Hey, Charlie Baker, I want my money back – NOW!
You owe me and the rest of the taxpayers of Massachusetts $2.94 billion, and I believe I can speak for almost all of us.
What do we want? OUR MONEY!
When do we want it? NOW!
In case you haven’t been paying attention, here’s the story:
Under the provisions of a previously-forgotten state law — call it Chapter 62F — the commonwealth is drowning in funny money, more Brandon bucks than it’s ever had before, so now the hacks must refund some of their ill-gotten gains back to the Americans it was lifted from.
This is almost $3 billion that by law must be returned to taxpayers, as opposed to Democrats. Not to “working families,” as Democrats like to describe nonworking nonfamilies, but to the people who in fact earned the money and paid the taxes.
This is $3 billion not to be squandered on the usual fraudulent nonsense like “environmental justice” communities or tree equity or transgendered windmills or sustainability coordinators or diversity advocates or gender-affirmation conferences.
To use Democrat terminology, this $3 billion is “targeted” and “earmarked” for Americans who go to work in the morning.
Under Chapter 62F, Massachusetts taxpayers are to be refunded 13% of the state income taxes they paid for 2021. The rate is 5%.
Thus, if you had $50,000 in taxable income last year, you paid $2,500. So now you are due a refund of 13% of $2,500 — $325. If you made $100,000, you’ll get back $650.
If you earned a million bucks, you get back $6,500. And so on … .
You can see why the Democrats at the State House are going crazy. They want their shiftless dead-beat illegal immigrant constituents to get that $3 billion, in extra handouts, to spend on tattoos and weed. They look at money the way the Mob used to — what’s ours is ours and what’s yours is ours.
Gov. Charlie Baker has vowed to give the $3 billion back to its rightful owners, as he is required to do under state law.
The problem is, he’s dragging his feet. The lame duck governor who President Biden calls “Charlie Parker” says the automatic refunds won’t start going out until … November.
Parker has his reasons, of course. Theoretically, the state won’t know exactly how much money is to be returned until after Oct. 17, which is the date by which all 2021 state income tax returns must be filed.
This delay of a few weeks wouldn’t be a problem, if we lived in America. But this is Massachusetts, a banana republic. Nothing is on the level. The longer the money is in their hands, the less likely it is we will ever see any of it.
The welfare-industrial complex is already talking about filing lawsuits to stop the money from going back to its rightful owners. After the election, what’s to stop the Legislature from repealing Chapter 62F?
Parker would veto the repeal, of course, but then the Legislature would override his veto. What’s he going to do about it? As Sonny McDonough used to say, “Lame duck is my favorite dish.”
And once Maura Healey becomes governor in January, what are the chances we’ll ever get back any of our money?
Parker’s got to get the checks in the mail before the hackerama can sue, or while there is at least a slight possibility that the solons could be defeated in November if they try to somehow stop the tax relief, either at the legislative or judicial level.
There’s another twist here. Referendum Question 1 on the ballot would establish a graduated income tax in this state. The hackerama says it’s needed “for the children” blah-blah-blah.
The Democrats claim that the 80% income-tax increase — from 5 to 9% — would only apply to “millionaires.” But once they’ve abolished the across-the-board flat rate, they can do whatever they want, and they will. They always do.
Remember 15 days to flatten the curve?
Five times the voters have rejected the hacks’ graduated-income-tax grift, but let’s face it, the Massachusetts electorate has lately been dumbed down more than somewhat. Look at the Congressional delegation.
The Democrats say the state doesn’t have enough money — a total lie. The so-called rainy-day fund has almost $7 billion in it. But few pay attention to local news anymore.
Still, if the voters were to get a refund of a few hundred or a few thousand bucks before the election, perhaps they would realize what a total crock the “millionaires’ tax” is. In effect, this 62F refund would be an in-kind political contribution to the campaign to stop the hacks’ next highway robbery.
If the checks don’t go out until November, it will be too late. Early voting begins Oct. 22.
Charlie Parker has been a feckless and incompetent governor. If he allows the hackerama to steal the $3 billion that should be going back to the voters who put him in office, it will be just one final black mark on his record.
As for all the liberals who are so distraught that the state might have to give back money it can’t “afford,” there’s always the option of voluntarily checking the box on the state income tax form and paying at the old, higher rate.
One last point: most of the $3 billion will be going right back into the state economy. Think moving vans, as the last working-class Americans in the commonwealth flee to New Hampshire or Florida. Three billion dollars — it’s just severance pay for all of us in Massachusetts who aren’t in a protected, pampered class.
Charlie, if you can’t tell us exactly what we’re going to get, please just send us a portion of the money you owe us, right now. If the Democrats want to sue, so what? Let them try to “claw back” the refunds later.
We want our money — NOW!