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Friday column ping

Our bleeding-heart liberals get a leg up on being tight-fisted
By Howie Carr | Friday, March 14, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com

The bluer Massachusetts becomes, the stingier its ever-growing liberal majority is getting when it comes to voluntarily giving money to the state.

So far this 2008 tax season, fewer Bay Staters than ever before are checking off the box on their state income tax forms that allows them to pay at the old 5.85 percent rate, rather than at the 5.3 percent rate pushed through by heartless, mean-spirited conservatives.

As of Monday, 1.3 million state taxpayers have filed their 2007 returns. And of those, a mere 294 have decided to pay their . . . fair share. For the children.

That works out (I think) to about one-40th of 1 percent. And those 294 chumps - I mean, concerned citizens - have generated a mere $27,944 in additional revenue, which means that the average income of the donors is approximately $10,000.

By my inexact calculations, that $28G number probably means that no one single Beautiful Person has filled in the oval on line 22 to pay at the more generous, Democrat-endorsed higher tax rate.

Last year, according to the state Department of Revenue, a mere 1,208 taxpayers out of 3.3 million paid at the higher rate, generating $162,024 in additional revenue.

That 1,208 number works out to .000366 percent of all Massachusetts taxpayers, which, as pathetic as it is, is still higher than the commonwealth appears destined for this year.

I am perplexed. After all, when the proposed income tax cut was on the ballot in 2000, more than a million Massachusetts residents voted to keep the income tax at its old, higher rate. Apparently they only wanted other people to have to pay the higher rate. You can’t blame the 60 percent of us who voted to cut our taxes for not paying. The other 40 percent, though - what’s up with you people? Do you think taxes are for somebody else to pay, but not you?

The Politically Correct always inform us, a tax cut “only” amounts to so much per week.

Well, two can play at the “only” game. If you make $50,000 a year, checking the box to pay at the higher rate “only” costs you $550 a year - “only” a sawbuck and change per week. Aren’t you willing to give up a large cheese pizza per week to make sure that David Bartley can continue collecting his $140,000 annual pension?

Liberals, look at it this way - it’s “only” your federal tax rebate that you’d be giving up.

Last year I challenged every politician to tell me if they were paying at the voluntary higher rate. One elected official called - Governor’s Councilor Mary-Ellen Manning. Now I hear the hacks on the North Shore have been looking around for someone to run against her in the Democratic primary. Obviously, she doesn’t quite fit in on Beacon Hill.

This week, I called the office of Gov. Deval Patrick and Lt. Gov. Tim Murray. They’re very, very liberal, which makes it very, very unlikely they’d give you the shirts off their backs. They’d prefer to steal somebody else’s shirt, and then give it to you, in a big ceremony with TV cameras at the State House. At deadline, no one from the Corner Office had called me back. The office of Senate President Terry Murray likewise did not respond to an inquiry about whether she’ll be paying the higher tax.

I did, however, receive an answer of sorts from House Speaker Sal DiMasi. His spokesman responded to my question in an e-mail:

“Howie - The Speaker said he’ll pay the higher rate if he can trade salaries with you. Otherwise, he will pay what he is required to pay under the current law.”

Again, I ask all politicians, especially those at the State House and Boston City Hall: Let me know if you’re paying at the higher rate, for the children. I won’t promise you a column, but I’d like to know, for the record.

When the phone don’t ring, I’ll know it’s all you liberals out there.