Massachusetts activists repropose vote to end state income tax
Posted on August 3rd, 2007 by bile Categories and Tags: Uncategorized, business-backed budget watchdog group, Carla Howell, freedom, healthcare, liberty, Massachusetts, Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, Michael Widmer, New Hampshire, politics, property, schooling, state healthcare, taxes, United States Senate, your moneyA proposal to abolish the state income tax received a surprising amount of support in the 2002 elections. Now, activists are reviving it, hoping to place it on next year’s ballot.
“I think our surprising and extraordinary vote in 2002 demonstrated that anything is possible, and people are going to take this much more seriously this time around,” said Carla Howell, who is leading the campaign to abolish the tax.
The proposal received 45 percent of the vote in 2002, despite critics’ warnings that it would plunge state government into chaos.
Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business-backed budget watchdog group, said the proposal is “absolutely unreasonable” and would dry up state funding for education and healthcare. “The voters would rue the day. . . . Essentially, she’s trying to repeal the 20th century,” Widmer said. Income taxes account for $10 or $11 billion of the state’s budget of about $27 billion, he said.
Howell — a former Libertarian candidate for US Senate, governor, and state auditor — said the cut would be a “huge benefit” for average people.
Hmmm education and healthcare… two things I definitely don’t want government involved in. ‘[R]epeal the 20th century’? New Hampshire seems to be doing fine without income taxes and state healthcare.
2 Responses to “Massachusetts activists repropose vote to end state income tax”
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August 3rd, 2007 at 7:40 pm
Privatize education eh? From the NJ state constitution Section IV:
Which as been BROADLY interpreted, along with FAPE and IDEA at the federal level, to mean kids have an inalienable right to a free and public education. Funny enough we also have to bus them there according to the state constitution.
I got in trouble for putting this up on my wall.
There is a lot of legislature standing in the way of abolishing a school system at the state level, but i think it would be most beneficial. You could take that property tax money and put it into the education of your kids in a school corresponding to their academic needs. For example, your kid thinks sitting in a desk working out problems is BS so we teach him how to be a hot tar roofer until he’s so hot and sweaty he’s begging for that desk. Or until he’s like, “Damn I’m pretty good at this, if I gain enough capital I could start my own crew doing this stuff.”
August 4th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
Stupid in America
I recently talked with my father about his local taxes… how the amount allocated to schools has jumped from 35% or so when he first bought the house to now it’s 55%. Then you have the much higher than inflation rate it’s gone up year to year. I’d bet the schools I went to produce no better students than when I attended. They do make them wear uniforms now though. I’m sure gang colors were a big problem in Quinton, NJ.