All PDM members are urged to contact their state legislators about four urgent issues:

Authorize New State Revenues

The budget for the coming fiscal year is going to be a difficult one at best. And without significant new revenues it will be devastating for a broad range of critical programs. (For details, review MassBudget’s Budget Monitors.) PDM urges the legislature to adopt fair and substantial additional revenues to help fund an adequate budget.  

The most equitable approach would be an increase in the income tax, together with increases in exemption amounts or other measures to protect low-income families.  If the legislature relies instead on the proposed 1.25% increase in the sales tax, we urge the legislature to accompany this action with other measures (an increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit or in the property tax circuit-breaker, for instance) to mitigate the sales tax's regressivity.  

In addition, if the legislature adopts the sales tax increase, we urge the legislature to regard it as a stop-gap measure and to immediately begin a thorough review of the state's tax structure, in order to devise a fairer and adequate tax system for the Commonwealth within the next two years.

Authorize New Revenues for cities and towns

Governor Patrick has proposed several urgent measures that would provide cities and towns with new revenue sources that would help to make up for cuts in state aid and relieve some of the pressure on local budgets and on property taxes.  The measures include increased taxes on hotel/motel accommodations and restaurant meals; elimination of property tax exemptions for telephone company poles, wires and equipment; and ending sales tax exemptions for candy, soft drinks, and alcohol.  For more background on this issue, see Two Measures That Will Help with Local Relief

Increase the Gas Tax

Governor Patrick has proposed increasing the gas tax by 19 cents a gallon (although some business groups have argued that the increase should be substantially larger). The gas tax hasn’t been increased since 1991, and the revenues are desperately needed for transportation projects, not only for repairs to roads and bridges but also for public transportation needs. 

Other means that have been proposed to cover these costs (like selective tolls or mileage taxes) are far less equitable. And taxing gasoline is an important way to encourage environmentally needed reductions in gasoline consumption. Progressive legislators are considering several ways to return some portion of the resulting revenues to low-income households to mitigate the regressivity of the gas tax. 

PDM supports the Governor’s proposed increase as well as supporting these measures to assist low-income households. Alternatively, PDM endorses proposals to end the present sales tax exemption for gasoline purchases; at current gas prices, this would result in a tax increase of roughly 15 cents a gallon, and would grow as gas prices rise.

Same Day Voter Registration

A number of states have already adopted this reform, which eliminates a major obstacle for many new voters.  PDM has specifically endorsed this particular voting-rights measure, but it is just one of a number of valuable reforms that are contained in the Massachusetts Freedom to Vote Act recently filed by PDM members Sen. Jamie Eldridge and Rep. Jay Kaufman. For a summary of the bill, click here: OneMass.