by legalizing casino gambling, with 47 percent backing it and 44 percent opposing it.
"It's a fairly divisive issue and people have strong ideas
about that," Myers said of the gambling proposal. "Men support it; women don't."
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