Deval Patrick was in the the midst of the inaugural hoopla in Washington for his friend President Obama when he paused long enough to call me, looking to chat about the remainder of his term, which already promises drama on Beacon Hill.
The governor, in his State of the Commonwealth speech last week, launched a campaign for an income tax hike that he said would lay the groundwork for a well-educated work force in Massachusetts.
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The Governor has it backwards.....lower the income tax to two percent and raise the sales tax to seven percent , inludingnfood and clothing.
government with a vision, how about the people's vision, after you get through that vision is looking much harder to achieve. You deserve the government you elect, you want the government to take care of you, it needs to be paid for, wait until the federal government comes knocking for more money.
What the tax and spend types don't get is that the waste in other areas of government could be cut and funds diverted to these programs. This is what burns fiscally conscious people like me!
There is no reason except mismanagement that you can't provide state services with the current ( or less) 5.25% income tax rate and the 6.25% sales tax. The drug lab scandal, CRASH Murray's Chelsea Housing pal, Big Dig fiasco, sex changes for murderers, making us a magnet state for illegals and welfare recipients ... plenty of reasons why our state government has failed and needs us to bail them out.
Cut Hacks, get rid of prevailing wage, stop giving benefits to Illegals... Then there would be plenty of money for anything and everything...
I don't believe "Illegals" is a proper noun, much less the appropraite term. Illegal what? Illegal land purchasers? Drivers making illegal passes over the double yellow? I would assume, however, that you are referring to undocumented immigrants. In that case, do you know how much money they get in benefits? OR how much they contribute to payroll / social security / medicare taxes? You're assuming they are all on the dole without providing any evidence to support that.
The greatest generation gave you affirmative action which produced Governor Erkel. No so great afterall.
Compromise: raise the income tax rate to 5.75% and lower the sales tax rate to 5%. There's no getting around that we need the infrastructure investments. Massachusetts has no resources other than it's people and they need to be able to get around reliably. The T is a huge economic asset for the state and needs to be maintained/improved. It would be helpful, though, if the state would refute all the inefficiencies that people constantly bring up. Perceptions need to be cleared with real data. If the inefficiencies are there (huge pensions; too many employees; corruption; graft; whateve), they need to be addressed prior to large-scale new revenues and investments. If the inefficiencies are more of a perception than a reality, it's time to make that clear with the data so we can move forward.
Clearing perceptions would seem like a common sense approach to take but government has failed to do so. They know they've lost the trust of taxpayers. They're either stupid, lazy or have something to hide. My bet is ther latter and they're terrified about opening that can of worms. Patronage is so entrenched in this state it's become another form of welfare. Nobody wants to go after it because it's how politicians remain in office. We're just the suckers paying the freight!
Gov, be careful about biting the hand that feeds you, ie those educated working suburbanites that are driving our higher paying, IT, Biotech and Healthcare/Edu related jobs.
If the MBTA needs funding, that means that current rates & fares are too LOW, to pay for on-going operations, and need to be raised. Now no one likes raising fares, but to me, its better/fairer to have those who use the MBTA pay for its use, than having other taxpayers essentially subsidize (out of our pockets) those users.
If the Big Dig bonds are the issue, raise taxes on those who work in the City of Boston (and the Republic of Cambridge), and direct that tax increase towards paying off the Big Dig.
Suburbanites already have a much higher transportation and tax bill, because we have to pay for our cars/gas, and dont get a "residential exemption" on our property taxes like residents of Boston do.
The plan the Gov proposes, by basically doubling the exemption levels, is aiming to effectively create a two tier state income tax, one where an even greater burden is placed on educated working suburbanites.
I'm already living close enough to the NH border that I will go shopping there if we need to pick up something significant. I hope that this state doesnt revert to "Taxachusetts", and make me move to NH completely, in the coming years.
I agree about raising fares, but public transportation systems are not for profit businesses. They are not designed to be operated without subsidy since their operating costs often exceed revenues by large factors. Their benefits are realized in other ways (reduced emissions from cars, reduced traffic, tourism, etc). I infer you do not use the T on a regular basis, but you are not just subsidizing users like me who use it frequently. You are also subsidizing all of the other benefits that come with having a large regional public transport system.
As for your comments on the Big Dig. What a mess - I was not a resident when decisions about the Bonds were made. However, the Dig benefits more than just residents of Boston and Cambridge and those who work here. Why not tolls on 93 instead of taxes? Then at least users are subsidizing the cost. The new EZPass systems are capable of working at the speed of traffic (not that its that fast as you approach Boston on 93 hahah).
If you've ever talked to anyone who worked at the T you'd realize what a mess it is. It has historically been poorly managed. Throwing money at poorly run agencies is never the answer. Maybe the newly hired Beverly Scott will be able to change the culture there but even she came in with some skeletons.
C'mon now, Mr. Walker... another overeducated Chicago-raised political hack with a burning self-absorption to be known as a 'commander-in-chief'? Deeval is a smooth peddler of this and that. . . but he needs stronger glue for some of the 'big ideas' he pushes. . . Take casinos, for example. . . Little or nothing in the Corner Office Occupier's recent harrangue of the joint Legislslative session mentioning how much he needs new casinos in Revere and Florida or Palmer or - if it ever happens - an Indian-run gambling palace in Taunton's beautiful industrial park. Gambling palaces, even slotnik havens, are supposed to be revenue producers, and Deeval's list of pipedreams needs lots and lots and lots of revenoo... lawdie knows that. But Deeval ignores a major revenoo source while just itching to stick a tax hike of a whole percent to the income streams of most Taxashoosetts residents, along with plenty of elimination of exemptions. Mr. Walker . . . this Milton/Richmond dweller you think so much of because he calls you from downtown D.C. (at whose expense, you neglected to say) wants hundreds of millions for "education", "for the children" (and the teacher unions), so he wants to stick his grubby fingers into my pocket searching for as many dollar bills as he can find. Oh yeah, I know, he wants to lower the sales tax by a percent and three quarters. Billions for "transportation", Deeval demands, to be financed by an almost two percent lower sales tax. Oh yeah... Deeval forgot to mention the fine print - the fees and fares he wants to hike... not only to hike, but to schedule as an ever increasing increase... a "stream" is what the bottom line feeders like to call it. And is that lowering of the sales tax supposed to convince state residents that an income tax hike is more "progressive" and, ergo, more nicer and easier on the wallet than the "regressive" sales tax? What about those regularized fees and fares always going up and up, like a skyscraper elevator? Are they easier for taxpayers to take? Mr. Walker, this corner office occupier you like so much because he buzzes you while he's supposed to be paying attention to his bosom bud, Barry the O during Barry's second biggest day, is mostly a falsetto. He wants his own choochoo line so he can commute easily from Richmond to the Big Apple, never offering a word of explanation for such a desire. Is he going to remain living at his manor in Richmond after he does us all a favor and takes that long final hike down the State House steps? Maybe he'll hop on the Green Line at Park Street Station and ride it to Boylston Street. bnixon, below, wants Deeval to compromise on tax rates and "refute all the inefficiences that people constantly bring up". Deeval wants to finance transportation and education... and blythely ignores a major revenue source he pushed for before deciding it's not all that important . . . and blythely ignores the three major law enforcement scandals that are his to carry off into the sundown of his legacy - a drug lab, a killing drug maker, and a corruption-loaded Probation Department, never mind the newly named Suffolk County sheriff with a very generous political cash supply.
Nauseating. You can put his coat down now. We are still in one of the worst recessions this country has ever seen and he wants to crank up the taxes. Dropping the sales tax? Big deal. Who can afford to buy anything but the necessities these days anyway? I don't know anyone not living paycheck to paycheck and we're supposed to come up with another couple thousand for state income tax? I repeat to all the elected officials reading this. He is gone in two years. If you want to keep your job, kill this tax increase on arrival. We do not neet added rail service to western Mass or the Cape. Nobody will use it. We will work for, contribute to and vote for anti-tax candidates.
When it comes to the governor, it becomes borderline pornography!!! Adrian, why don't you point out what the budget was when Patrick took office, how much it has increased over the years, and what did he do with that money? The increase in the sales tax was supposed to go for infrastructure, what happened to that?
Bonds, once they were paid off, were supposed to be discontinued and he continues to borrow more. Should part of the budget each include monies for repairs and maintenance? Patrick has hired nothing but incompetent donor after donor, it becomes a mess, then when it comes time to ask Deval who is responsible, the Globe says to Deval, how do we write things t make you look good!!!
Like the Globe, Patrick doesn't thin he has to answer to anyone because he knows the Globe won't dare report anything bad about him, because he can play the race card!! Why lower the sales tax, but increase income tax? Maybe because the people who vote for Patrick aren't the ones paying more for income taxes, are they? Why not increase the voluntary tax that is on the book, and everyone at the Globe, who I a sure voluntarily pay at the higher rate ow, would absolutely want to pay more, wouldn't you Adrian?
Whoa, did I miss something!? Pornography?! What do you even mean? Stop misusing hyperbole. Editing your post would help, too.
Now to the content of your post - we need a massive investment in infrastructure - the way it has been funding thus far as not allowed MA or most other states to get ahead of what are massive backlogs. We have bridges that were designed to be replaced a decade or more ago, and we are now hoping and praying they make it another decade.
As far as Patrick playing the race card...I don't believe that he has? You mentioning it, however, IS playing a race card, but not the same one as what you accuse the Governor of playing...
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I think people would be more willing to invest in transportation and education if they were comfortable with how their current taxes were spent. Government needs to make their spending transparent to those who fund it. It isn't now and the media continually points out corruption, patronage and waste that exist. The lack of effort to do such a common sense thing just makes taxpayers even more cynical and against any proposed tax increase. They have to understand that they've lost the trust of their constituents.
To mtnhxc, you have made my point!!! Any time you criticize the governor or the president, always racist overtones. Forget the fact they are incompetant!!! You are so blindsided you haven't even thought out your argument! As part of any budget, you include costs for maintenance and repair, but you also factor in, if a bridge has a 30 year life, you have to put funds aways to pay for the replacementat some point.
What Deval has done is spent close to $1 billion on benefits to illegal aliens, A FACT, every year! So the reason he increases income tax is to force people who work to give to those who don't!!!
I guarantee that you and your liberal friends don't pay the voluntary higher mass tax. Same as the governor! Hypocrites to the end!!! Since you and your liberal friends want higher taxes, why pay only 1% more, why don't you give another 10%!
You brought up race. I simply pointed it out. You can absolutely bring up critiques of the Govenor or the President, there is nothing inherently racist about that. It is when you explicitly mention race as part of your commentary that a red flag goes up.
I am not "blindsided" - in an ideal world, savings would be made for future replacements. That is not, however, the world we live in. I don't think that refusing to invest in infrastructure because of past failures is a reasonable response, however.
As for the bit about undocumented immigrants, if its a fact, where did you get it from? That number is news to me. Care to share a link?
And finally, as for the "voluntary higher mass tax" - I am not sure what a "mass tax" is? Or do you me a Massachusetts tax? Be clear. The debate is not about voluntary higher taxes. Claiming that it is about the voluntary income tax system is just a rhetorical trick, and a poor one at that. I think that the income tax policy we have in this state is ridiculous. As for the broader fiscal point, no one *wants* higher taxes, but some understand that we need to pay for things upfront - when possible - rather than paying for them many times over through bonds and loans.
Last paragraph, second sentance - "Or do you mean a Massachusetts tax?".
Why aren't we putting up tolls for all major entries into the City of Boston to help fund our public transportation? The Western suburbs have been living with this for years, and it's about time that all folks wanting to drive their big cars into the city to pay for this convenience.
We could meter the tolls based on the time of day, the car you drive and the number of passengers in the car...like they do wiht the Sun Pass in Florida and many other parts of the country.
By setting forth this transportation model, the folks most impacting our crowded roads will fund a very nice ride for our residents who do the right thing by taking public transportation.
The state budget was 20 billion 6 years ago and now the proposed is 34 billion? Devals idea is to suck more out of the people who actually pay for the infrastructure.
Increase sales tax lower the income tax that way we all feel the pinch not just those working for a living.