CITIZENS   FOR  LIMITED  TAXATION  &  GOVERNMENT
and the
Citizens Economic Research Foundation

 

CLT UPDATE
Friday, November 8, 2002

It's payback time for MTF and others


The election results brought another warning shot across the Democratic bow: the unexpectedly strong vote (45 percent) for a ballot question that would eliminate the state's $9 billion income tax altogether. That expression of frustration comes after a year in which Beacon Hill Democrats passed a $1.2 billion tax hike without first showing any real reform resolve or making spending cuts that would have run afoul of powerful constituency groups.

The Boston Globe
Nov. 8, 2002
[Excerpt from] Romney's state of independents
By Scot Lehigh


[Presumptive new Senate President Robert] Travaglini said it would be up to Romney to show lawmakers precisely where his $1 billion cuts to "waste and mismanagement" - a constant theme in campaign appearances.

"He would have to go a ways to convince us that there is $1 billion in inefficiencies and mismanagement," the senator said.

Still, Travaglini backed one of Romney's claims, that the narrow defeat of a Libertarian-sponsored ballot question completely eliminating the state income tax has lawmakers nervous.

"There's a message in there, and we got it," Travaglini said.

The Boston Herald
Nov. 8, 2002
[Excerpt from] Dem leaders doubtful on Romney's tax cut
by David R. Guarino


The reason I bring this up is the deep consternation in certain circles about another huge number that was rung up on Tuesday - 881,738, to be exact.

That was the number of Massachusetts citizens who voted yes on Question 1, to abolish their state income taxes. Some people are scratching their heads, saying, what message was this mean-spirited 45 percent of the electorate trying to deliver to Beacon Hill?

As one of the 881,738, I can answer that question. We meant to stop paying state income taxes. We desired to opt for the New Hampshire solution. We wanted a 5.3 percent pay raise.

We are tired of our money being squandered by what Mitt so brilliantly called "the Gang of Three."

The Boston Herald
Nov. 8, 2002
Tommy Taxes long overdue for big letdown
by Howie Carr


House Speaker Tom Finneran yesterday said he would support cutting the state's capital gains tax to spur job creation and also blasted the "economic ignorance" of his own Democratic Party....

Finneran said he would favor reducing the capital-gains tax as a signal to employers and investors. Capital gains are profits made on stocks, real estate, and other investments....

Michael Widmer, the president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said a reduction in the capital-gains tax for long-term holdings could be designed to cost the state only about $25 million a year in revenue, and he supported Finneran's proposal.

"We feel that it would be very important to preserve some long-term incentive for capital investments, and that encourages the kind of economic development and job growth that's important for the Massachusetts economy," Widmer said.

The MetroWest Daily News
Nov. 8, 2002
Finneran says party must change


Chip Ford's CLT Commentary

Apparently it's payback time for Michael Widmer and his so-called Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, in appreciation for all the water he's carried for Speaker Finneran over the past year.

Between providing cover and advocating for The Biggest Tax Increase in State History earlier this year, leading the opposition to the Question One income tax repeal, and with many MTF members contributing tens of thousands of dollars to the $600,000 campaign fund to kill the Clean Elections Law in a deceptively-worded Question 3 slammed onto the ballot by Finneran and his flock, the Boston big business Fat Cats of MTF are owed much by the Speaker. Giving them their own tax break is the least Finneran can provide in return.

Despite MTF's weak and ineffective lip-service to repealing the "Quinn Bill" -- millions of wasted tax dollars that are annually squandered on pay raises for "college credits" for police, exposed as meaningless, watch for it to soon be expanded to include firefighters, long a goal of their union.

Finneran owes them big too, for starring in the role of opposition to defeat the Clean Elections Law, Finneran's Question Three. Prominently displayed on the "No on Question 3" website, funded by Boston big business Fat Cats, is a statement by Robert B. McCarthy, President, Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts:

"Question 3 asks voters if we want our hard-earned tax dollars used to pay for political campaigns. That would be like burning millions of our taxpayer dollars every year - millions that could be used for public safety, local aid, education, health care and other important services. Please join the 12,000 members of the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts in voting NO on 3."

Firefighters against Clean Elections ... out of the goodness of their hearts with no expectation of a quid pro quo? We'll see soon enough, but I suspect not.

Wouldn't it be nice if tens of millions of our tax dollars weren't used against voters, political rewards for investments of campaign contributions?

Chip Ford


The Boston Herald
Friday, November 8, 2002

Tommy Taxes long overdue for big letdown
by Howie Carr

What is wrong with this picture?

Mitt Romney, who was elected governor with 1,087,903 votes on Tuesday, had to go hat in hand to the State House yesterday to meet the most powerful guy in state government, Speaker Tom Finneran, who got 7,614 votes on Tuesday.

What am I missing here?

Mitt was striding through the State House like Dudley Do-Right, but he still had to defer to a hack who represents such a rotten borough that until late yesterday, city election officials hadn't even bothered to report the final number.

They call it the 12th Suffolk District, but by now, Tommy Taxes has grabbed about a third of the town of Milton, which is in Norfolk County. Every 10 years, Tommy Taxes has to annex more of Milton in order to recapture all of his white voters who have been fleeing Boston.

But the point is, how does a guy who gets elected by 8,000 people have more clout than someone who was picked by 1.1 million?

And another thing. In 18 House districts, the voters were asked whether their reps should vote for Tommy Taxes' re-election as speaker. In all 16 of the districts that have reported their returns (the other two are in Boston, naturally), the electorate voted thumbs down to Tommy Taxes.

Everyone loathes Tommy Taxes and wants him gone and yet he still controls the $23 billion state budget. How can we miss him when he won't go away?

And he's not the only payroll patriot from the city whose ring Mitt must kiss. Yesterday he also huddled briefly with the next Senate president, Bob Travaglini of East Boston. Compared to Finneran, though, Bobby Trav is an electoral dynamo - he got 29,275 votes.

The reason I bring this up is the deep consternation in certain circles about another huge number that was rung up on Tuesday - 881,738, to be exact.

That was the number of Massachusetts citizens who voted yes on Question 1, to abolish their state income taxes. Some people are scratching their heads, saying, what message was this mean-spirited 45 percent of the electorate trying to deliver to Beacon Hill?

As one of the 881,738, I can answer that question. We meant to stop paying state income taxes. We desired to opt for the New Hampshire solution. We wanted a 5.3 percent pay raise.

We are tired of our money being squandered by what Mitt so brilliantly called "the Gang of Three." Why would we want to give any more money to pols we never have the opportunity to vote out of office, unless they make the fatal error of trying to run statewide, the way Tom Birmingham did.

When you add up all the taxes that we pay - state, federal, local, tolls, etc. - it amounts to at least half of what we earn every week. But at least with the feds, you can delude yourself into thinking that maybe someday you'll collect Social Security and Medicare. And when a Hellfire missile evaporates a car-full of terrorists in Yemen, you know at least some of your federal tax dollars are being used wisely.

But what exactly do your state tax dollars pay for?

Disability pensions for mobbed-up Dukakoid ex-con sheriffs. State police speed traps. Welfare forms printed in 17 foreign languages. Pay raises for cops (and soon firefighters) who take phony "college" courses. A paid holiday every June on Bunker Hill Day for everyone in the state named Bulger, Travaglini, Finneran and O'Brien.

The hacks all wring their hands and say that eliminating the state income tax would cut $9 billion from the state budget. To which 881,738 of us responded as one, quoting Travis Tritt: Here's a quarter, call someone who cares.

Meanwhile, after his morning sit-down with Gov.-elect Do-Right, Tommy Taxes graciously said he was willing to play ball with a guy who got more votes in 13 hours on Tuesday than Finneran has garnered in his entire career.

"We're going to need to develop a working relationship," he said, "and I'll work night and day to do it."

And the rest of us will have to work night and day to pay all the taxes that Tommy Taxes wants to pummel us with.

As for Mitt, Tommy Taxes patronized him the way he does everybody. "He's bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and ready to go."

Ready to go? If only the same could be said of you, Tommy Taxes. On that, many more than 881,738 of us voters agree.

Howie Carr's radio show can be heard every weekday afternoon on WRKO AM 680, WHYN AM 560, WGAN AM 560, WEIM AM 1280, WXTK 95.1 FM or online at howiecarr.org.

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The MetroWest Daily News
Friday, November 8, 2002

Finneran says party must change
By John Gregg

House Speaker Tom Finneran yesterday said he would support cutting the state's capital gains tax to spur job creation and also blasted the "economic ignorance" of his own Democratic Party.

Although he defended a $1.2 billion tax increase this summer as "absolutely essential" to balance the state's budget, Finneran said the package may have been too aggressive in hiking cigarette taxes and in aligning Massachusetts' long-term capital gains tax with the state's 5.3 percent income tax.

Finneran said he would favor reducing the capital-gains tax as a signal to employers and investors. Capital gains are profits made on stocks, real estate, and other investments.

"I think it's going to be important for Massachusetts to set itself apart from other states," Finneran said in a speech to the Marlborough Rotary Club. "We live by our instincts, by research development, brains, entrepreneurial innovation, and the treatment of capital gains ... is very important."

But Finneran said dropping the capital-gains tax to zero percent for long-term investments -- a measure engineered by then-Gov. William Weld eight years ago -- is "politically unsustainable."

The House Speaker, who joked he was "born and baptized a Democrat," said he had not mentioned his support for reducing the capital-gains tax in a meeting yesterday morning with Republican Gov.-elect Mitt Romney, but has discussed the matter with some fellow Democrats.

"There's a psychology that we have to try to create, as well as a policy, that it would probably be helpful to send a signal that Massachusetts is not closed to business, but rather open to, and actively encouraging it," Finneran told the News. "I suspect that Mr. Romney would probably think that would be a nice arrow in whatever economic development quiver we put together."

But Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said the former venture capitalist had dismissed the idea of cutting the capital-gains tax during the campaign.

"Our focus is on fundamentally restructuring government, such that we can balance the budget without raising taxes. What you're talking about is not a priority," said Fehrnstrom. "Mitt talked about that during the campaign. It's not something we're focused on."

Michael Widmer, the president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said a reduction in the capital-gains tax for long-term holdings could be designed to cost the state only about $25 million a year in revenue, and he supported Finneran's proposal.

"We feel that it would be very important to preserve some long-term incentive for capital investments, and that encourages the kind of economic development and job growth that's important for the Massachusetts economy," Widmer said.

Finneran also said a new 75-cent increase in the cigarette tax may ultimately prompt smokers to buy cigarettes over the Internet, from Indian reservations, or in bordering states.

"You've tied yourself to a revenue source that's not going to grow, like the income tax usually does. You've tied yourself to a revenue source that's going to decline," he said.

Finneran blamed his party's dismal showing in Tuesday's elections on many Democrats' "casual and sometimes almost contemptuous" regard for private-sector employers.

"I'm worried about the direction of the party. I'm worried about the economic ignorance that seems to be almost woven into our platform and our party planks," said Finneran.

With the state facing up to a $2 billion deficit next year, Finneran said cuts to local aid and Medicaid coverage are almost certain. He said increasing state employees' health insurance premiums from 15 to 25 percent "is going to have to be on the table," as would changes to the Quinn bill, which provides extra payments to police officers who earn college and advanced degrees.

But Finneran was adamant in saying he would reject any effort to sell bonds based on the state's 1998 settlement with the tobacco industry, which could net about $1.4 billion in a one-time payment. Massachusetts gets about $288 million a year from the long-term settlement.

"Absolutely not. Under no circumstance," Finneran said of talk of "securitizing" the tobacco money. "I will die on my sword on that one. That would be the single dumbest decision we could ever make. No, no, no."

Finneran also said he would be reluctant to thwart a ballot question overwhelmingly approved by voters that calls for the abolition of bilingual education.

"I hesitate to touch anything the voters have spoken on," Finneran said. "The public has been most emphatic on this. They blew (bilingual education) out of the water."

During his campaign, Romney called for merging the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority with MassHighway, saying it could save the state $50 million.

"That's a lot of shekels, and I'm not sure there is $50 million in any administrative consolidation, but again, there is a receptivity," Finneran said.

Although Romney had used a poster of Finneran to warn of a "gang of three" on Beacon Hill should Democrat Shannon O'Brien be elected governor, the House speaker said he was "very encouraged" by his meeting with the Republican victor.

And Finneran said the governor-elect had autographed a new poster that included Romney with Finneran and presumptive Senate President Robert Travaglini with the words, "Mitt Romney, wannabe."

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