Posted on 05/15/2008 5:55:05 AM PDT by Disturbin
A group of antitax activists launched a campaign over the weekend to abolish the state income tax, setting the stage for a contentious public battle if the measure is added to the ballot this fall.
After pushing a similar initiative that almost passed six years ago, a group called the Committee for Small Government is back for another round, asking voters to end the income tax and save the average taxpayer $3,600 a year. The group, led by libertarian Carla Howell, is almost certain to gather the 11,000 signatures needed to put a question on the November ballot.
To say that state officials are worried about the prospect would be an understatement.
Community, political, and business officials are grasping for words such as "chaos," "devastating," and "catastrophe" to describe the scenario that would unfold if the measure passes.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Our legislature does what they want, completely ignoring the will of the people.
What was the woman’s name who used to work with Howie Carr & Jerry Williams as “The Governors of the State”? Barbara something.....
“Our legislature does what they want, completely ignoring the will of the people”
And yet, with the exception of a distinct minority of Massachusetts voters, our fellow citizens keep being “sheepeople” and vote for the same legislators over and over again. We have one party rule. Since the ruling Democratic party doesn’t listen to the people, one would think they’d get voted out. But NOT IN MASSACHUSETTS!
When will our fellow citizens wake up?
Are you thinking of Barbara from CLT (Citizens for Limited Taxation)?
This will be a big wake up call.
Since it’s a binding resolution, it becomes law if it passes the vote.
Then the legislature is going to block it, then hopefully heads will roll!
Bingo! I remember listening to them when I lived in Mass back in the mid 80”s
The Great and General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has a long tradition of not listening to voters. It is shameless, but the legislature doesn’t care.
As you mention, the positively remarkable process of incessantly returning nothing but free-spending Democrats to the state House and Senate is stupefying.
It is apparent that MA voters enjoy paying lots of taxes.
What other explanation could it be?
Oh yeah, the Bay State voters could be exceedingly stupid.
Yeah, that works.
Doesn’t Massachusetts have a fairly low income tax? Like 5%? Consider yourselves lucky...my top marginal rate in MN is 7.85%.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Barbara Anderson. Over 20 years ago she pushed through an initiative that capped local property tax increases to no more than 2.5% of assesed value per year unless approved by majority of the voters.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
We have 5.3%
It was 5.8% then we got it lowered to 5.3%
Then there was a vote (THAT PASSED) lowering it to 5.0% and the beloved former Speaker of the House, now convicted felon and current talk show host Tommy “Taxes” Finneran blocked it in the house.
I don’t consider myself “lucky” to be taxed at 5.3% but I do consider you to be more screwed than we are.
I don’t think a Prop 2.5 override has EVER passed in my town.
A 21st century Boston Tea Party in the making.
We in Louisiana are about to get a small income tax cut. And we had to cram it up the ass of our newly elected allegedly conservative governor, Bobby Jindal.
Another RINO masquerading as a conservative.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/grace/index.ssf?/base/news-0/121082945440410.xml&coll=1
Jindal grabs the reins
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Stephanie Grace
File this tidbit away: Eliminating the Stelly tax increases was not Gov. Bobby Jindal’s idea.
It’s worth remembering, if only for the sake of historical accuracy, that the income tax reduction Jindal now fully supports was not part of the governor’s legislative agenda until Wednesday.
In fact, Jindal’s administration used to be so skeptical of slashing revenues by $300 million a year, absent one-for-one spending cuts, that it tried to kill the popular measure in committee.
snip
Well, I didn’t mean you were actually “lucky”. I was just letting you know it could be a lot worse - check out the link in my post #13. I encourage the efforts of the people of Massachusetts to repeal the income tax. Just be careful they don’t just shift the burden elsewhere, and you end up like Washington state - no income tax, but still a high-tax state.
My town's Selectmen know better than to ever put one up for a vote.
From what I found on the net, the MA cigarette tax is $1.51/pack, versus $1.49 in MN. Not a lot of difference there, plus this tax can be easily avoided. Your gas tax is slightly higher (23.5 cents/gallon vs. 20), but we probably end up paying more in gas taxes because the Boston area is much more densely populated than the Twin Cities, not to mention that public transit is a valid option there whereas it isn't here.
Property taxes vary so much by municipality that it's hard to tell. Yours might be higher, but with your state taxes so much lower, you still come out ahead. When I lived in Illinois, I had much higher property taxes, but much lower state taxes. The reason for this is because more control is given to the cities and counties, unlike the central-government model of Minnesota. You have much more local control under this system, which is a good thing in my opinion.
Despite all of this crap, this is still my home state and I love nearly everything else about it.
Yikes, what towns do you live in? Our town tries an override nearly every year and usually gets it.
Barbara Anderson. She lives in Marblehead.
Your other taxes must be pretty low, because Idaho ranks near the bottom for total state/local tax burden. Check out the link I posted in #13.
LOL!!! Yeah just terrible like Texas with no state income tax and we are recession proof right now. Just "horrible!"
Thank You!
I live in a blue-collar town with [relatively] low property taxes. Our residential rate is just below $10 per thousand of assessed value.
That is the main reason I chose this town. I was looking at a similar property in a nearby town where the rate is $15 per thousand. F that, I say.
Just for laughs I looked online at real estate in central CT and the taxes on a $100K property were about $3500 per year. That is outrageous. Imagine $300 a month in taxes on a mortgage that is probably $800 a month, if that.
It will be typical whining from the left.
“What will we do? There won’t be any school lunches for the chilllllllldren. We’ll have to close the library. We won’t be able to afford electricity for the traffic lights and the cities and towns will be in total chaos.”
According to Carla Howell, the state budget doubles every ten years. If these hacks find ways to spend new money, there’s a way to stop spending money.
How about the supposed ONE BILLION that the Governor wants to throw at “stem cell research” at UMass? That is a good starting point.
WE’re in the process of selling my father-in-law’s house in Port Washington, NY, on Long Island. The house is a tiny 2 bedroom with 1 1/2 baths, a living room and kitchen. That’s it. The taxes are over $10,000 a year. Thank God, we close on it next week because we’ve been paying the taxes for 2 years!
Wow, that is outrageous!
“We in Louisiana are about to get a small income tax cut. And we had to cram it up the ass of our newly elected allegedly conservative governor, Bobby Jindal.
Another RINO masquerading as a conservative.”
Sigh...that’s unfortunate.
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