Rhetoric will give way to budget arithmetic following last
night's decision by voters to cut the state income tax to 5 percent over the next three years.
"Everywhere we went during the petition drive and during the
campaign, we kept hearing that people remembered there was a promise," said Barbara Anderson, who led the drive for
Question 4 as executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation.
"God was on our side," said Chip Ford, co-chairman of the A
Promise to Keep coalition. "We were telling the truth. I think the people of Massachusetts believe in keeping promises."
The ballot measure led by 60 percent to 40 percent with 78
percent of ballots counted last night.
Taxes will fall to 5 percent in three years from 5.85
percent today -- a decline of about 15 percent.
The proponents' main theme was to make the Legislature keep
a 10-year-old pledge to roll back what was then described as a "temporary" hike, but Anderson also attributed the win to
help from Gov. Paul Cellucci.
The Question 4 advocates, led by the state Republican Party,
argued the cut was necessary to keep the state competitive with neighbors that have lower (or no) income taxes.
The GOP used what Executive Director John Brockelman called
"an aggressive get-out-the-vote campaign."
While complete financial reports are not due until after the
election, supporters of Question 4 expected to spend about $1 million on the effort. Contributions came in part from business
leaders such as EMC Corp. founder Richard Egan.
Organized labor -- especially public-employee unions --
pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars and countless man-hours into an anti-4 effort.
Leaders countered Cellucci with arguments that Question 4
would hurt education and health care and that the $1.2 billion could be better spent.
The points were well-received by some voters, like Harry
Ming of Boston.
"I wanted to vote 'yes' on Question 4, but my daughter's a
teacher. I had to vote 'no,' " he said as he left a Chinatown polling place yesterday.
Nevertheless, it was a case the anti-activists conceded was
hard to make -- especially when voters could all but put money in their pockets by voting for 4.
"We certainly had a harder question to deliver ... the
governor's message was 'Do you want free ice cream?' " said Jack McCarthy, who managed the anti-4 Campaign for
Massachusetts' Future.
Opponents planned to spend about $3 million -- including an
October donation of $350,000 from the National Education Association -- a teachers union.
While arguing against Question 4, state Senate President
Thomas Birmingham cautiously said in the weeks prior to the vote that state finances could weather a 'yes' vote. Yet it
would still make it tough to fund important programs, he said.
Cellucci estimates the effect will be to remove $1.2 billion
from the state budget annually.
Voters also appeared on track to reject Question 6 -- a
measure that would have given some commuters a tax break. The vote was 57 percent against the measure to 43 percent in favor
with 60 percent of precincts reporting last night.
Question 7, which will let income-tax filers deduct charitable contribution, won overwhelmingly.