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July 9th, 2010 at 11:20 pm
Please help me understand as someone who has been extremely time deprived the following:
“She said she saw the sales-tax increase “as an opportunity to avoid property tax increases in my communities.”
““We made a difficult choice and I voted for the sales tax increase because I wanted it to go to local aid. When we didn’t see an increase in local aid”
Why did this not happen?
“We’re above benchmark in our revenue and we can afford to do this and it gives retailers a boost for the back-to-school market. It’s a win-win,” Benson said.”
If we were above benchmark then again why did this not trickle down to local aid?
So if she voted for the tax increase to help local cities and towns and it did not go down as planned would she now be in favor of a repeal?
July 10th, 2010 at 12:30 am
Just in time. Maybe we’ll get to see another campaign incident at the Folk Fest.
July 10th, 2010 at 8:04 pm
So it’s Benson’s fault, personally, that the rest of her colleagues (you know, the other 149 of them) didn’t see it her way? Good lord.
July 10th, 2010 at 9:17 pm
Lynne there was no sarcasm in my question.
I really would like to know if it was Benson’s intention for money to go back to the taxpayers then why did that not end up happening?
What was our sales tax increase spent on?
July 11th, 2010 at 10:10 am
Revenues from other sources, like the income tax, plummeted, and the revenues from the sales-tax increase went to plugging the hole. Local aid and everything else would have had to be cut even more without it.
July 11th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
Originally, the Governor filed a bill for transportation reform that included a 19 cent increase in the gasoline tax to help cover the large debt payments (Big Dig, MBTA, Turnpike) and consolidate and streamline those agencies.
The Legislature elected to increase the sales tax and use some of that money for the same purpose as the Governor, but to use the additional revenue provided to fill the gap in State revenue due to the struggling economy. (Note the State was already using 1% of the prior 5% tax rate to fund the MBTA)
So, the bottom line as to why the addition sales tax did not go to reducing property taxes via increased local aid was that the State is the one that receives the money, and their priority was to keep the MA general government funded as best they could, local aid took the seconds, and there were none.
July 12th, 2010 at 8:41 am
What joe and nextyear said.
“money to go back to the taxpayers”
Either way, taxpayers are being served. Whether it’s the state not cutting any more RMV workers, them being able to deliver more money to homelessness programs, or the state giving a little more money to the local governments for *their* services, it’s still for government services.
It’s not “going back to the taxpayers” except in that, we get what we pay for. There was a huge deficit which the sales tax increase helped offset (and our sales tax is nothing even now compared to many states) and trust me, you are feeling the effects of cuts one way or another. You would have felt the effects of further cuts not necessary if not for it.
And once the economy goes back to normal-ish, maybe we can finally get ahead of things for once. We’ve been dragging behind because of the Big Dig debt (and the way Weld top finance guy Charlie Baker structured that debt, thanks dude) among other things. We were barely, *barely* at restored levels of education funding right before the downturn, thanks to the cuts under Romney’s administration. It’d be nice to catch up with inflation on funding our basic needs in the state.
Finally, several of our revenue sources themselves have *not* kept up with inflation. My understanding is, for instance, that gas tax increase Patrick initially wanted, should really have been something on the order of over $.30/gal increase, if we had indexed the tax to inflation when it was last increase two decades ago. So you have the problem of increasing costs due to inflation but flat and decreasing revenues from some sources, because it’s not a percentage, but a fixed cent tax, and what you have is a recipe for perpetual deficits or cuts.
July 12th, 2010 at 8:46 am
BTW, the sales tax is pretty regressive; however, in this state, there are provisions for making it not so regressive, which we should be very proud of. Groceries are of course exempt, as are any individual piece of clothing less than $175. There are places in the country where this is not true - so while the sales tax is not my fave tax in the world, it’s far better here in regards to not impacting the basics that the poor need than elsewhere.
But I would have preferred the gas tax increase, which kills several birds with one stone…
July 12th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
How are the taxpayers being served? They’re paying more in taxes and getting less in local aid, even though the tax was SPECIFICALLY raised so the money could go back to local aid. That’s called being served a load of BS, not being served.
July 12th, 2010 at 6:24 pm
There are more services delivered than just what you get on the local level. And if you want local aid to get cut worse, let’s make the budget deficit worse while you’re at it.
It’s basic math.
July 13th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
Except the intent of the tax hike wasn’t to go into the state’s general fund. It was sold as a way to secure local aid. They knew darned well if they presented it as the money would stay on Beacon Hill, the already queezy lemmings in the House and Senate would have balked. Hence, they provide the bait and switch cover story of the money will go back to cities and towns to use the way they see fit, not how Deval and the Democratic leadership want to spend it.
If you want more money for your own spending, call it what it is and live with the political consequences. Instead, you’ve now ticked off the electorate to the point where this rollback to 3% might actually pass.
July 13th, 2010 at 4:18 pm
“Say Whaaaat? Says:
July 12th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
How are the taxpayers being served? They’re paying more in taxes and getting less in local aid…”
They’re getting more in local aid than they otherwise would have. Absent the sales tax, local aid would have been cut even further - as would many other necessary functions of government.
Unless you want to pretend that there would have been no local aid cuts at all, which is just silly.
July 15th, 2010 at 11:09 pm
The other way to look at it Joe is that raising taxes in a time of recession leads to a loss of other revenue sources, not to mention that the sales tax itself is regressive. And once again, the point was to NOT reduce local aid. That’s how the sales tax was sold to the masses. The money should have gone where it was intended to go and the state should have made cuts in other areas.
It’s like the kid who asks mom and dad for $20 to go get groceries, then comes back with clothes. Yes, its nice to have clothes and sometimes they’re even necessary, but if the money was given for a bigger necessity like food/local aid, that’s where it should be spent.
July 16th, 2010 at 10:45 am
Again, in MA, the sales tax is much, MUCH less regressive than in other states. Many necessities are not taxed. Expensive non food stuff is taxed. People who are poor don’t buy expensive stuff. Ergo, not as regressive.
Fact is, the gap the budget WITH the new tax was still big. Local aid was going to get deeper cuts (as I recall, they were warning about this in early spring) than it did, and state cuts on state offices have already been driven deep. Thank the new tax for that.
You know, peeps, we aren’t Taxachusetts. We’re #31 in tax burdens of all the states, based on the latest data. So, get over it already. We’re NOT taxed that much. (Now, granted, next to NH we’re taxed more, but NH sucks eggs. I wouldn’t raise kids there if you paid me to, their schools are terrible and they won’t pay for anything up there.)
July 16th, 2010 at 10:50 am
Also, saying that tax increases in a recession significantly slows the economy down is about as dumb as saying tax cuts in a recession are stimulative. Neither is in essence true. But despite the actual application of facts, these memes are still out there, because Republicans like the magic math.
The FACT is, a 1% increase in taxes on my $300 suede jacket isn’t really going to hurt much. Adds $3. If I can spend $300 I can spend $3. (And the tax doesn’t apply to clothing below $175, and you are only taxed on the amount above $175 (in my suede example, only $125 of the cost is taxed, not the full amount).