Press Release: 2021-06-11

What a Week It’s Been

What a Week It’s Been:



First off, on Monday, MassFiscal sent Gov. Charlie Baker a letter urging him to withdraw Massachusetts from the rapidly failing and harmful Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) after CT Gov. Ned Lamont pulled out. As one of our loyal supporters, you know MassFiscal has led the aggressive fight to defeat TCI since the beginning. What started off as 12 state (plus D.C.) pact has withered away to all but two states. Rhode Island’s legislature still has not voted in favor of TCI, so it’s not a done deal, and we can’t let up. MassFiscal has been all over this terrible scheme – from writing letters to lawmakers, sending educational postcards out to constituents, launching social media ads, taking media interviews, writing op-eds, you name it – we’ve attacked TCI on all fronts. And we’re so close to defeating this obviously failing tax scheme, we’re not stopping now. 

 

Then, on Tuesday, MassFiscal was making headlines left, right and center in WGBHBoston Herald, and MassLive, among other outlets to discuss the Fiscal Alliance Foundation’s newly released study on instituting a so called “Millionaire’s Tax” on the Massachusetts economy. The Foundation’s study is the first time that Massachusetts specific data was collected and used to determine the economic result if this tax were to become law. The study found that tax collections will be much lower than what the proponents are suggesting and the effects of the tax so harsh that working families will leave Massachusetts by the thousands.

 

Moving on to Hump Day, the “Millionaire’s Tax” was up for a vote in the State House. Prior to, MassFiscal put all 200 lawmakers on notice that we are watching and ready to educate constituents across the state on how their lawmakers voted. The graduated income tax has been before the voters SIX (yes, SIX!) times in the past and each time it failed to pass. More recently, the state’s highest court struck down an attempt in 2018 as it was considered “unconstitutional.” What makes this latest attempt different is that the effort is authored by lawmakers and not citizens. It’s politicians who want to change the constitution to remove safeguards intended to protect the taxpayers. If you’re like me, you really don’t like the sound of that! The good news is that MassFiscal is 100% committed to fighting back tax increases on all fronts. If we work together to stop this and spread the word, more middle class and working families will realize this is an attempt to tax them next, and the tax will eventually fail for the seventh time and be a victory that all of us can relish.



Then, on Thursday, MassFiscal urged lawmakers to oppose efforts to expand mail-in voting after news broke late on Wednesday that Election Laws Committee Chairman Dan Ryan planned to file an amendment (#28) to a budget bill that would make vote by mail permanent. Instead of advancing the controversial policy through his committee, Chairman Ryan would rather stuff the policy into an unrelated budget vote. Our message to lawmakers was clear: such important policies that fundamentally change the way Massachusetts holds elections should go through the normal legislative vetting process and not be bundled into an unrelated bill to be rammed through with less than 24 hours notice.



And that was just the start of the week. MassFiscal has a lot of work to do in the coming weeks and months, pushing back on behalf of the taxpayers of Massachusetts. As a member of the team, I can personally assure you that MassFiscal will always be there to expose tax increase schemes and defeat these terrible ideas before they become reality. But, as you well know, we can’t do it alone.

 

Please show all of us at MassFiscal that you’re in our corner by making your most generous donation of $100, $250, $500 or even $1,000 right now at www.massfiscal.org/donate. If you prefer to mail a check, please send it to our office at Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance 18 Tremont St Suite 527, Boston, MA 02108.



MassFiscal will not give way on the issues, I can promise you that. We need OUR voices heard on Beacon Hill now more than ever. Please, show your support and help us keep up our momentum by making your most generous donation right now. Thank you!

 

DONATE NOW



Sincerely,



Haley Jones

Finance Manager