Supporters of a ballot question that would reduce the state
income tax are offering voters a chance to see how much they would save.
The campaign's web site, www.rollitback.com, has a
calculator that estimates the effect of approval of the tax cut from 5.75 percent to 5 percent over three years, Question 4 on
the Nov. 7 ballot.
The savings ranges from $255 on a taxable income of $30,000
to $1,700 on an income of $200,000.
At $50,000, the median salary in Massachusetts, the tax
break would be $425.
Or so the web site promises. Critics say those numbers are
distorted.
James St. George, executive director of the Tax Equity
Alliance for Massachusetts, said the median taxable income is $26,500 after deductions for personal exemptions, dependents,
Social Security taxes and child care, and the savings from the proposed tax cut would be
$220.
"Two hundred dollars is practically nothing for middle-income people," St. George said. "For
the first year, you're talking about 20 cents a day, and then another 20 cents
a day, and again for the third year."
A study for TEAM, which has a web site at www.noon4and6.com,
also found that the state's top 1 percent wage-earners would save more than the bottom 60 percent combined.
St. George said the web site also bases tax savings on the
current rate of 5.85 percent, but the rate already is scheduled to go down to 5.75 percent in January.
Gov. Paul Cellucci actively supports the ballot question.
"This is a tax cut for every taxpayer," Cellucci said. "The
vast majority of this will go to middle-class families who need it the most."
Passage of the tax cut is not a sure thing. In 1990, a
similar ballot question was defeated 58 percent to 39 percent.
Both sides have been raising money at a quick pace to
promote their positions.
The Tax Rollback Committee has raised $657,271, including
large donations from corporations and Cellucci supporters. The question's main opponent, the Campaign for
Massachusetts' Future, has raised $972,880, including hefty donations from
local unions.
This past summer Cellucci challenged six top Democrats to
debate him on the issue, and five accepted. Each is a possible gubernatorial candidate in 2002.
Two of the debates, with former Democratic National
Committee Chairman Steve Grossman and state Treasurer Shannon O'Brien, have already taken place, and two others are planned,
with Secretary of State William Galvin and Senate President Thomas Birmingham.
Cellucci said there is another principle at stake: honesty.
The Legislature increased the tax rate from 5 to 5.95
percent as a temporary measure during the fiscal crisis of the late 1980s, promising to reduce it when the crisis ended.
With the state enjoying a budget surplus and healthy
economy, Cellucci said, the Legislature should honor its promise to reduce the tax rate. Cellucci was a state senator
when the tax rate was raised.
Birmingham, an opponent of the tax cut, said there is
nothing in the legislation itself that promised a tax cut once the economy improved.
"The Legislature makes a promise in legislation, not in
description, not by prediction," he said. "I reviewed the legislation. There was no promise."
House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Haley, D-Weymouth, said
the income tax cut proposal is risky. He said he would prefer linking future tax cuts to the economy.
"We're willing to cut taxes further as they become affordable," he said.
Last week O'Brien called on Cellucci to use the state's
budget surplus -- projected by Cellucci to be about $1 billion this year -- to help pay down the state's debt of $12 billion.
Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.