Massachusetts To Vote On Proposal To Eliminate State Income Tax

New York Times:

Given the opportunity to get out of paying state income tax, who wouldn't jump at the chance?

Certainly Ruth Gregoire would. Ms. Gregoire, 71, a retired employee of a fire sprinkler company, dipped into chocolate ice cream at Swirls and Scoops and pronounced the no-tax idea "very nice."

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[laffinatlibs]

F**k the public schools. My kids go to private school and are mopping the floors grade wise and taking much more advanced classes than any of their "govt school" friends. I should get at least a rebate on the part of my taxes that go to education. Too bad it will never happen in NY.

[JuergenHartl]

I am glad you are in the favorite position to send your kids to private school. Nice for them.
Do you ever spend a second to think about less lucky families, that are scrambling just to put dinner on the table for their kids?

Private schools should be stripped of all tax brakes and and taxpayer's money.
Instead it should go all to public schools. Teachers there should be paid decent salaries.
ALL children deserve a good and free, yes free, education. Educated children are our future!

[laffinatlibs]

I am tired of paying for people who refuse to do better for themselves. Once we make people take care of themselves you can end welfare. Besides jacka** it isnt free. My property taxes are over $11,000 a year. The only thing the democrat party has going for it is freebies, free healthcare, free education, take from those of us who work and have made a few bucks and give it to those who are too lazy.

[heal57]

I disagree with you. The fact that people are scrambling to put food on the table has nothing to do with someone else's choice of school for their children. Many kids are in the inferior public school system, because their parents did not think things through and had more children than they could afford, so don't spite someone who has worked and saved and prepared for their childre's education. Most public schools are unfit.

[RealHRCFansVoteObama]

It depends on the public school. We live in a town with school choice and took the money to go to private school for a while, but still had to pay the difference.

Then the local public school went through a renaissance (thanks to greater involvement on the part of the parents), and it became a bargain. I know what it costs to educate each kid, and it is way more than what our annual property tax is (which is what pays for education in our state).

I'd love to not have to pay any taxes (it's our last major bill), but even if we didn't care about schools, we do care about roads and infrastructure, and that money has to come from somewhere. What else do you propose? A toll booth at the corner of every dirt road?

[Egalitare]

Build your fence really high. The "riff-raff" will defeat anything under 20' high and with less than a 6' foot underground barrier.

[NTO08]

It's people like you that have ruined education in this country...­ME first, only for ME, it's all about ME.

[heal57]

People have a right to cvhoose the best school for their kids; it IS about them and they have that right.

[vippy]

The ME-Factor is important these days since we pay some of the highest taxes ever and
we see very little of it. We are broke yet our leaders pass budgets way above and beyond of what they have. But we have money for useless things like wars and people
still don't get it.

[Bitsko]

Good luck with that. Here's hoping that, because of the failed policies of your wonderous republican party, your kids will be able to find work outside of "mopping floors."

[watchTVgetSTUPID]

This $700 billion will be used to pay for stock options for the CEOs.


RIPOFF

[robinhood2]

You are off topic.

[farmgirl]

Massachusetts voters ought to check out the national ranking of public school systems in states that have no income tax.

I moved from a state with one of the top five school systems in the country to a state in the bottom ten. I can tell you from experience that the quality of the school system matters, whether or not you have school age children. And the effects of an inadequate school system permeate the entire society and business community.

[jaydfl]

This is one of the reasons I’ll be voting No on Question 1. I would be for a tax cut but not to eliminate it totally.

[watchTVgetSTUPID]

The bail out will pay for stock options to the CEOs who created the problem.
No wonder they hid the details till the last hour

[robinhood2]

You are off topic.

[GetoffMylawn]

I say eliminate all taxes and shut down government, and git off my land!!!

[hypnotoad72]

Cool. So when you want your diaper wearing bee-hind defended, do you expect the army, navy, air force, marines, or coast guard to save you?

[Huffingtonposter231]

It would mean the end of public schools, it will never pass. IT's not even possible it would pass.

[Doofus]

This proposal appears every few years in Massachusetts. We have a lot of
'ballot initiatives' and perennial gadflies who promote them. This one works
because, strangely, no one likes taxes. It hasn't passed before, obviously,
and it probably won't this time either.

Massachusetts has a genuine 'flat' income tax, 5.3% (but with a generous
personal exemption). At that, what we NEED is a graduated income tax, but
that ALSO requires the passage of a ballot initiative.

Having a flat tax tends to cause excessively high property tax rates in a lot of
towns, and insures that there's not a lot of state aid for a lot of towns that need
it, so the 'correctness' of doing away with the income tax is very questionable. But
the folks who push this 'No Tax' plan get a kick out of making this effort every few years.

[hippynanainblingland]

Has anyone heard of the Fair Tax? Educate yourselves about a viable alternative to income taxes, people. Go to fairtax.org and be amazed.

[ErnestineBass]

Bollocks. Any idea pushed by someone as rich as Steve Forbes is designed to help him and those like him, NOT us.

[hypnotoad72]

When I saw the link, I instantly thought of Steve Forbes. Fair for them and unfair for the 99% of Americans that aren't the personality type seen in CEOs.

[josephjsalas]

This ones easy. MA will would be showing it's belly to the UN. And the UN will be glad
to print them up as much funny-money as they want at the expence of their off-spring.
Now a Federal(IMF) income tax revolt would be a nice change. Afterall, it's just a tribute
paid to global corporations for the use of the funny-money they issue us. EO 11110.

[Egalitare]

Massachusetts is neither Alaska (funded by Big Oil royalties) nor Florida (funded by its vacation industry). The very short term benefits of eliminating it's income tax will be apparent just as soon as the revenue stream runs out on one of the better run state governments in the nation.

I've been against lotteries for this very reason. Not because I think they are morally wrong, but that they tend to foster the idea that there is an easy, painless way to pay for the "Commons." I sincerely hope that the citizens of Massachusetts find the wisdom to say "NO" to rejecting their obligations to each other as citizens.

[TheJibreelaMonsters]

Boston is not a tourist destination?

[SurrealPumpkin]

Not to the extent that Florida is.

[superrobot]

Florida has crap schools.

[dadw5boys]

Mass. is going to regret this move when Property Taxes once again are the traget of Local and State Governments to cover needed shortfalls.

[atila]

I know this,we're moving to Austin(beautiful place),no income tax in Texas but the property taxes are insane!

[TheJibreelaMonsters]

The same in New Hampshire