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, May 4, 1998

Greetings activists and supporters!

Along with the budget being debated in the House today, it should be a big day because we should hear from the court on our petition—no later than tomorrow!

As you can see from the following, our petition is most likely the only hope taxpayers have to see the Legislature keep its 1989 promise to us . . . but we’re trying to give legislators every opportunity to at last do the honorable thing and for once keep their word.

Chip Ford –

Note: Notice in the Globe report today the comments by our enemy, Jim St. George. (In his case, he is not the "adversary," as was his predecessor, Jim Braude. Braude had his head screwed on a little strangely, but he was an honorable opponent. St. George is nothing more than what Barbara called him to his face in the court room: "Scum"!) In it, St. George provides us with a classical example of the liberal "More Is Never Enough" philosophy of greed!
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The Boston Herald
Monday, May 4, 1998

Lead Editorial: State budget: It’s big . . .

The state budget is rather like the old saw about blind men describing an elephant—and with every passing year and every additional billion in spending, the elephant analogy becomes more relevant.
The budget—at $19.463 billion—is not simply enormous, it is many different things to many different people. Most of those "things"—funds for education (up $253 million this year), increased aid to cities and towns ($34 million in new lottery aid), $21 million to begin the process putting the MBTA on a pay-as-you-go basis—are difficult to argue with one by one.

But as long as there are budgets to be drawn up and taxes flowing in to pay for all those "things," the "things" will grow and multiply. And wants will soon become needs.

It’s not that this is an irresponsible budget. It isn’t. It assumes $500 million in tax cuts, which is a very good *start*. The chief problem is that its priorities are askew. It puts individual taxpayers—their wants and needs—near the end of the list, not the beginning.

State budgeters have planned for rainy days, they’ve met every conceivable need. Now it’s time they gave taxpayers their due. It’s time legislators kept their promise of too many years ago to roll back that "temporary" hike in the income tax to 5 percent.

As the House begins debate on the budget today, lawmakers should remember their promises of years gone by.

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Citizens for Limited Taxation & Government
18 Tremont St., # 608 * Boston, MA 02108
Phone:(617) 248-0022 /(508) 538-3900 E-Mail: cltg@cltg.org
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To: Members of the General Court
May 4, 1998
Re: Promised tax cuts


1. The 1989 promise to rollback the state income tax rate to 5percent when the fiscal crisis ended, and;

2. The 1986 promise to increase the personal exemption when tax dollars accumulate in the stabilization fund and roll over into the tax reduction fund, and;

3. The 1994 promise to phase-out the capital gains tax in return for a payraise.

Attitude toward promises through the ages:

I defy the boldest liar among travelers to say that he has ever encountered a country or tribe where it is laudable to break one’s word."
Voltaire, Letter to Frederick the Great, 1737

"A promise is a kind of debt."
Moroccan Proverb

"Never promise more than you can perform."
Publilius Syrus, 42 B.C.

"Undertake not what you cannot perform but be careful to keep your promise."
George Washington

"Promises are the uniquely human way of ordering the future, making it predictable and reliable to the extent that this is humanly possible."
Hannah Arendt, political philosopher. 1906-75

GOOD GUYS:

"And though he promise to his loss, he makes his promise good."
Nicholas Brady 1659-1726

"Statesman, yet friend to truth; of soul sincere, In action faithful, and in honour clear; Who broke no promise..."
Alexander Pope, 1688-1744

"He was ever precise in promise-keeping."
Shakespeare, 1604

BAD GUYS:

"They, while their mind desires something and longs eagerly to gain it, nothing fear to swear, nothing spare to promise; but as soon as the lust of their greedy mind is satisfied, they fear not then their words, they heed not their perjuries."
Calullus, 87-54 B.C.

"And be these juggling fiends no more believ’d That palter with us in a double sense;
That keep the word of promise to our ear And break it to our hope."
Macbeth, Act V, Scene VII

"His promises were, as he then was, mighty;
But his performance, as he is now, nothing."
Shakespeare, of Henry VIII, 1613

"Great men, till they have gained their ends, are giants in their promises, but, those obtained, weak pigmies in their performance."
Phillip Massinger, the Great Duke of Florence, 1636 (Note that the word Great here means Big, not Good).

"If you want to get on in this world, make many promises, but don’t keep them."
Napoleon (at St. Helena, where he apparently deserved to be)

Final Words from New England’s poet laureate:

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep."
Robert Frost, 1875-1963

We would remind everyone that the House "tax cut package" contains more tax *increase* than cut. We hope there will be honor roll calls on budget amendments to substitute the promised 5 percent income tax rate for the paltry 5.7 percent income tax rate, remove the outside sections that increase income taxes by raising the stabilization fund cap, and remove the capital gains tax increase.

Barbara Anderson
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The Boston Globe
Monday, May 4, 1998

The state surplus: Social aims take back seat
By Geeta Anand, Globe Staff

Like the starting gun in a 100-meter dash, news of the state’s big budget surplus and more money to come next year has set off a furious contest on Beacon Hill and in the governor’s race, with competitors rushing forward offering one towering tax-cut plan after another.

Leading the way, Acting Governor Paul Cellucci proposes to cut $1.6 billion. Two of his Democratic opponents, with billion-dollar plans, are not far behind. Beacon Hill Democrats are pulling up the rear, building a $500 million tax-cut plan into the budget that would be the biggest in state history.

But as the debate over the state’s finances begins today on Beacon Hill, noticeably absent will be calls to use the huge windfall - a projected $800 million surplus this year, and an expected $1.6 billion in new tax money next year - to help solve the state’s most pressing social problems in any major way.

This is, after all, an election year and few candidates, it seems, are thinking of doing anything with the money except bestowing tax rebates from $200 to $400 on every taxpayer.

Yet, social welfare specialists and advocates contend that using some of the new tax revenues could help eradicate hunger here, teach illiterate adults on waiting lists to read, insure half of the 766,000 Bay Staters without health benefits, or put all of the state’s 3- and 4-year-olds in stimulating learning environments.

How much would it cost? Specialists estimate that:

· $20 million would teach reading to the 15,000 illiterate adults languishing on waiting lists;

· less than $100 million would feed the estimated 15,000 households experiencing chronic hunger;

· $370 million would provide health insurance to half of the 766,000 state residents who have no coverage;

· $1 billion could provide early childhood education to all of the state’s 3- and 4-year-olds.

So why the deafening silence on the political front?

"It’s the mood of the time," said John Silber, chairman of the State Board of Higher Education and Boston University chancellor.

"It’s always been Republican dogma that tax cuts are what unites people, and now it’s becoming a Democratic dogma that the way to fight Republicans is to propose tax cuts yourself," said Jim St. George, executive director of the Tax Equity Alliance of Massachusetts.

That was made clear late last year when Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, in unveiling his first real economic plan as the Democratic challenger to Cellucci in the governor’s race, proposed a $1.5 billion tax-cut plan that was criticized as a sop to the rich.

Former Boston mayor Raymond L. Flynn was the only gubernatorial candidate to make a pitch for spending the state’s surplus on social programs. But last week, he quit the race to run instead for Congress.

But there is a growing sentiment that the tax-cutting mandate that has taken over state politics is economically, morally, and, perhaps, politically misguided.

"There’s always a desire to have a tax cut. I can’t deny it’s useful and nice to have a tax cut," Silber said. "On the other hand, there are certain absolute necessities that need to be taken care of and the consideration of a tax cut should come after one has met those basic needs."

"And if this time of economic prosperity is not the time to try and meet the state’s most pressing social needs, when is the time?" asked St. George.

Silber, who asked the Legislature to put $169 million into early childhood education next year, has found only $6 million in the proposed House budget. He points to a growing body of research showing that children stimulated early in life are more likely to succeed and argues that an investment now could save billions in special education and crime-fighting costs later.

Instead of finding his constituents applauding his vote for a $500 million tax cut, State Representative James J. Marzilli Jr., an Arlington Democrat who helped write the plan, says the calls he received the week after were angry, "demanding to know what I was up to when there were all of these unmet needs."

Marzilli and others say the conventional wisdom derived from poll after poll showing taxpayers’ love affair with tax cuts may be wrong.

"If you ask people, ‘Do you want cash back?’ of course they say, ‘Yes.’ It’s like asking, ‘Do you want a sunny day?’ But if you ask a taxpayer, ‘Do you want 200 bucks back or would you let us have it to keep seniors in their homes?’ they want to help seniors," Marzilli said.

State Representative Paul C. Demakis, a Back Bay Democrat, says he told an audience of retired businessmen he was going to vote for the big Beacon Hill tax cut and found, to his surprise, hands shooting up demanding to know why.

"They were saying, ‘Don’t vote for my tax cut when there are other things that need to be taken care of,’" Demakis said.

Both men voted for the $500 million tax-cut package, saying the momentum on Beacon Hill was so strong they did not feel they could stop it.

Cellucci boasts that his income-tax cut, when fully implemented in three years, would return $600 to the average Massachusetts family.

House leaders say their $500 million plan, which includes an income-tax cut and higher exemptions for caring for children and elderly relatives, would give back $433 to a couple earning an income of $60,000 next year.

The Senate’s $500 million proposal would give the rich and poor the same savings of $262.

But even Senate President Thomas F. Birmingham, a Chelsea Democrat and the most liberal of Beacon Hill leaders, strongly advocates cutting taxes this year.

"It’s very important for Democrats in particular to show they are not reflexively opposed to tax cuts," he said.

And both Birmingham and House leaders note that they are putting small increases in the budget for some social programs and have done so as the economy has improved in recent years. Money for early childhood education has gone from nothing to $65 million in recent years, notes Birmingham.

House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Haley boasts of adding another $6 million to early childhood education and $28 million to boost salaries of direct-care workers for the needy by 3 percent.

But first, before both branches of government began talking about social needs, came the unanimous votes for $500 million tax cuts.

"That’s clearly, clearly the priority," said St. George.

"Sure they’ve added a little money for important programs, but not nearly to the level that’s needed."

There is a supply-side argument to be made, as Cellucci is doing, for cutting taxes to stimulate the economy for everyone. The Beacon Hill Institute released a study recently saying Cellucci’s plan would add 96,000 jobs in the state.

Many of the Bay State’s leading economists look skeptically at the benefits of cutting taxes further in this economy, noting that unemployment in February was 3.3 percent.

"They’re running out of people to hire now. This is not an economy that needs additional stimulus," said Fred Breimyer, chief economist at State Street Bank.

"What is very clear is that if you don’t even have basic literacy skills, there’s no jobs you can get. We now have an opportunity to give people these basic skills. That’s the only way of improving their lives and this economy," said Michael B. Gritton, policy director at MassINC.

The problem, according to John D. Donahue, associate professor of public policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is that education is a long-term strategy and politics is a shorter-term business.

"Having decent [early childhood education] now means a better economy in a quarter century," he said. "There’s not too many politicians interested in what’s happening 25 years from now."

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