Governor Deval Patrick is thinking legacy — or “What will last?” as he put it in last week’s State of the Commonwealth address.
He wants to be remembered for new and improved roads, trains, bridges, and schools — not for casinos, which went unmentioned in a long list of accomplishments he presented to Beacon Hill.
Comments
How about our dear governor trims waste and fraud out of his budget, 19,000. missing welfare recipients that cost the tax payers 91 million dollars a year,that's a good place to start. The only time abuse is confronted is when they get caught, other than that it continues.
yeah what has happen to those 19,000 missing welfare recipients....not a word, nada....no money until this is solved and fraud in the EBT cards are taken care of.....and the tolls on the pike that were suppose to pay for repairs....where has that money gone???? along with the gas taxes.....Not one dime....get rid of the illegals on medicaid, welfare (like Aunt Zetuni) then raise taxes....because we will not have too if they do that.
Right. We should INSIST that tax increases be matched by spending cuts. Why do we allow ourselves to be hosed continually? Is one of the reasons because we continually vote for being hosed?. This the legacy WE have created. Deval is simply following our orders. This will be Deval's shameful legacy, but it is ours also.
Here's a thought. If the extra state spending is supposed to improve infrastructure, then enact a state tax on land values to raise the funds for improvements. Some PA cities already tax land values more heavily than building values. One reason is that this encourages construction by taxing buildings lightly. Another reason is that private land values result from the public investments of state and local governments.
....and is this one of the reasons PA is in rough shape?
Pennsylvania has lots of depressed cities, large and small. Pittsburgh has done much better than Philadelphia because Philly taxes gross receipts, retails sales and wages whereas Pitt taxed land values for several decades during an era when the steel industry was collapsing.
This comment has been removed.
Joan, don't you know this is an ultra liberal newspaper (the token waky conservativism of Mr. Jacoby and Mr. Sununu excpted)? Did you mean to run this in the Herald? For shame, for shame.
the government does no produce "revenu" It collects taxes from hard working people
...and it shows no respect for its source.
Patrick? Like Bill Clinton? Clinton came off as charismatic, sincere, committed (even if he was full of it.) Patrick come off as smug, arrogant, condescending, all of which he is.
I say it is time to invest in you schools and transportation. These investments will help our economy.
Do you believe we need rail service from Springfield to Boston or Boston to the Cape? I agree schools need help. I believe the T needs money for repair and upkeep. Cut out the baloney rail service that will cost billions and I'm all for helping out.
we already put billions into education.....but the unions will want to raise wages and benefits and time to rein in excession college salaries (Bulger $300 thousand dollar pension) no more the state cannot afford it.....After all this is not Harvard where they can pay Elizabeth Warren to teach one course $350 thousand dollars per year.
If it wasn't for lack of drug lab oversight ( causing rework of criminal cases and lawsuits), sex change operations for murderers,
Big Dig corruption and cost overruns, EBT / Welfare corruption ( did they kick those 90,000 recipients without known addresses off the roles? ) there would be no need to punish hard working people with Devolve's taxes.
It's hardly inconceivable that a 19% increase (from 5.25% to 6.25%) in state income taxes could pass. Look at where the money is going - either to the public sector or the unions - both of which are pillars of the Democrat's constituency. Look at where it's coming from - the productive members of the work force - who are more likely to be Republicans. Of course, estimates of what it's all going to cost will turn out to be ludicrously low, given the archaic structure of Massachusetts labor laws and the bureaucratic corruption so pervasive in state government.
This comment has been removed.
The governor is at his best when he is campaigning to his base. It has been proven throughout his tenure that he and his administration are not skilled at the details of managing. The numerous, well documented episodes of mismanagement that took place under his watch so far undermines his credibility to ask taxpayers to pay more. Aside from his core, ultra-loyal base, would the majority of our fellow citizens feel their tax money was effectively spent? Put aside whether one agrees with a specific program or not; do you really think current funds are maximized to their fullest? Duval Patrick: great campaigner, average politician, inept executive manager.
Maybe if we relabel his tax proposal the "Patrick's Middle Class Tax Nightmare Act", what it will mean for the vast majority of the middle class will begin to sink in for him. That nightmare will deepen as Federal tax changes, energy and health care cost increases kick in. I think he knows full well what this will do to a million plus families in this state, but the pain and misery are meaningless vs the glory of his legacy.
Several years of Republican governors avoiding tax increases is now taking its toll on the state. This has been like deferred maintenance on a house. If you don't fix it, it gets worse and costly. The governor is now facing this reality without concern for a re-election. Good timing but bad for future Democrats who will inherit a phony tax and spend legacy again. Republicans avoid repairing the house, Democrats have to fix it up again and take the blame for the required payments. It's a political/economic cycle of letting the house go shabby and let the next manager fix it (and take the blame for the bills).
the idea that the MBTA's fiscal short-comings will only be cured by starving the agency of any true fiscal, structural reform is baloney. The T's money problems are much more to blame on Weld-Romney and the Legislature. Not some corrupt and outlandishly inefficient, bloated bureaucracy. To be honest, I would gladly pay twice the taxes, and twice the fares if it meant the MBTA could aggressively expand and improve service. It'd still be a bargain. What the MBTA needs is a healthy dose of fiscal re-structuring to clear-out the debt of past thrift-spending GOP Govs...matched with an assertive and smart campaign of high-value/return investments and improvements.