The State Income Tax Repeal, also known as Massachusetts Question 1, was one of the 2008 ballot measures that appeared on the November 4, 2008 ballot in the U.S. state of Massachusetts.[1] Voters were asked whether or not they approved of the proposed measure which, if it had passed, would have ended the 5.3% income tax in Massachusetts on wages, interest, dividends and capital gains. Ultimately, Massachusetts voters defeated Question 1 by a wide margin, with approximately 70% opposed versus 30% in favor.
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This proposed law would:
The official proponent of the measure is the Committee for Small Government. Michael Cloud and Carla Howell lead the committee.[2]
Initiative supporter Michael Cloud believes that the measure will lower the budget from about $28 billion to $17 billion which is approximately the size of the 1995 state budget.[3]
Polling shows that 46 percent of those asked support the measure before hearing any of its details, and 40 percent still supported it after hearing about the measure in depth.[4][5]
According to campaign finance reports, as of November 1, 2008 the Committee for Small Government has raised approximately $385,000 since creation and has $14,131.72 cash left. They also have about $80,000 in outstanding liabilities.[6]
as of August 15, 2008, Ms Howell and Mr Cloud have paid themselves almost $200,000 from committee donations for "consulting fees" over the last 6 years for services rendered to the their own campaigns while soliciting donors for additional contributions because the campaign was out of funds.[7][8][9]
The Committee for Small Government advanced a similar initiative, called the Massachusetts End the Income Tax initiative in 2002. That measure did not pass and received 885,683 votes, or 45.3 percent.[10]
Stephen Moore of the Wall Street Journal: “The forces of the tax-and-spend status quo will descend on this initiative like British troops after the original Boston tea party, but somebody has to make an effort to stop the relentless growth of government.”
Steve Forbes of Forbes magazine: “This is an attack on political establishments there and throughout the U.S. that routinely put their own interests above those of their constituents: lavish government pensions with payouts that would bankrupt private companies; resistance to genuine reform in Medicaid spending, which has become the biggest item on virtually every state's budget; ever more pork-barrel spending; and ever more obsequiousness to rapacious special interests. Bay State voters – go for Proposition 1.”
According to campaign finance reports, as of October 15, 2008 the Coalition for Our Communities, the organization opposing this tax cut, had raised over $5 MILLION—99.8% from teachers' and other government sector unions.
Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation,[11]
Gov. Deval Patrick[12]
The Selectman in the town of Wayland voted unanimously to oppose the initiative.
State Rep. Tom Conroy, D-Wayland[13]
Coalition for Our Communities, an organization created by the Massachusetts AFL-CIO that reportedly has $1.34 million with which to mount an effort to defeat the measure. The Coalition's funds are derived mainly from unions, including $750,000 from the National Education Association.[14][15] The group also received $250,000 from American Federation of Teachers Solidarity Fund. Both the NEA and the AFTSF are based in Washington, D.C.[16]
The Boston Globe has officially asked voters to vote "no" on Question 1.[17]
According to campaign finance reports, as of November 1, 2008 The Coalition for Our Communities has raised approximately $6,625,000 since creation and has $117,270.95 cash left. They also received about an additional $650,000 in inkind donations from unions such as donated staff, supplies, postage etc.[19]
The proponents submitted about 100,000 signatures to the Massachusetts Secretary of State for the first phase of signature collection. 76,084 of those signatures were determined to be valid, with a requirement that 66,593 must be valid for the initiative to proceed to the next step.[20] The next step was for the Massachusetts State Legislature to take up the measure. They declined to pass it by the first Wednesday in May 2008, meaning that the proponents had to collect an additional 11,099 valid signatures by June 18, 2008. On July 3, it was announced that 15,913 additional certified signatures had been filed, making the measure extremely likely to appear on the ballot.[21][22]
The Massachusetts Teachers Association who's mailing address is the same as the "Committee for our Communities", admitted in December 2007 that it had made phone calls to people who signed the petition to place the income tax repeal on the ballot, inquiring about whether their signature was valid. The calls were made from a group identifying itself as the "Committee for our Communities".[23]
| State Income Tax Repeal Initiative[24][25] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Choice | Votes | Percentage |
| No | 2,070,699 | 69.37% |
| Yes | 914,420 | 30.63% |
| Valid votes | 2,985,119 | 96.20% |
| Invalid or blank votes | 117,876 | 3.80% |
| Total votes | 3,102,995 | 100.00% |
| Voter turnout | 73.52% | |
| Electorate | 4,220,488 | |
Note:: The original version of this article was taken from Ballotpedia's article about the Massachusetts State Income Tax Repeal Initiative