While stopping short of taking a position, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation on
Monday said the state could balance its budget after cutting the income tax
to 5 percent as long as tax receipts continue to grow and if state lawmakers return to the spending discipline they
exhibited in the mid-1990s.
Tax cut supporters say the announcement is a victory for
their initiative petition campaign.
While the risks of Question 4 are "considerably less" than
at the start of the year, MTF says passage of Questions 4 and 6, which proposes tax deductions for auto excise and toll
payments, would force big cuts in education and social services programs.
In a new
report, MTF analyzes the impact of the questions under 18 different spending and
revenue growth scenarios.
Toll credit (Question 6) proponent Harold Hubschman says the
MTF analysis is "typical gloom and doom," adding, "These are people who go to bed every night praying for a recession, so
their analysis can finally be proven true."
Tax Equity Alliance of Massachusetts, which is leading the
opposition to the tax cuts, says MTF report "misses the point." TEAM Director Jim St. George said, "Of course, you could
finance the tax cut. We've all known that. It's just that you have to give up things that most
voters think are more important," like education and health care.