More About 'Freedomchusetts'
I received this great email from a blog reader who saw my blog post about how an income tax repeal measure might go on the November ballot in Massachusetts.
Hi, thanks for the article. I am a lifelong MA resident.
Some history: it was the Dukakis administration that "temporarily" raised the MA income tax from 5% to 5.95% (don't dare call it six). Unsurprisingly, the temporary tax became permanent. The rate stayed at 5.95 for a decade or two, long after The Duke was gone.
We were finally given the chance to vote on whether the income tax should return to where it belonged, at five percent. The overwhelming vote: YES. But the state decided to do this in stages, gradually lowering the tax each year. And after a couple years, they decided to halt the rollback at 5.3% -- without a vote from the public.
This really annoyed everyone. Our wishes had been delayed, then denied.
So recently, groups have been putting this other referendum on the ballot -- to eliminate the income tax completely. It nearly passed last time, and probably stands a better chance this time. But we all know it is symbolic. But I think we appreciate the chance to tell the MA state government two things: we are sick of these taxes, and sick of being overruled.
Another group managed to get the MA state income tax form altered. There is now a box you can check to volunteer to pay higher taxes -- 5.8% instead of 5.3%. Of the millions of forms filed each year, only a couple hundred people check the box. And apparently they have a sense of humor, because their tax bill is zero, and don't mind the higher percentage!
The point of the altered form, of course, is to show that no one wants to pay higher MA income taxes. It's another small protest.
In my opinion, the people of MA are largely sane, and unwilling to be ripped off by their government. Where they fail is that they continuously re-elect their state representatives. Our legislature is 95% Democrat. I cannot explain their failure to see this insanity.
Thanks for telling me of another small government group to support.
And here's another email I received:
I seldom donate money to political movements, but I sent a donation to the group trying to repeal the income tax. There is no effort in this state to control spending, either at the local or state level. I'm afraid, however, that even if this does pass, they'll find another way to tax us. For some reason, the people of the state recognize that taxes are too high, but they won't vote out the politicians who keep them high.
David Pinto
Posted at Andrew Roth at 9:37 AM | TrackBack
