Posted on 09/17/2006 9:25:11 PM PDT by goldstategop
A rollback of the Massachusetts income tax rate to 5 percent -- something voters mandated in 2000 by decisively approving Question 4 on the state ballot -- is said to be a key issue in the Bay State's campaign for governor. But that's not quite accurate. To be sure, the candidates have had plenty to say on the subject, especially since an August poll showed that a solid majority of likely Democratic voters want the tax reduced from the current 5.3 percent. The real question at the heart of the candidates' differing positions, though, is not "Should the income tax be cut to 5 percent?" It is this: "Should politicians treat voters' decisions with deference -- or as mere recommendations they can ignore with impunity?"
Naturally, each gubernatorial candidate claims to respect the voters. Presumably each is prepared to be treated by the voters with the same respect. With that in mind, I offer a modest proposal: Let the winner of the November election take office in accordance with his or her approach to the tax cut voters approved six years ago.
Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey has consistently called for the income tax to be rolled back immediately, in keeping with the 2000 mandate. If she wins in November, therefore, she would be sworn in on the first Thursday in January, the normal inauguration day for Massachusetts governors.
Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly firmly opposed the rollback until December 2005, when he suddenly shifted his position on the grounds that Massachusetts was now at the "point of having sufficient reserves" to afford a tax cut. If he wins in November, his inauguration would be delayed until December 2011, nearly five years after the date specified by law.
Businessman Chris Gabrieli spent $15,000 to defeat Question 4 in 2000 and opposes it to this day. Rather than implement the law as voters passed it, he proposes instead to gradually reduce the tax rate if revenues rise faster than inflation. His inauguration, should he win the general election, would be delayed for six years, after which he would very gradually assume office -- at first serving just one day a week, then two days, and so forth -- on a schedule tied to the economy. With sustained economic growth, Gabrieli could expect to be a full-time governor before 2020.
Former Clinton administration official Deval Patrick has maintained all along that Question 4 should not take effect. Accordingly, even if he wins in November, he would not take office.
I think that's reasonable, don't you? What's that, Mr. Patrick -- you don't agree? And neither do Messrs. Reilly and Gabrieli? But why not? If you don't consider an election victory binding when it comes to a ballot measure, why should a majority vote for a candidate be considered final? On the other hand, if you're prepared to accept the voters' judgment in choosing a governor, why treat their decision on a ballot initiative with such disdain?
For 88 years, Massachusetts voters have had the constitutional power to pass legislation at the ballot through initiatives and referenda. For nearly all that time, their legislative decisions were regarded as sacrosanct. Successful ballot measures took effect, even if political elites disliked them. It is only in the last few years that Beacon Hill has had the gall to undermine laws adopted by the people. It refused to fund the so-called Clean Elections campaign finance scheme that voters approved in 1998 (the law was eventually repealed through a subsequent ballot measure). And it pulled the plug on the two tax cuts voters adopted in 2000 -- Question 4's income tax rollback and the tax deduction for charitable gifts created by Question 7.
Such behavior is both outrageous and antidemocratic. Politicians who refuse to honor your vote are politicians who don't deserve to receive your vote. That doesn't mean that candidates have to agree with the outcome of an election. It does mean that, whether they agree with it or not, they will abide by it.
Is there no other course? Sure there is: Gabrieli, Patrick, or anyone else who thinks Massachusetts cannot "afford" to reduce its income tax rate by three-tenths of a percentage point can always mount a ballot campaign to reverse Question 4. Anything else -- including "freezing" the rollback at 5.3 percent, as the Legislature did in 2002 -- is dishonorable.
Ballot measures are a check and balance on political highhandedness and an important vehicle for redressing citizens' grievances. Governors and lawmakers must not be allowed to trash them at will. Those who try to do so ought to be given a taste of their own undemocratic medicine.
"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 Paleologus
Business as usual in Taxachusetts. Voters get ignored, again, as usual. Can you tell that I'm frustrated?
Richard
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