Not that the legislature will listen.
"the Legislature could amend or repeal the new law, as they have done with prior initiatives passed by the voters"
"Voter initiatives target two taxes; Voters could reduce sales, alcohol levies" by Peter Schworm, Globe Staff | October 27, 2010
With jobs scarce and many families just scraping by, taxes have taken center stage this political season. In Tuesday’s election, Massachusetts voters will have two opportunities to lower them.
Yes, yes, and by God, yes!!!
Two ballot questions are aimed at sales tax increases adopted last year as the state struggled to meet budget demands.
Related: Massachusetts Sales Tax Swindle
See where your increased taxes is going (and not going), readers?
Keep those in mind as you read further.
The most far reaching, Question 3, would reduce the state’s sales tax from 6.25 percent to 3 percent.
Supporters say it would give cash-strapped households some financial breathing room, and jump-start struggling businesses. Lawmakers had raised the sales tax from 5 percent to 6.25 percent last summer to avoid steep budget cuts amid plummeting revenues.
And to PAY OFF BANKS first and foremost!
Opponents, including a number of business groups, say the tax cut would decimate government revenues, deepen the state’s projected budget deficit, and force communities to lay off police officers, firefighters, and public school teachers. State finance officials say it would reduce tax revenue by an estimated $2.5 billion next fiscal year.
You sold the sales tax increase that way and we still got the cuts. I'm tired of little boy hollering wolf.
“This is exactly the wrong time to do this,’’ said Stephen Crawford, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Coalition for Our Communities, a coalition of labor unions and other opponents of the ballot initiative. “Every major business group in the state says the same thing: It’s bad for our economy; it’s bad for our recovery.’’
What recovery? Yeah, these are the guys spending millions on the TV ads to protect their feathered nests.
Crawford said the reduced tax revenue would undermine state subsidies to cities and towns that have already scaled back spending.
The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a tax policy research group, estimates that approving Question 3 would result in 28 percent budget cuts to “virtually all state programs’’ and the layoff of thousands of municipal employees.
Fine, as long as they cut the bloated pensions and health plans of the self-serving politicians, and stop all the corporate welfare to profitable Hollywood and loser green and bio tech.
On the other side of the debate, The Beacon Hill Institute, a conservative think tank at Suffolk University, says that cutting the tax rate would provide a boost to retail businesses that would create some 27,000 jobs and $1 billion in higher wages.
“Yes on 3 is a job-creating machine,’’ said Carla Howell, chairwoman of the Alliance To Roll Back Taxes, which collected 19,000 signatures to put the measure on the ballot. “It will be a huge boost to retail business.’’
Yeah, LOWER TAXES USUALLY ARE!
The tax cut would save the average family $900 a year, said Howell. State leaders can offset the lost revenue by reducing wasteful and low-priority spending, she said, and will not reduce spending unless voters force them to.
She is RIGHT about THAT!
Voters appear divided over the question, eager to pay less for everyday items but worried about the impact on schools, public safety, and other government services. In the most recent Boston Globe poll, half of likely voters said they oppose the proposal, while 43 percent support it.
Then damn you, Massachusetts voters. Damn you all to hell!!!
The other tax initiative, Question 1, would eliminate a sales tax on beer, wine, and liquor.
I would like to eliminate the product, but....
Liquor store owners say that since the tax was imposed as part of the fiscal 2010 budget they have lost business to New Hampshire, which has no sales tax on alcohol.
Yeah, the most prolific ad of the campaign season.
P.J. Foster, a spokesman for the Yes on One Committee, said Massachusetts stores near the New Hampshire border report sharp declines in sales, forcing some to lay off workers. Alcoholic beverages are already subject to an excise tax, supporters note.
Related: Slow Saturday Special: Nawth to New Hampshire
Also see: Mass. Lawmaker Boozes Up On Bathroom Break in New Hampshire
What a bunch of hypocrites, huh?
Many customers are delaying bulk purchases until they visit New Hampshire, Foster said, costing Massachusetts stores significant business.
I think Massachusetts has an alcohol problem.
Jim McManus, a spokesman for the statewide campaign against Question 1, said alcohol “does not deserve a special tax break’’ and that all 45 states that levy sales taxes extend them to beer, wine, and liquor.
McManus said alcohol sales in Massachusetts remain strong and New Hampshire sales have not surged....
Not like he would have any self-serving interest to lie or anything.
Exempting alcohol from the tax would eliminate an estimated $110 million in revenue, according to the state Department of Revenue.
And then the sky will cave in.
The recent Globe poll indicated that 52 percent opposed the tax cut, with 37 percent in favor.
I'm feeling like I need a drink (and I don't even drink).
Not that I believe any agenda-pushing Globe poll after they picked Mart Coakley by double-digits on election day.
All three ballot measures are binding, meaning they will become law if approved.
Yeah, unless....
Also see: I Made Forbes Magazine
And they will do it again in our liberal, one-party liberal fascist state.
They would all take effect Jan. 1.
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So don't get your hopes, taxpayers:
"Question stirs hope for some extra cash
MALDEN — Kayliegh Souza, 21, said her husband works for a moving company. Their rent is $1,500 a month. They do not own a car. There is little left in the family budget after paying for food, diapers, and other necessities.
Souza said she is having trouble finding work.
In Massachusetts during the better-than-the-nation recovery that has been allegedly going on for a year?
A bit of extra cash would help, she said. “That would be better than giving it to the state for nothing,’’ she said.
I wholeheartedly believe that now. I've seen where the money goes.
Paul Frazer owns a jewelry store on Pleasant Street, the city’s main commercial area. He, too, plans to vote yes on Question 3, which would roll back the sales tax rate from 6.25 percent to 3 percent.
Well, maybe.
Frazer said as a small businessman he is being squeezed....
Also see: The Massachusetts Model: Small Business Squeeze
Your next, America -- thanks to Obama's health plan.
Maybe not; looks like you will be sending your taxes straight to the insurance companies.
“I think it would definitely help the overall economy for people to have an extra few hundred dollars to spend,’’ Frazer said.
Exactly how a sales tax cut would affect the economy is a point of contention among economists and others....
Related: Sales tax cut would create 27,199 jobs, study says
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Also see: Financial watchdog cites $43m loss to city
Yes, the money is better off spent on illegal immigrants, taxpayers:
"Malden would feel pinch if state sales tax takes a cut" by Sean P. Murphy, Globe Staff | October 23, 2010
MALDEN — It is cities like this — with a modest local tax base, a strong dependence on state aid, and little room for error — that could be hit hardest if voters approve a ballot question rolling back that tax from 6.25 percent to 3 percent.
Not that the Globe is pushing an agenda or anything.
While legislators and the governor would determine how exactly to make up for the approximately $2.5 billion in lost revenue that could result if Question 3 were approved, it would be all but impossible to accomplish without dipping into the pot of money that is now sent to cities and towns each year for things like police, fire, and public works.
The state budget is about $32 billion, but almost half of that is untouchable — debt payments, medical care of the poor, and state pensions — or politically off-limits — like the $3.2 billion set aside for public education.
Yeah, we KNOW WHO is FIRST in the TAX LOOT LINE!
That leaves less than $17 billion to absorb budget cuts. And the cuts would have to be deep, potentially 15 percent across the board, in human services, the state payroll, and, of course, local aid....
But the BANKS GET THEIR CUT after DECEIVING US ALL!
The sales tax rollback, driven onto the Nov. 2 ballot by libertarian activist Carla Howell, appears to have struck a chord in the current antigovernment climate, with 46 percent of likely voters supporting it in a Globe poll last month, despite the unquestionable havoc it could wreak on the state budget....
Have you had enough agenda-pushing BS yet?
Malden, on the northern rim of Boston, is a densely populated city of about 55,000, many of them immigrants.
Related: Mass. Migration: Making Money
Mass. Migration: Mixed Messages
The Massachusetts Model: Municipal Health Mess
One measure of Malden’s diversity is that 40 percent of its public school students do not speak English as their first language, according to state data.
Yeah, that's great news.
See: Boston Globe Summer School: Teachers Do Not Understand the Language
Boston Globe School Daze: Kids in Charge of Boston Classrooms
Being a sanctuary city and state is such a good thing, taxpayers!
Almost 60 percent of Malden’s students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.
Crime has recently become a prime focus here, following a spate of gun violence that has left fearful residents demanding answers and more support from City Hall....
What a bunch of wimps AmeriKa has become.
At the same time, city costs are rising. Most of the employee unions won a phased-in pay raise of 3 percent this year, at a cost of about $750,000....
You know, the "PUBLIC SERVANTS!"
A much larger cost increase was health care insurance, which rose about $2.5 million this year.
For YOUR PUBLIC SERVANTS and their GENEROUS, TAXPAYER-FUNDED PLANS!
Also see: Towns to Pay Health Tax For Public Servants
Yeah, you will also have to pick that up, taxpayers.
Plus, there were increases in other “nondiscretionary’’ costs, such as debt, pensions, and utilities that helped create a $10 million deficit earlier this year.
Once again GOVERNMENT is SUCKING UP that TAX LOOT!
This is why SERVICES must be SLASHED!
To deal with it, the city raised property taxes by the maximum allowable under Proposition 2 1/2: 2.5 percent, or about $1.5 million.
Oh, yeah, and WHY YOUR TAXES are RAISED!
How much longer are you willing to BUY the PRO-TAX, AGENDA-PUSHING CROWDS SELF-INTERESTED AGENDA, Massachusetts voters?
To increase property taxes any more than that would have required an override, which has never been attempted in Malden and rarely occurs in urban municipalities.
That is why we always vote no.
The city could collect more in property taxes if its tax base were expanded. But because of the recession, two large new residential and commercial development projects have been put on hold.
We have been told by the Globe we have been in a better-than-average recovery for a year.
See why I get sick of the self-serving lies of the newspaper?
To find more money, Mayor Richard Howard and most of the unions negotiated a substantial shift in health care costs, requiring employees, retirees and elected officials to pick up a greater share of the cost.
Like pulling teeth with 'em.
City officials say the health care changes saved the city another $1.5 million.
Layoffs of police and firefighters became necessary when the unions representing those workers declined to sign on to the health care insurance changes, Howard said.
Then don't expect any sympathy.
Ten firefighters and four police officers were let go, and six unfilled police positions eliminated. Together, the savings to the city due to layoffs was about $1.5 million.
The city also withdrew $2 million from the trust fund established to pay health care claims and used it to help balance the budget. That money was deemed surplus, a cushion of sorts, but if the city is hit with unusually large medical claims during the year, it may have trouble finding the cash to pay them.
Hey, they will just CUT SERVICES and RAISE TAXES again!
Are these REALLY the people who should be TRUSTED with YOUR MONEY, taxpayers?
Another fund, this one set up to pay tax abatements if the city loses appeals filed by taxpayers, was hit up for $3 million, with the city assuming the same kind of risk.
they are SITTING on MONEY all over the place while SCREAMING DEFICITS, huh?
Tired of the SHELL GAME YET!!
The city realized a $1.4 million saving by going to a fee-based trash pickup system.
Yes, now a TAX INCREASE is all of a sudden a SAVING!
That's SICK, readers!
Talk about ONE-SIDED BIAS!
And finally, the trustees of the city cemetery were told to use $230,000 in cemetery trust money, instead of city money, for maintenance, and the trustees of the library were forced to dig into their trust fund for $130,000.
So HOW MANY PILES of MONEY are they SITTING ON, and WHY WOULD YOU TRUST these people to look after your money?
“Anyone who thinks we’re hiding piles of money is mistaken,’’ said Dominic Fermano, the city finance director.
No, they just keep COMING UP with TRUST FUND dough!
Robert Miller, the leader of a group of residents who monitor city finances, is a little skeptical of predictions of doom and disaster.
Yeah, but WHO EVER LISTENS to THEM!?
Certainly not the Globe judging by the amount of ink they gave him.
“We want them to open the books so we can take a look,’’ he said.....
What?
You mean TAXPAYERS CAN NOT SEE where THEIR MONEY is going in SELF-RIGHTEOUS Massachusetts?
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Globe tells you how to vote. Whatever they say, do the opposite.
Globe Editorial A no vote on Question 1 helps more than just alcohol addicts
Globe Editorial Vote no on 3 — Beacon Hill needs reforms, not stunts
Then it is YES, YES, folks!
Also see: So How Did I Do, Boston Globe?
What is with the NO, NO, NO, Globe?
If you guys were Republicans you would be hollering obstruction!
