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Advocacy Executive Director's Reports A New Year's resolution for progress
January brings us a new year and new opportunities to address the critical issues of the day. Our New Year’s resolution is to stay focused on the core priorities to invest in the cities and towns of Massachusetts, and to speak out clearly against efforts to deflect or derail the good work that local government does in our communities, or state government does across the Commonwealth.
The agenda for municipal leaders is clear: the main order of business must be to deal with and end the growing fiscal stress that is pushing up the property tax and eroding the quality of essential services.
The fiscal uncertainty and hardship at the local level is undermining our state economy. Massachusetts still lags the nation in job growth and economic strength. The link between the strength of our communities and the performance of our economy is clear and unequivocal.
We can talk all we want about investing in life sciences, the film industry and destination resort casinos, to name a few of the high-profile “economic development” proposals circulating at the State House, but none of them will yield any long-term results or benefits if our cities and towns continue to cut services and rely too much on the regressive property tax.
Individuals, families, workers, employers, and business investors can only be attracted to and kept in Massachusetts if we have vibrant, growing cities and towns that can provide essential services in education, public safety, public works, recreation, and all areas that ensure a high quality of life.
That’s why strengthening our communities, through revenue sharing, local option taxing power, and greater home rule management authority, is in the best interests of the Commonwealth and its residents, businesses and taxpayers.
The optimist in all of us sees 2008 as the year when all of this will be on the table for discussion and debate.
Yet the realist in all of us can recognize how easily the table can be overcrowded with other issues and proposals, many of which are intended to be distractions designed to deflect attention away from important policy questions.
One such distraction is a state ballot question that voters will consider in November. That question would repeal the entire state income tax. That’s right, the question would eliminate $11 billion in tax revenues, which translates into 40 percent of the state budget. There is no possible way that this ballot question could be implemented, but its passage would create fiscal and political chaos, which is one of the sponsors’ goals. They have filed it as a vehicle to attack government at the state and local level, and rail against the basic services that are provided.
It will be important to treat this ballot question as a serious policy matter and address the substance of the issue head-on in a way that shows citizens what would happen if state government was virtually shut down. But we cannot allow this question to overshadow the rest of the agenda at the State House, because 2008 must be a year of progress. Otherwise, our economy and our communities will struggle and suffer through a budget year that will get worse instead of better.
The year ahead will be a crucial decision-making time for Beacon Hill to act on local aid, revenue sharing, local option taxes and other essential measures to empower localities. Indeed, later this month we will be looking to the governor’s budget for investments in local aid, revenue sharing and the fiscal partnership that we need. And throughout the session, we will be looking to our partners in the Legislature to support revenue sharing, investments in local aid, and local option revenue powers.
And so, our charge for 2008 is to stay focused on the needs of cities and towns, and to speak out against the repeal of the income tax and other such efforts to diminish and undermine the vital and essential mission of local and state government.
So, Happy New Year to everyone – and let’s get to work!
Advocacy Executive Director's Reports A New Year's resolution for progress
A New Year's resolution for progress
January brings us a new year and new opportunities to address the critical issues of the day. Our New Year’s resolution is to stay focused on the core priorities to invest in the cities and towns of Massachusetts, and to speak out clearly against efforts to deflect or derail the good work that local government does in our communities, or state government does across the Commonwealth.
The agenda for municipal leaders is clear: the main order of business must be to deal with and end the growing fiscal stress that is pushing up the property tax and eroding the quality of essential services.
The fiscal uncertainty and hardship at the local level is undermining our state economy. Massachusetts still lags the nation in job growth and economic strength. The link between the strength of our communities and the performance of our economy is clear and unequivocal.
We can talk all we want about investing in life sciences, the film industry and destination resort casinos, to name a few of the high-profile “economic development” proposals circulating at the State House, but none of them will yield any long-term results or benefits if our cities and towns continue to cut services and rely too much on the regressive property tax.
Individuals, families, workers, employers, and business investors can only be attracted to and kept in Massachusetts if we have vibrant, growing cities and towns that can provide essential services in education, public safety, public works, recreation, and all areas that ensure a high quality of life.
That’s why strengthening our communities, through revenue sharing, local option taxing power, and greater home rule management authority, is in the best interests of the Commonwealth and its residents, businesses and taxpayers.
The optimist in all of us sees 2008 as the year when all of this will be on the table for discussion and debate.
Yet the realist in all of us can recognize how easily the table can be overcrowded with other issues and proposals, many of which are intended to be distractions designed to deflect attention away from important policy questions.
One such distraction is a state ballot question that voters will consider in November. That question would repeal the entire state income tax. That’s right, the question would eliminate $11 billion in tax revenues, which translates into 40 percent of the state budget. There is no possible way that this ballot question could be implemented, but its passage would create fiscal and political chaos, which is one of the sponsors’ goals. They have filed it as a vehicle to attack government at the state and local level, and rail against the basic services that are provided.
It will be important to treat this ballot question as a serious policy matter and address the substance of the issue head-on in a way that shows citizens what would happen if state government was virtually shut down. But we cannot allow this question to overshadow the rest of the agenda at the State House, because 2008 must be a year of progress. Otherwise, our economy and our communities will struggle and suffer through a budget year that will get worse instead of better.
The year ahead will be a crucial decision-making time for Beacon Hill to act on local aid, revenue sharing, local option taxes and other essential measures to empower localities. Indeed, later this month we will be looking to the governor’s budget for investments in local aid, revenue sharing and the fiscal partnership that we need. And throughout the session, we will be looking to our partners in the Legislature to support revenue sharing, investments in local aid, and local option revenue powers.
And so, our charge for 2008 is to stay focused on the needs of cities and towns, and to speak out against the repeal of the income tax and other such efforts to diminish and undermine the vital and essential mission of local and state government.
So, Happy New Year to everyone – and let’s get to work!
Written by MMA Executive Director Geoff Beckwith
