Word: massachusettsã
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...destroy one of the most significant sources of state revenue. Today, the ballot initiative will ask voters whether to eliminate the state income tax. We hope that they respond with a resounding “no.” The state income tax accounts for 40 percent of Massachusetts??s revenue. If it is discarded, the billion dollars of budget cuts so far will look like pocket change compared to the $12.5 billion that the state will be forced to eliminate to make up for the tax. Needless to say, the effects of such a purge would...
Opponents of the initiative dismiss it a “reckless idea,” but it is much more: Question 1 is a misguided measure that would undermine Massachusetts?? very existence. Even small-government advocates can agree that certain state-provided services are important. The state gives jobs to 68,000 employees; it maintains police departments and public schools; it keeps roads and bridges from crumbling. Yes, it would be great to give citizens a tax rebate, but Question 1 does it at the cost of all these benefits...
...billion. The cuts—$9 million for law enforcement, $31.9 million in mental-health resources, 1,000 jobs—have sobered members of both political parties. Question 1 would only kick us while we’re down. Revenue from the income tax represents 40 percent of Massachusetts?? budget—without it, the state faces cuts of $12.5 billion...
...beginning on January 1, 2009, and eliminate it completely the following year. Taxpayers would save an average of $3,600 a year, at a cost of roughly $12.5 billion, or 40 percent, of the state budget. While government officials argue that the initiative would decimate government projects ranging from Massachusetts?? one-of-a-kind universal health care plan to infrastructure repairs, proponents see the initiative as an opportunity to expose and eliminate wasteful government spending. “These are the usual ‘sky-is-falling’ claim from our opponents, who like to pick...
...will approve,” she said. “Feasibility depends on political will.” According to Howard K. Koh, a professor of Public Health and former Massachusetts Commissioner of Public Health, Obama’s plan calls to mind some of the main facets of Massachusetts?? own 2006 reform. “Senator Obama’s plan resonates with many of the themes of ‘shared responsibility’ that rallied Massachusetts behind a new 2006 health care reform law...whose results have been new health coverage for over...