At the State House, the “Situation Has Changed” … Again
Did you know that at the State House the “situation has changed”? Stop me if you’ve heard this one before – like with the “temporary” 18-month increase in the state income tax rate in 1989 that was finally ended in… 2020.
Or the tolls on the Mass Pike that were scheduled to “sunset” in 1988? How’s that one working out for you?
So last year it was more of the same old promises, promises. There was a lot of huffing and puffing from the Democrat leadership in the legislature that they were going to pass tax reform and relief.
Of course, it never happened. It never does.
This week Speaker Ron Mariano says the “situation has changed” about potentially providing tax relief, i.e., tax cuts. He’s right. Things have changed. For one thing, the elections are over. And for the average consumer, prices have gone higher. Regular people as well as business owners need a break even more so.
Here is Mariano’s justification to State House News Service: “It’s a new session. We have a higher inflation rate, the revenue numbers are down, the economy has slowed a little bit. So it’s not the same situation as it was a year ago.”
Pass the Kleenex.
Hey, Mr. Speaker, inflation is happening to taxpayers as well. You know, the people who pay for all your profligate spending. So wouldn’t reform and relief be a good thing to help our struggling economy?
The Speaker should be truthful. Like everyone else at the State House, he doesn’t believe that people who actually work for a living (as opposed to those have state “jobs) ever deserve a break.
Remember last year when gas was close to $5 a gallon, he and his Democrat allies killed a (temporary) suspension of the gas tax. He stalled for months on tax relief and reform. If it weren’t for Charlie Baker rediscovering the 62F law, there would have been no check in the mail for taxpayers last fall.
Mariano further said “we have to be a more vigilant supervisor of the Treasury.” If you believe that one, then I have swamp land in Florida you should invest in, or maybe some of Honest Howie’s Carbon Credits.
Before COVID our state budget was $41 billion. During the dismal years that we have endured since the pandemic, the state budget has exploded to $51 billion — a 24% increase. That’s not being vigilant with the Treasury. That’s being frivolous!
Tax relief could easily be extended to the financially oppressed working classes of Massachusetts, if only the legislature would cut spending. Even if that 24% increase was needed for the pandemic, the purported problem has subsided, so there is $9 billion could go back to the taxpayers. That leaves the hacks with $1 billion for inflation.
While Mariano says the situation has changed, in reality nothing is different on Bacon Hill. They are still addicted to our tax dollars and they never want to give working people a break.
