THE ISSUE
Leaders of the Massachusetts
Legislature are worried about how to spend all the money gushing into
state coffers.
OUR VIEW
Give it back to taxpayers, who could
use it.
Only on Beacon Hill would a massive
surplus of cash from the taxpayers be deemed a crisis.
But that's the case. Tax collections
since last July have soared way above projections. Income is more than
double what it was for the same period last year, when the state rolled
up a $900 million budget surplus.
The powerful politicians who control
the Legislature are deeply worried about finding ways to spend that
money and expand government quickly enough so that the cash will not
have to revert to the taxpayers.
They are laughing at Gov. A Paul
Cellucci's proposal to roll back the state income tax from 5.95 percent
to 5 percent. Their mantra is: We need to spend on government now,
because good times won't last forever.
Here are a few points they -- and we
voters -- should remember:
The hike in income taxes from 5
percent to 5.95 percent was supposed to be a temporary measure to get
Massachusetts government through its self-induced fiscal crisis of the
late 1980s. Lawmakers promised the "temporary" hike would be
rolled back as soon as the crunch was over. They are now hoping we
forget.
Massachusetts got in trouble the last
time because it spent madly as the economy boomed and tax revenues
flowed into the Treasury. If the government expands beyond its means
again, it will face another budget crunch when the economy cools.
We live under a government founded on
principles of freedom, guaranteeing us maximum opportunity to shape and
enjoy our lives with minimum intrusion from government. As government
fattens up, growing more powerful and intrusive, freedom shrinks.
This surplus is on the backs of
working families, who do not have it as easy as politicians seem to
think. Because of a record burden of taxation, people find it
desperately hard to save and many families need two incomes just to get
by.
That has some serious consequences:
Children are starved for attention from parents, family life is more
strained than ever and the standard of living holds steady or declines
as people work harder and harder.
It is human nature for politicians to
want to absorb as much money from the taxpayers as possible. It means
clout for them, patronage jobs to hand out, opportunities to take
personal credit for being compassionate while using other people's
money.
That is why the citizenry has to step
in and remind them: The money comes from somewhere. If families must
live within their means, so must government.
The surplus must be returned to the
taxpayers.