Last year, voters showed up in November and sent a clear message by passing the Fair Share Amendment: we need greater investment in public education and transportation in the Commonwealth, and the wealthy should pay their fair share.
Because of the new revenue raised by the Fair Share Amendment, more kids will have access to pre-K, students will have access to free school meals, our schools will be greener, and fewer graduates of our public colleges and universities will be burdened with debt. Even more, we will see better hours for our Regional Transit Authorities, better upkeep for roads and bridges, and much-needed additional funding for the MBTA. All of this just in the first year of new revenue.
And that is why it is so disappointing to see the Governor and Legislature focus so much energy this year on cutting taxes, particularly for the ultra-rich and large corporations. Almost 40% of the tax package — passed nearly unanimously by the Legislature and supported by the Governor — consisted of regressive tax giveaways, disproportionately benefiting the Commonwealth’s richest residents, corporations, and estates. Multi-million-dollar estates will be getting a tax break of almost $100,000 each. Day traders, speculators, and multinational corporations also come out well ahead.
More progressive components of the bill, such as the child tax credit ($200 per child) and renters deduction (a paltry $50), can help families struggling to make ends meet but miss the mark when it comes to actually addressing the problems of affordability in Massachusetts. We need to be investing in our child care infrastructure and in preserving and expanding affordable housing, and the regressive tax cuts in the bill siphon away vital funding for doing so. That said, the fact that the Legislature closed a loophole that could have enabled tax avoidance of the Fair Share tax is both welcome and necessary.
It is simply not acceptable for legislators to say “We don’t have the money” when it comes to meeting basic needs, when they are willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on unnecessary and regressive tax cuts for the rich and large corporations.
Our commonwealth has the resources we need to solve the great challenges we face; the question is whether our elected officials have the will to do so.
