Citizens for Limited Taxation & Government
"The Commonwealth Activist Network"
18 Tremont Street #608 * Boston, MA 02108
Phone: (617) 248-0022 * E-Mail: cltg@cltg.org
Visit our web-page at: http://cltg.org
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*** CLT&G Update ***
Monday, July 14, 1997

The Boston Herald
Monday, July 14, 1997

Lead Editorial: Our abdicating governor

Our profligate lawmakers pretty much ignored Gov. William Weld’s proposal for lower taxes. They sent the governor a budget that says "yes" to every proposal under the sun and still can’t spend all the money that’s rolling in, and what does Weld do?

He punts, vetoes only $8 million in the total of $18.4 billion and says he’ll wait for September’s updated revenue estimate before his next move.

The problem is not the*amount* of spending. The problem is the *trend* that’s getting established. The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation says the budget, after the appropriate bookkeeping adjustments, would actually increase spending by 6.5 percent instead of the apparent 5.5 percent. That’s faster than inflation and revenue growth.

"The concern is that we build in a rate of increase—and a set of expectations about future expansion—that cannot be met with reasonable annual growth in state revenues, let alone a future recession," the foundation said.

"This is the very pattern that ultimately led to fiscal disaster in the late 1980s."

And if *anybody* in Massachusetts ought to know that, it’s Bill Weld. That disaster helped get him elected; his early budgets had to cure it. In the face of fierce resistance, he did a good job. All his good work could go down the drain if the drunken sailor gets hold of the checkbook again.

Weld took office as a tax-cutter and still gives lip-service to the faith. Taking away the revenue bottle is the one sure way to keep the sailor sober.

The Legislature ignored Weld’s call to cut the tax rate on "unearned" income in half to the same rate paid on wages, to lift the telephone tax on Internet providers and to stop taxing military pensions.

What a wimp! If the state could "afford" these cuts in January, it can surely afford them now. The governor sure won’t get any tax cuts from the Legislature without constant pressure and mobilization of public opinion. He’s surrendering without a fight.

Maybe Weld’s a little distracted by the prospect of a long Mexican vacation. If that’s the case why not let Lt. Gov. Paul Cellucci move into the corner office now? Nobody else seems to be using it.