Hey guess what.Thats enough right there.Gee why is taxachussets so broke?Funny about the name of the state.
Taxachusetts comes from the time of the Dukakis administration actually.
But it's a reasonable question to ask. The answer is because the state's corrupt incompetent legislature is so entrenched they fear nothing - least of all being voted out of office.
The past 3 speakers have walked out of the state house straight into federal indictments. They completely ignored a ballot initiative passed by the citizens regarding reducing the income tax rate. And they did their best to keep from having to vote on the question of gay marriage. And when the current liberal do-nothing governor from their own party started to make noises about tax rates they ignored him as well.
Mass. is a microcosm of the entire country. This is what happens when everyone is concerned with their small local issues and cannot look at the larger picture. So as long as your local rep keeps bringing home whatever you care about - traffic lights, condoms in the schools for kids, whatever - you vote for him or her, and nothing changes.