Pioneer Valley
Planning Commission
Press Release
CONTACT: Tim Brennan, Plan for Progress Co-Chair, 413) 781-6045 or (413) 530-6635 (cell)
Paul Tangredi, Plan for Progress Co-Chair, (413) 789-3530
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 22, 2008
Plan for Progress Trustees Announce Opposition to Eliminating State Income tax
The Trustees of the Plan for Progress, the Pioneer Valley region’s adopted economic development plan, has issued a position statement in opposition to a fall 2008 ballot initiative calling for elimination of the state income tax. The position statement, in its entirety, reads:
The Trustees of the Plan for Progress understand that the lowering or raising of state taxes is the responsibility of the citizens of the Commonwealth either through its elected representatives or by a statewide ballot initiative. Such an initiative petition—to eliminate the state income tax—will be on the statewide ballot this fall.
We stand in strong opposition to eliminating the state income tax for the following reasons:
The state income tax in 2008 accounts for 60 percent of total tax revenues and it is a principal source of funds needed to cover mandatory financial obligations of the state. If eliminated, there would need to be a fourfold increase in the sales tax (from 5 percent to 20 percent) or a doubling of total property taxes. The overall impact, in real terms, would be catastrophic on cities and towns, public higher education, health care, human services, the state’s infrastructure, including roads and bridges, and the general economy of our region and the Commonwealth as a whole. Correspondingly, the elimination of the state income tax would have severe adverse impacts on the state’s credit and bond ratings which are both crucial to the provision of essential state-supported services as well as key capital improvements programmed throughout the Commonwealth.
Clearly, there is an urgent imperative in Massachusetts to bring a cross-section of non-partisan leadership together to search out and define long-term revenue and cost reduction strategies that will allow the state to manage its expenses within a fair and competitive tax structure. Until that has been accomplished, we believe it would be completely irresponsible to consider eliminating the income tax and, therefore, strongly recommend that this ballot initiative be rejected.
This statement—which was reviewed, refined, and adopted by a unanimous vote of the Plan for Progress Trustees on May 21, 2008—is considered the beginning of a concerted outreach effort to civic groups across the region, with the goal of alerting as many citizens as possible about this issue before they cast their votes this fall.