Boston Globe: Should higher taxes be off the table when legislators discuss next year’s state budget? (Redux)

“Should higher taxes be off the table when legislators discuss next year’s state budget?” — Boston Globe [opinion] (1/29/2016)

NO

Ryan Adams

Swampscott resident, Democratic activist, Progressive Massachusetts member

It’s disappointing to hear Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo and other key legislative leaders say no to putting any increased revenue on the table for the upcoming budget. With a deficit that’s upwards of $1 billion, that means cutting into the bone of the middle class, working poor, and vulnerable communities.

Polls suggest a large majority of America supports increasing revenue to pay for important things, like our schools and infrastructure. Even a majority of millionaires have supported increasing their own taxes.

I’ve met the speaker several times and I think he’s a very good man who cares a lot about the state. But given how effective he can be, we must ask him to act boldly.

Massachusetts used to be the state of firsts. We were the first to embrace marriage equality. We were the first to tackle real health care reform. But what have we done lately?

Since DeLeo took the reins, Massachusetts has become a more expensive state to live in, with fewer good jobs for the middle class. Our traffic gets worse every year. While the speaker just came out against it — to his credit — MBTA riders are the only ones asked to pay more, disproportionately affecting the working poor.

To be sure, the Legislature and its leadership didn’t cause these problems, but they could solve them. It’s a tough task, requiring a great deal of political courage – and new revenue – but now is the time.

We have an incredibly intelligent, hardworking populace that leads the world in many categories, but our progress is bottlenecked on Beacon Hill. We need to tackle our transportation needs, the high cost of health care, and the opioid epidemic sweeping the state.

None of these problems can be solved in a day, but a “no new revenue” pledge can only ensure they grow worse.

There are those who don’t think we can afford to solve our problems. They’re wrong, and because of that cynicism, we end up paying far more in the end: for jails instead of schools, or higher car insurance instead of better roads.

Beacon Hill can change that, but it’s going to take leadership, courage and a little more revenue, to go a very long way.

Boston Globe: Should higher taxes be off the table when legislators discuss next year’s state budget?

“Should higher taxes be off the table when legislators discuss next year’s state budget?” — Boston Globe [opinion] (1/22/2016)

NO

Kevin Loechner

Hull resident, Democratic activist, member of Progressive Massachusetts

House Speaker Robert DeLeo recently declared that the House will propose no new taxes or fees for fiscal 2017. He stated that taxes are “off the table,” a position shared by Governor Charles Baker. This politically driven stance effectively cuts off debate on new sources of revenue to fund state government and strained municipal budgets across the Commonwealth, including this region.

Apparently, this no-new-fees position did not apply to mass transit commuters. MBTA fare increases are coming in July — up to 12 percent on commuter boats, as high as 10 percent on commuter rail. Crunching the data, I calculated that under the maximum fare increase, the last four years will have seen increases of 39 percent to 55.6 percent for train, boat, and bus commuters in the region, not including parking fee increases. And the latest fare increases will not improve service and barely cover the operating deficit.

State aid to local governments has still not recovered to pre-Great Recession levels. For example, Hull’s net state aid in fiscal 2002 was $7.38 million; in fiscal 2016 it was more than 26.6 percent lower, at $5.42 million. Without sufficient local aid, communities have had to seek fee increases or overrides — Weymouth tried and failed this year — or defer capital maintenance, which has been the case in Hull. Constant complaints about increased taxes for diminished services can be found on social media pages across the region.

Opponents of tax increases will talk about waste, fraud, and abuse, or that wealthier people will leave due to increased taxes. But there is not as much waste as conventional wisdom states, and the costs of stopping all fraud and abuse outweighs any savings we would gain. Data also shows that state taxes have little impact on interstate moves. And we have had reforms to state government in recent years, but the resulting financial benefits have fallen short of what is actually needed.

Even those who oppose increased taxes should agree that this is a discussion worth having for maintaining and building a strong Commonwealth. Please consider contacting your legislators and ask them to not take this option off the table in the name of political expediency.