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Towards a just & healthy democracy in the Commonwealth... and beyond!
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Wed May 12, 2010 at 14:40:40 PM EDT
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(The GRP candidates this year are going to make "tax fairness" a phrase that turns the conventional Republican-Democratic "debate" on its head. If you want truly progressive candidates and truly progressive taxes, go Green! - promoted by eli_beckerman)
It's called Tax Fairness.
State House News reported on May 11, 2010 that Rep. Jay Kaufman, who chairs the Joint Revenue Committee, said he "hoped to pursue comprehensive reform" to the state tax code next session. My election to represent the Fourth Berkshire District will help Rep. Kaufman's hope to become a reality. Incumbents have been mostly silent - and therefore complicit - on the matter of unfair regressive taxation.
Tax Fairness is another reason for the voters in the Fourth Berkshire District to elect the Green-Rainbow slate of candidates whom they will see on the ballot this November. |
| scott_laugenour :: Tax Fairness - A Candidate's Statement |
| The Committee Chair described state and local taxes as "regressive" under the current system, with low-income residents "paying the largest share of their income ... while wealthier residents pay less." He called for a "difficult and adult conversation" about tax policy and plans a "listening tour to gauge the appetite for comprehensive reform."
Our tax system is unfair, both in the way public funds are collected and in how they are spent. A challenge to the party establishment and election of new leadership is needed to correct it. I am not sure whom he invites to his listening tours, but my own listening tour around the Fourth Berkshire District is well-underway. I can report to Rep. Kaufman with confidence that the citizens to whom I speak at shops, food markets, bars, churches, town meetings, and at other community events clearly desire the kind of comprehensive reform he is perhaps too gingerly "gauging." People know that the system of taxation is regressive; they also know that the disbursement of public spending is regressive: those who pay the most as a percent of their income have their benefits squeezed. The polarizing effect of regressive taxation was evident even when economic times were good; the effects are exasperated now as more essential services are cut. Our tax system is hurting the health and vibrancy of our communities.
The observations I make while visiting Select Committee meetings and Annual Town Meetings are stark, and sometimes very sad. Towns are given very little means to raise revenue beyond regressive property taxes. This mechanism is unfair, already maxed out, and results in harmful cuts. Schools, libraries, police/fire departments, public enterprises, and community centers are bitterly pitted against one another. Many town offices are open just a few hours a week and agonize over all costs, including the costs of electing state officials.
Senate President Therese Murray is looking for ways to plug a $3 billion budget gap for FY 2011. We can do that and can achieve tax fairness when we elect new legislators, a new Governor, and a new Auditor. The Green-Rainbow Party is offering voters a full slate of choices in the Fourth Berkshire District. Jill Stein, Nat Fortune, and I look forward to sharing with the voters the details of our tax and budget solutions that will tip the scales in a fairer direction, for the future that we deserve. |
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Green Mass Group is an online forum for Green thought and collective action in Massachusetts. It is a community forum for justice, sustainability, democracy and health in the Commonwealth and beyond.
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| Quotes |
"Now, is this the deal I would have preferred? No. I believe that we could have made the tough choices required - on entitlement reform and tax reform - right now, rather than through a special congressional committee process. But this compromise does make a serious down payment on the deficit reduction we need and gives each party a strong incentive to get a balanced plan done before the end of the year. Most importantly, it will allow us to avoid default and end the crisis that Washington imposed on the rest of America."
--President Barack Obama on the debt ceiling "deal"
"Despite Democratic control over the White House, despite Democratic control over the Senate, despite overwhelming opposition from the American people, a small minority of the members of the Republican-controlled House have successfully pushed an extreme right-wing agenda onto the American political landscape. It is an ideology which believes that despite the fact that the rich are getting richer, the middle class is shrinking, and poverty is increasing, all - all of the burden for deficit reduction should rest on working people."
--Independent Senator Bernie Sanders on the debt ceiling "deal"
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Then and Now
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Then...
"Last year Evergreen, a Massachusetts company, agreed to establish their first-ever United States based manufacturing facility here in Massachusetts. They did so, or are doing so, at Devens. They have now agreed and chosen to triple their size at Devens. Their next phase of expansion, right here in Massachusetts, a signature company in a signature sector, and we congratulate all of the folks at Evergreen and look forward to continuing to work with you...
We made a personal commitment to Evergreen for the sake of Evergreen, but also because we wanted to show that there are ways in which state government, in working together with private industry and with the utility companies, could begin to create a different kind of environment, a different kind of business climate here, to grow that sector, and it is happening. It's happening. Evergreen is one of the most prominent examples, but there are a whole host of examples."
--Governor Deval Patrick, April 7, 2008, boasting about state investment in Evergreen.
and Now...
"Evergreen Solar Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday, completing a stunning reversal of fortune for a high-flying alternative-energy company that once seemed to herald a new era for the Massachusetts economy... At its peak, Evergreen employed roughly 900 people locally and attracted more than $50 million in state support, as its stock price soared above $100 a share.
Yesterday, Evergreen's stock closed at 18 cents. The company shuttered its manufacturing plant in Devens earlier this year and now has only 85 employees left. Massachusetts is one of its top creditors, owed $1.5 million in rent."
--Erin Ailworth, Boston Globe, August 16, 2011
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