Mass. GOP leaders oppose no-tax Question 1

BOSTON -- The Massachusetts Republican Party is so concerned with excessive state spending, it publicized Sen. James Marzilli's $160 daily salary to complain that he remained on the payroll after being charged with accosting four women.

Sen. Richard Tisei and Rep. Bradley Jones, the Republican leaders in the Senate and House, support tax cuts and constantly complain about a state budget that's grown 43 percent in a decade, from $19.5 billion in fiscal 1999 to $28 billion for fiscal 2009.

Yet, when it comes to Question 1, the fall ballot initiative that proposes to cut state spending by eliminating the income tax, the GOP and its leading lawmakers don't have a knee-jerk reaction.

They offer a very Democratic response in explaining why they oppose it.

"There are a lot of essential services we would not be able to perform," said Tisei of Wakefield. "It's too extreme."

Said Jones, of Reading: "It's one thing to say the budget should be lower than $28 billion, but it's another thing to say, 'Let's take $12-13 billion off the table.' And we also have debts we've incurred that we have to service. We made commitments we have to fulfill."

Republican Party Chairman Peter Torkildsen acknowledged he issued a deliberately noncommittal statement on the question, since there was split opinion within the GOP.

"I understand the frustration and anger felt by many voters towards Beacon Hill, and why many will vote to repeal the income tax," Torkildsen said in his statement. "The broken promises have piled up, and the people are fed up."

The reactions underscore the bipartisan tinge to much of the official response to the question. Republicans as well as Democrats have joined top business officials to condemn the idea.

"It's irresponsible and it goes too far, and reasonable people understand that," Paul Guzzi, president of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, said at a business breakfast last month.

The question -- sponsored by Libertarian Carla Howell -- proposes to eliminate taxes on wages, interest, dividends and capital gains. The current 5.3 percent rate would be phased out by cutting it in half on Jan. 1, 2009, and eliminating it altogether a year later. Supporters say that would give 3 million taxpayers an average of $3,600 annually.

Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming already do not have income taxes.

"After the end of the income tax, the state will still get $17 billion in taxes and other revenues," Howell recently told The Associated Press. "The local governments will still continue to collect about $19 billion in local taxes and revenues. ... The bottom line is the politicians in this state are swimming in money, awash in cash, and the voters are hurting."

A similar question in 2002 failed, but not before receiving 45 percent of the vote. Proponents think the question could gain additional traction this year because taxpayers are cash-strapped at home, state spending continues to rise and leaders like House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi have suggested they would ignore the result even if voters approved the question.

There is precedent for that: The Legislature refused to enact a 2000 ballot question that proposed trimming the income tax rate from 5.95 percent to 5 percent. It passed with 59 percent of the vote. Instead, lawmakers froze the rate at 5.3 percent in 2002.

"How can we possibly have any other attitude after they've kicked us in the teeth for 20 years?" said Barbara Anderson, co-founder of Citizens for Limited Taxation, which had supported the prior rollback to 5 percent. "Maybe the people need to give them a little kick and get their attention again."

Anderson, who has previously supported more incremental reductions in the tax rate, said her support for eliminating the income tax was not symbolic.

"When you don't have an income tax, it changes the culture of your Legislature," Anderson said. "You end up with a part-time Legislature that is more responsive to the people," which she said was the case in New Hampshire.

The Granite State also has high property taxes, a repercussion opponents fear if the income tax is eliminated.

Tisei, the Senate leader, said that though he opposes the question, he understands the support for it.

"They look at state government and feel there is a disconnect between what's going on in the building and the hurting that's going on outside the building," he said.

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