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 * E-Mail: cltg@cltg.org
Visit our web-page at: http://cltg.org
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*** CLT&G Update ***
Tuesday, March 3, 1998

Greetings activists and supporters:

How’s this for a class act? How often have you seen a newspaper or any media outlet publicly admit that they were wrong?

We’re still waiting to see if "the other paper" will print Barbara’s response to the Globe’s Feb. 26 editorial, "Taxing common sense." The Globe accused the "tax-cut tigress" of "Orwellian twists of logic" for stating, "It wasn’t a rate increase, but it was a tax increase." I hope nobody’s holding their breath waiting for that response to see print!

Chip Ford—
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The Boston Herald
Tuesday, March 3, 1998

Editorial: This is water over the dam

Citizens for Limited Taxation and Government has nailed us fairly. A letter from the organization to the editor today points out that we did oppose the additional payment to the rainy-day fund last year that resulted in the decrease in the state personal income tax exemption.

In that April editorial we had forgotten, we said: "It may or may not be a good idea, but we’re against it. We’re always against any tax increase imposed without public debate."

It is still unfair for Treasurer Joe Malone to blame Acting Gov. Paul Cellucci for this one, especially since Malone was silent at the time. Reviewing the clips reminded us of something else we had forgotten—this back-door tax increase was proposed by then-Gov. William Weld.
That is water over the dam, and the task today is to enact new tax cuts along the lines proposed by Cellucci and Citizens for Limited Taxation and Government.

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Letter to the Editor: Look past the rhetoric for tax truth

The Legislature increased the income tax from 5 percent in 1989 as a "temporary" measure, legislators promised, to bail us out of the state’s fiscal crisis. Last year we reminded them of the promise and House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran denied that the tax hike was ever meant to be temporary. We expect to put the income tax rollback on the ballot in November.

We also remember last year’s tax hike. So we were surprised by the Herald editorial, "Stop this blame game" (Feb. 25), which found it "dismaying to hear [State Treasurer Joe] Malone, in his quest for the Republican nomination for governor, attack [acting Gov. Paul] Cellucci for allegedly agreeing to a tax increase, and to see [Citizens for Limited Taxation and Government Co-director Barbara] Anderson defend Malone against criticism from former Gov. Bill Weld and others."

Describing the increased rainy-day fund passed by the Legislature last April, and the resulting lowered personal income tax exemption, the Herald said, "In a sense, yes, there was a tax increase, but it is better to think of it as the expiration of a temporary tax cut."
Temporary tax cut? That isn’t what the Herald called it a year ago ("A tax increase by stealth," April 2, 1997).

Paul Cellucci or Joe Malone would make a great governor. But it’s important for voters to get beyond the latest "he said— he said" and render informed decisions based on accurate facts.

Chip Ford, Co-director
Citizens for Limited Taxation and Government
Boston

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