A PROMISE TO KEEP: 5%
A Ballot Committee of
Citizens for Limited Taxation & Government
PO Box 408 * Peabody, MA 01960
Phone:(617) 248-0022 * E-Mail: cltg@cltg.org
Visit our web-page at: http://cltg.org
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*** Promise Update ***
Saturday, March 21, 1998

Greetings activists and supporters:

An update on our court challenge for more signatures (and our defense against the Teachers Union, which is still trying to take more of them away from us):

Yesterday, documentation of all challenged signatures was due in court. But the judge granted a two-week extension, at the request of the Secretary of State and Attorney General, both of which had complained that they didn’t have enough staff or time to comply.

Like we do?

The Teachers Union last week returned to its intimidation tactic of issuing subpoenas to voters who signed our petition.

Once again we’re apologizing, reassuring those (some very elderly and scared) who call our office not to worry, and we’re just forfeiting the signature rather than impose on the innocent signer. Helluva group of human beings, those teachers are. Real role models "for the children." Compassion at its finest where win-at-any-cost is concerned.

We still expect to have more than enough signatures from the 2,000 we’re challenging to qualify for the next step and reach the ballot in November.

Chip Ford—
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The (Quincy) Patriot Ledger
Saturday, March 21, 1998

EDITORIAL: Give us our promised tax cut

It’s time for the Democrats in the Massachusetts Legislature--especially House Speaker Thomas Finneran—to get the message: It’s about keeping your promise.

In the current debate over what to do with the ballooning state revenue surplus—that is, how much of it to give back to ordinary citizens and how much to save for a rainy day—it need not be a close call. The first priority should be eliminating the state income tax surcharge that was imposed in 1989 to stave off financial disaster during the last recession.

You may remember that the legislature voted back then to raise the tax rate on ordinary income fro 5 percent to 5.75 percent—and later to 5.95 percent. Partly, the new taxes were to pay for a $1 billion bond issue needed to keep the state solvent after the collapse of the "Massachusetts Miracle."

What some legislative leaders apparently don’t remember is that the tax increase, or surcharge, was to be temporary. That $1 billion bond issue was paid off last December. So why are taxpayers still being charged for it?

Part of the skirmishing concerns the size of the so-called "rainy day" stabilization fund that the legislature established in 1986 to help weather future recessions. The idea was that revenue surpluses would go into the fund until it reached 5 percent of state revenue. Right now, the rainy day fund has about $800 million. With an estimated revenue surplus for the current year of another $800 million, it’s clear that the fund will soon be overflowing and that a tax benefit should result.

But, surprise! Finneran and some other legislators have all sorts of other ideas about what they’d like to do with the surplus. Finneran argues that the rainy day fund isn’t big enough to keep the state above water in the next recession. He wants to raise it to 7 ½ percent of state revenues, or about $1.4 billion. Under that plan, you could kiss your tax refund and/or tax cut good-bye.

Other legislators are talking about paying for capital projects with the surplus, and some are eyeing the threatened reduction in federal funds to pay for the Big Dig.

But the message these legislators should be getting from their constituents is this: Show us our tax cut first, and then we’ll talk.

Finneran and the other legislators who want to reduce the size of the tax cut are like kids in a candy store. They see all this money coming in, and the want to use if for new goodies—not for what they agreed to in the first place.

No wonder ordinary citizens are cynical about government.

All we are asking is that the Legislature play by the rules and do what it said it would do. There’s nothing temporary about a surcharge that continues after the reason for which it was imposed has disappeared.

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