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 ***
Monday, April 20, 1998

Greetings activists and supporters;

All the arguments have been made and heard before the court; the trial ended on Friday and the facts and figures are in the hands of Suffolk Superior Court Judge Allan van Gestel.

When his clerk of court on Friday wondered out loud how it was that none of the "hundreds" of MTA-subpoenaed signers had appeared, MTA lead attorney Cheryl Cronin snapped: "We have our suspicions!"

"Are they reasonable, articulable suspicions, or just mere suspicions?" Steve, our attorney, demanded. Her only response was a pout.

Judge van Gestel has promised a decision before the first Wednesday in May, the deadline for the Legislature to vote on all proposed initiative petitions—but it may come as soon as this week.

Stay tuned!
Chip Ford—
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THE(LAWRENCE)EAGLE-TRIBUNE
Sunday, April 19, 1998

Surplus is not a ‘bonus’

THE ISSUE
Massachusetts legislators want to spend about half of a budget surplus on pet projects.

OUR VIEW
The surplus should be returned to the taxpayers who produced it.
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Now that we’ve just finished filing our Massachusetts taxes for 1997, it’s interesting to see how legislators think of the hard-earned dollars we pay into the state till.

By most accounts, Massachusetts taxpayers will pay $600 million more in taxes in 1998 than legislators spent in the budget. There has been much debate on what to do with this surplus money. Some legislators favored saving it for a rainy day. A few recommended giving it back to the taxpayers who produced it.

Then legislators did what most of us knew they would do all along—they put together a spending plan.

The plan contains all sorts of goodies for the legislators’ districts. Here in the Merrimack Valley, we will get $3 million for pollution control at the North East Solid Waste Committee incinerator in North Andover. There’s about $2 million for the expansion of the Nevins Memorial Library in Methuen. Add another $100,000 for equipment at the William X. Wall Experimental Station in Lawrence.

The same is repeated across the state—goodies for everyone. All told, the new spending consumes about half of the $600 million surplus.

Legislators are applauding themselves for this behavior.

They call it fiscal responsibility.

They say these are all worthwhile and important projects that either have been waiting for funding for some time or that the state would have had to borrow to pay for.

"This is like getting a bonus from your company and using it to pay off your credit cards," said State Rep. Harriett L. Stanley, D-Merrimac.

She’s a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, which controls state spending. She initially favored saving the surplus, but now she’s all for spending it.

So is State Rep. Barry R. Finegold, D-Andover, who said a few weeks ago the surplus should be returned to the taxpayers. Now, he says spending on NESWC is a "wise investment."

What legislators fail to see is that most people don’t get bonuses from their companies anymore. When individuals know they will have to spend money for some necessity, they must budget carefully for it. There are no windfalls for the rest of us.

If these projects are as important as legislators claim, they should be funded through the normal budget process. And the surplus should be returned to the taxpayers by lowering state income taxes.

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You can e-mail A Promise to Keep: 5% at --> cltg@cltg.org
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"The only alternative to limited taxation and government is unlimited taxation and government."