A PROMISE TO KEEP: 5%
A Ballot Committee of
Citizens for Limited Taxation & Government
PO Box 408 * Peabody, MA 01960
Phone:(617) 248-0022 /(508) 538-3900 E-Mail: cltg@cltg.org
Visit our web-page at: http://cltg.org
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ONLY * 12 * DAYS LEFT !!!
Before the Wednesday, November 19th Petition Drive Deadline with the City/Town Clerks
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*** Promise Update ***
Friday, November 7, 1997
Greetings activists!
Time’s running out fast—and "Super Saturday" is upon us tomorrow. We’ll have sixteen mall tables staffed over both "Super Saturday" and Sunday [to help, see list below], as well as, *hopefully*, hundreds of volunteers out there across the state in our final coordinated push to put our initiative petition over the top.
The weekend weather forecast doesn’t sound good (I can imagine how the colonial patriots must have felt at Valley Forge; at least it’s only rain!), but the weather doesn’t slow down or stop the constitutional deadline clock from ticking down on us. Rain or shine, we’ve still got only twelve days remaining to get and turn in our signatures. We ask, despite the probable weather adversity, that you do your best on "Super Saturday." It’s the only one we’ve got!
In the event of foul weather, one suggestion is to find a location with cover. Many supermarkets and department stores have roofs over their entrances that will shelter you from any rain, should it come. I’ve already contacted all the major supermarket chains’ corporate offices and told them to expect our volunteers. As a courtesy, upon arrival introduce yourself to the store manager and tell him or her what you’re doing. I don’t foresee any, but if you have a problem, ask the manager to contact their corporate office, or call me (508-538-3900).
Many have asked us to do something about the lack of publicity this drive has received in the media. Barbara and I dedicated much of the past week fulfilling those requests. Our phone calls and news release have generated the publicity for "Super Saturday" that you’ve sought.
We’ve done a number of radio interviews over the last two days; I did another a few minutes ago with WXTK on the Cape to promote "Super Saturday and our table at the Cape Cod Mall; they’ve invited us to the station tomorrow morning so the staff can sign our petition on-the-air and further promote "Super Saturday"! Yesterday—before running in to the State House for a successful photo-op with Gov. Cellucci—I did one with WNNZ in Springfield to promote "Super Saturday" and our table at the Holyoke and Fairfield Malls. This afternoon Barbara will be on Howie Carr’s program on WRKO.
Yesterday’s Boston Globe column by Jeff Jacoby was a result of our efforts, as well as today’s Boston
Herald editorial. (See below, and keep in mind that the state budget has swelled from $12 billion in 1989
to $18 billion this fiscal year—a 50 percent increase and twice the rate of inflation—with *still* an
almost $1 billion surplus!)
There have been a number of stories and announcements in local newspapers around the state, also a
result of these efforts. According to a call from the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune, it will cover our efforts this
weekend and report the results. We expect others will as well.
We’ll have a number of luminaries present at some of the malls on "Super Saturday." State Treasurer Joe Malone will be at the Burlington Mall, Howie Carr will be at the Natick Mall, former-Congressman Peter Torkildsen and Essex County Sheriff Frank Cousins will be at the Northshore Mall.
After speaking before a meeting of the Franklin County Selectmen’s Association yesterday morning, Barbara received the unanimous endorsement of the group for our initiative petition.
Yesterday we received a copy of the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University Survey, taken October 4-8, and the result is stunning! In *every* demographic—gender, ancestry, party, age, education level, and income—from a low of 63 percent ["Hispanic"] to a high of 93 percent ["Leans Republican"], our proposed tax cut is *favored*. (The strongest opposition, 28 percent, comes from "Democrats" or "Leans Democrat".)
< For full survey, go to: http://www.beaconhill.org >
Overall, it was favored 78 percent to 17 percent! If we get our initiative on the ballot, apparently we will win handily.
Only twelve days left. Can we pull it off in the eleventh hour? Only YOU can make it happen now! Only YOU can insure that we keep the promise now. Only YOU can make sure the "temporary" tax increase is truly temporary—by getting out there and getting the signatures to put this drive over the top.
Thanks much!
Chip Ford—
"Super Saturday" and Sunday Mall Locations:
Auburn Mall: State Rep. Paul Frost (508) 832-2840
Burlington Mall: Rob Lamoureux (781) 221-7113
Cape Cod Mall (Hyannis): Dave McCoy (508) 888-7597
Dedham Mall: Bob O'Keefe (617) 725-1996
Fairfield Mall: Roy Schoonover (413) 436-5195
Greendale Mall (Worcester): David Lionett (508) 852-7342
Holyoke Mall: Phil Bator/Karen Powell (413) 783-2918
Independence Mall (Kingston): Norm Paley (781) 545-9035
Liberty Tree Mall (Danvers): Steve Epstein (978) 352-7958
Natick Mall: Eli Israel (781) 229-1331 / (781) 270-9441
Northshore Mall (Peabody): Pat Warnock (781) 631-2692
Searstown Mall (Leominster): Muriel DeLisle (508) 342-4774
Silver City Galleria (Taunton): Ann Perry (508) 995-9909
South Shore Plaza (Braintree): Anne Hilbert (781) 335-3743
Square One Mall (Saugus): Matt LeBretton (978) 977-9600
Westgate Mall (Brockton): Craig Pina (508) 559-5039
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The Boston Herald
Friday, November 7, 1997
Editorial:
Sign the tax cut petitions
Volunteers will be collecting signatures this weekend on petitions aimed at reducing two obnoxious manifestations of Taxachusetts. If you run into one on your weekend errands, we hope you’ll sign.
A Promise to Keep, a campaign mounted by Citizens for Limited Taxation and Government, would lower the "temporary" (Ha!) 5.95 percent income tax rate on wages and salaries to 5.0 percent (what it was before 1989). The Committee for Fair and Simple Taxation wants to lower the punitive 12 percent rate on interest and dividends, highest in the nation, to the wage and salary rate.
When fully effective after three years, the two initiatives combined would lower the state’s revenue by about $1.5 billion a year.
Herald columnist Edward Moscovitch last Sunday warned that the state’s surplus already had been claimed by previous tax cuts, and that the explosion in state tax revenue of recent years, dependent as it was on a booming stock market, is unlikely to continue its torrid pace.
"It would be unwise to commit to the entire $1.5 billion package in advance," he wrote. "Such a course would most likely force large spending cuts in the years ahead."
So what’s the problem with large spending cuts?
If you think that Massachusetts government is austere and has no room for spending reductions, look at other states. A report of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation last month points out that the Bay State still has the sixth highest per capita tax burden in the nation. Most of the lower-ranked are governed just as well as Massachusetts, though more frugally.
Beacon Hill politicians are proud, and always will be, to spend every last dollar available. Take the rhetoric displayed on Page 2, the highlights page, of the 485-page budget as it came out of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. The page fairly sags under the weight of boasts that the budget "boosts" this and "develops" that and "extends" something else and "doubles" yet another program. The only cure for this obsession is a starvation diet.
Acting Gov. Paul Cellucci supports these cuts. He recognizes that when the tax burden is high, citizens are better judges of how to spend their money than the state is. It’s the right conclusion. We wish the two petitions drives good luck.
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You can e-mail A Promise to Keep: 5% at --> cltg@cltg.org
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