A PROMISE TO KEEP: 5%
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A Ballot Committee of
Citizens for Limited Taxation & Government
PO Box 408 * Peabody, MA 01960
Phone:(617) 248-0022 /(978) 538-3900 E-Mail: cltg@cltg.org
Visit our web-page at: http://cltg.org
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*** Promise Update ***
Friday, January 10, 1998

An admission of guilt to the harassment "Spitball Strategy"


Tax cut opponents challenge signatures
Haverhill Gazette
Thursday, January 8, 1998

BOSTON (AP) -- Tax cut opponents in several Merrimack Valley communities are challenging nearly 40 times as many signatures as they need to in order to keep a tax cut initiative off the November ballot.

They delivered a list of approximately 4,000 challenged signatures to the Secretary of State on Wednesday in an effort to derail what they say is an irresponsible tax cut.

Jim St. George, executive director of the liberal Tax Equity Alliance of Massachusetts, said the group found a couple hundred duplicate certified signatures as well as many more it could not find on local voter registration lists.

"We're completely confident we will show the commission signatures that should not have been certified and that will drop her below the minimum number," St. George said, referring to Barbara Anderson, a leader in the tax cut initiative.

TEAM needs to knock off 82 signatures to prevent the proposal to cut the state income tax from 5.95 to 5 percent from making it on the November ballot.

St. George said the group does not believe all 4,000 signatures are invalid, but included all those in doubt since the challenge list cannot be added to later.

"They're throwing spitballs at the wall," said Anderson, co-chair of the Citizens for Limited Taxation [& Government], sponsors of the petition.

She said her group is also poring over the signatures and have already found an estimated 800 signatures that would have been certified, but were wrongly excluded because the name was thought to be unregistered or illegible.

In order to get the question on the ballot, CLT&G was required to submit 64,928 certified signatures.

The Ballot Law Commission plans to meet on Monday, and must decide on the signature challenges by Jan. 23.

If the question survives the challenge, legislators will have until May 6 to decide if they want to enact it directly into law.

If they do not, Anderson's group will have to collect an additional 10,821 signatures to get the question on the ballot.



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You can e-mail A Promise to Keep: 5% at --> cltg@cltg.org
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