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PLEASE NOTE the article below about Massachusetts DEBT at a time when requisite infrastructure upgrades will be necessitated by Slot Barn development and the Wealthy White Guys' Brain Fart for their Folly - The Olympics.
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Tuesday, July 21, 2015
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By George Donnelly (@geodonnelly) with Keith Regan
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What's up today
Labor groups plan to ask state pension fund managers to divest from oil, coal and gas companies, a goal of environmentalists that has concerned representatives of public employees who rely on the fund to produce retirement checks at the Pension Reserves Investment Management (PRIM) Board's Investment Committee meeting, 84 State St. #250, Boston, 9:15 am... Revenue Committee holds a public hearing on a range of other bills addressing the sales tax, Room A-1, 10 am.... The newly created MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board will hold its first meeting today to establish the role of the board, set board bylaws and determine its meeting schedule, 1:15 pm, 10 Park Plaza, Room 3830, Boston.
Time to make the sales tax holiday permanent, or semi-permanent
The sales tax holiday has been approved 10 of the last 11 years. Shoppers seem to love it. Retailers seem to make the most of it. For a brief weekend, it levels the playing field for retailers with New Hampshire and the Internet, diverting sales to local retailers to the tune of $168 million. And yet every year, there is a Groundhog Day feel to the approval of the sales tax holiday. Not necessarily substantive debate. Only unnecessary delay, giving retailers limited time to market the tax holiday.
It stands to reason that if the tax holiday were a reliable thing, rather than a year-to-year exercise, it would generate more benefit. Shoppers could plan, and forestall that Internet purchase or trip to the Granite State. Isn't it time to codify the sales tax holiday as a real holiday that we can put in the calendar and count on? Or pass a law to make it eligible for renewal every four years? That way we could see if giving the holiday a longer lead time generates more business for retailers.
Lynch would not picket DeLeo
Congressman Stephen Lynch, big-time union guy, was asked by Jim Braude on Greater Boston last night: Is organized labor wrong for (thinking of) picketing Bob DeLeo? "Yeah. Bob DeLeo is a good man. I would not have been picketing Bob DeLeo, that's for sure." On Sunday DeLeo told Jon Keller on Keller at Large that he was "disappointed" that unions were considering picketing a fundraiser he was planning to attend soon for Boston state Rep. Michael Moran at Carrie Nation, a restaurant on Beacon Hill. The State House News Service has more details: http://bit.ly/1I9Ga7W
Massachusetts: the high-debt state
The Commonwealth ranks 48th in the nation in fiscal solvency -- a ranking of states' structural deficits, long-term debt, and unfunded pension liabilities. The state's long-term liability per capita, for example, is $5,947, more than double the national average. Indeed, Massachusetts traditionally has loved to borrow, and indeed, Commonwealth has a structurally unbalanced budget. CommonWealth's Gabrielle Gurley details the report, produced by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, with some people saying it isn't as bad as it seems. http://bit.ly/1Igpe64
Op-ed: It's time for the next stage of ADA accessibility for the T
Thanks to the Americans With Disabilities Act, access to the MBTA has improved, but there's still a ways to go. Jessica Podesva of the Greater Boston Legal Services and Josh Ostroff of Transportation for Massachusetts say that an additional commitment is needed from leaders as the T continues to undergo reform in this MASSterList exclusive op-ed. http://bit.ly/1VoCSYB
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