Massachusetts Budget: Now's the time to speak out!

The Governor's budget reflects inclusion of non-existent potential casino licensing fees and much else.
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No budget and no state aid formula should be tied to undetermined revenues.
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Please review the sites listed below to understand the impact of the proposed budget on local services.

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Please ask your legislators to protect local aid so that cities and towns have the resources they need to end the local fiscal distress that is eroding our economy.

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MMA Video explanation

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MMA issues statement regarding Gov. Patrick’s proposed FY09 budget
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
For more information, contact MMA Executive Director Geoff Beckwith at (617) 426-7272.

Cities and towns are facing widespread fiscal distress, a fact that has been widely reported during the past year. Communities are essential to our state’s economic competitiveness, delivering the vital services that keep and attract families and businesses to Massachusetts, and the fiscal unrest that confronts our localities weakens our economy, a dangerous trend that must be averted. After adjusting for inflation, fiscal 2008 local aid is $621 million below fiscal 2002 levels. In order to make up the difference and balance their budgets, cities and towns have been forced to increase their reliance on the property tax, cut services, or do both. The governor’s proposed budget for fiscal 2009 contains significant and important investments in cities and towns, including full funding of the $223 million Chapter 70 school aid increase, and scheduled increases in the special education circuit breaker and the school building assistance program, together with added funds for the PILOT program. The MMA applauds these proposals, and asks the Legislature to embrace these funding levels. A vital priority for cities and towns is maintaining the current $935 million Lottery distribution. Cities and towns would face devastating fiscal pain if this amount is not protected. The governor’s budget allocates $935 million to level-fund Lottery aid, however, the MMA opposes conditioning any part of the Lottery distribution on passage of separate casino legislation. Under the budget submitted today, $124 million of existing Lottery local aid would be contingent on passage of this new revenue source. Current local aid to cities and towns should not be cut, and should not be conditioned on new revenue sources such as casinos or other such initiatives. Lottery revenues have slumped for the past two years, and municipal leaders deeply appreciate the state’s action to protect cities and towns during this time. The state has honored the budgeted Lottery distribution of $920 million in fiscal 2007 and $935 million in fiscal 2008. The governor and legislators have recognized that a cut in Lottery aid would trigger a fiscal crisis at the local level. Cities and towns need at least level-funding of Lottery aid at $935 million, and none of this amount should be conditioned.We look forward to examining the governor’s entire budget proposal, and working with members of the House and Senate and the administration to make sure that local aid is protected, and that cities and towns have the resources they need to end the local fiscal distress that is eroding our economy.• Download MMA Statement (60K PDF)

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MBPC :
January 23, 2008

Fiscal Year 2009 is likely to be the most difficult year for budget writers since the last fiscal crisis. The budget filed by the Governor uses several strategies to bring revenues in line with expenses and fund modest new initiatives. While the Governor's budget both imposes cuts in spending and implements tax reforms to increase revenue, it also relies on revenue transferred from the Stablization ("Rainy Day") Fund, meaning that the budget is not structurally balanced. This preliminary analysis will briefly examine some of the new initiatives proposed by the Governor, including: significant investments to enhance education, such as an expansion of full-day kindergarten and extended learning time; paying for the new costs of providing access to health insurance for 225,000 people through the Commonwealth Care health insurance program; and, tax reforms aimed at reducing corporate tax avoidance, projected to increase revenue by $297 million this year. This analysis also highlights steps taken to improve budget transparency.

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Help us close the corporate tax loopholes
After Governor Patrick files the bill to close corporate tax loopholes, the bill will get a public hearing before the Joint Legislative Committee on Revenue. As you might imagine, big businesses will be opposing any measure to close the tax loopholes. MASSPIRG will present this petition to the committee as a counterbalance to the overwhelming voice by many of the business lobbyists.

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Petition Text
For too long, a few powerful corporations and industries have gotten away with paying little or no taxes thanks to tax loopholes in the law. Among Massachusetts’ biggest businesses, those with sales over $50 million a year, a third paid just the minimum corporate income tax of $456 last year. By contrast, the Bay State’s average taxpayer paid $3,532 in state income taxes.
All taxpayers, including businesses rely on public infrastructure and services including education, transportation, police, fire, sanitation, parks and recreation, and public health.
Whatever your perspective about the level of taxes, our taxes should be fair. Some taxpayers should not be required to pay more while other businesses pay less through unintended, outdated or unreasonable tax breaks.
We urge you to close the corporate tax loopholes outlined in the Special Tax Commission’s report, making our tax code fairer to everyone. masspirg