FRONT-PAGE. PRO-TAX, BOOGA-BOOGA, folks!!!
"House budget would make steep trims; Local aid cuts decried; critics urge tax hike" by Matt Viser, Globe Staff | April 16, 2009
.... The $27.4 billion budget proposed yesterday by Massachusetts House leaders includes steep cuts in nearly every area touched by state government and would impose the greatest reduction in year-to-year spending in recent memory. The announcement, which comes at a time of steadily declining tax revenues, immediately triggered vocal protests and calls for a tax increase to preserve services....
Related:
Pigs at the State Trough
A Slow Saturday Special: Statehouse Slush Fund
Hollywood S***s on Massachusetts
How many times I gotta put them up?
The cuts are so severe, and so targeted at programs that have widespread support, that some questioned whether the House was resorting to scare tactics to pave the way for broad-based tax increases.... The cuts prompted immediate protests from mayors, particularly in cities that are most reliant on state grant programs that supply funds for community policing and homelessness prevention programs.
"The cities of Massachusetts have taken a shot right between the eyes," said Mayor Thomas M. Menino of Boston, which would see a $53 million cut in local aid under the plan. "All the things that are important to making a city work, they're just gone." "I just don't understand how a budget can be put together like this and taken seriously," he added. "This is a budget that was ill-conceived. This budget has no heart - and it has no brains."
Yeah, sort of like you, your city, and this newspaper on the desk in front of me, 'eh, mayor? See: Heralding the End of the Boston Globe
The House proposal includes no new taxes and avoids using any state reserves to balance the budget, although some lawmakers have started to make the case that tax increases need to be seriously considered, including a sales tax increase.
DeLeo and Murphy have avoided any talk of tax hikes, but a group of lawmakers plans to meet today to discuss possible revenue options. All Democrats were invited to the meeting.
"This is going to devastate families and communities across the state," said Representative Carl Sciortino, a Somerville Democrat and vice chairman of the House Committee on Revenue. "If we want to protect a decent quality of life, we have to look at a budget that looks at both cuts and expenditures."
House lawmakers have until Friday to file amendments, which could include broad-based tax proposals. The House will begin debating April 27 and then send the budget on to the Senate, which will craft its own version. The two chambers will then be charged with ironing out their differences and sending a final proposal to Patrick before the July 1 start of the fiscal year....
"It's been eight years of hell. We're beyond hell now," said Mayor John Barrett of North Adams, where local aid would be cut by $1.2 million. "It's absurd and it's crazy. This is Draconian. People aren't angry about what's going on at the local level, they're angry about what's going on at the state level."
YUP!
Cutting the Quinn bill is also drawing fire from police unions that were caught completely off guard by the elimination of the program. "There's a part of me that feels betrayed and insulted," said Thomas Nee, president of the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association. "Without any dialogue? No discussion?"
Nice move, politicians!
C'mon over, coppers. We love local law-enforcement truthers on this side!!! We need ya to resist in disobedience when they call for you to swat us in the skulls!
The Quinn bill, which was passed in 1970, supplies salary boosts to police officers who earn a college degree. Depending on local contracts, the elimination of the state program would either mean that police officers will take pay cuts or local officials will have to make up the difference....
You know who need not worry about cuts?
Yup: A Slow Saturday Special: Statehouse Slush Fund
The House budget does, however, include Patrick's proposal to raise a host of fees at the Registry of Motor Vehicles.
--more--"Here a tax, their a fee, every time you turn around, ooo-wee, in Taxachushitts!
"The House budget is already an effective advertisement for new revenues in some form."
Gee, look who said that, readers.
What a shocker that it was the PAGE ONE LEAD in my PRO-TAX, AGENDA-PUSHING PAPER?
