Thursday, May 16, 2013
Ways and Means Committee plan falls short of many of Gov. Deval Patrick's recommendations.
The Massachusetts State Senate Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday released a fiscal year 2014 budget proposal that is just shy of $34 billion and which falls short of several of Gov. Deval Patrick's budget recommendations. According to the Boston Globe, the Senate $33.92 billion budget would increase spending by 4.4 percent as opposed to Patrick's budget, which hikes spending by 6.9 percent. The Senate budget is roughly in line in terms of spending with the $33.8 billion House budget proposed last month. The Globe reported that the Senate budget increases spending for elderly services and special education but does not reach Patrick's recommendations for expanding transportation and providing universal childcare access. Committee …
Monday, April 15, 2013
State lawmakers have proposed several ways to fund transportation going forward.
Officials, legislators and members of the public have debated four plans unveiled during the course of the past two months all with one goal: Paying for transportation in Massachusetts for the foreseeable future. Writers of these plans are trying to find ways to pump as much money as possible into the system, while trying to avoid dramatic fare increases, tax hikes and fees. These are the plans in chronological order based on the time of their announcements: PLAN 1 Writer: Gov. Deval Patrick, Mass. Department of Transportation Money: $1 billion Date of Announcement: Jan. 14, 2013 Gov. Deval Patrick unleashed “The Way Forward: A 21st Century Transportation Plan” in Januray. The plan is an ambitious, multi-billion dollar budgetary proposal …
Friday, April 12, 2013
The proposal cuts out increased funding for early education, one of the centerpieces of Patrick's plan.
Massachusetts House leaders on Wednesday proposed a budget that was a billion dollars less than the one Gov. Deval Patrick put forth in January. The $33.8 billion House budget includes increased funding for higher education and local aid but not more money for early education, one of the centerpieces of Patrick's budget that emphasizes prekindergarten funding and investment in transportation. Speaker Robert A. DeLeo said the House budget would not increase these funds over concerns that the Department of Early Education and Care is inefficient and wasteful, the Boston Globe reported. Altogether, the House proposal would raise taxes by $500 million, compared to Patrick's proposed $1.9 billion tax hike. The House plan would result in a 3…
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
The event was organized by Campaign for Our Communities, a coalition of more than 120 organizations across the commonwealth.
Hundreds of people bused in from across the state packed into a State House auditorium Tuesday morning to rally in support of Gov. Deval Patrick's tax plan, which they say is critical to make much needed improvements in education and transportation infrastructure. The rally, which was organized by Campaign for Our Communities, a coalition of more than 120 organizations across the commonwealth, ended with attendees heading off to the offices of their representatives, urging them to vote for Patrick's plan. The governor's $34.8 billion budget proposal calls for an increase in the income tax from 5.25 percent to 6.25 percent and the elimination of 44 deductions coupled with a decrease in the sales tax from 6.25 percent to 4.5 percent and a …
Monday, March 11, 2013
The program also allows users to develop their own plan and see its effects on their tax bill.
In an effort to further promote his proposed $34.8 billlion budget, Gov. Deval Patrick has rolled out an online tool that helps families see the effect his plan would have on their bottom line. The tool was released less than a week after Patrick unveiled 400 online maps showing what each district would receive in transportation and education benefits under his tax plan. "We are proposing meaningful investments in education and transportation, and people want to know what that means for them," Patrick said. "Last week, with the maps, we showed what long-postponed projects would get done in each community. Now, with this tool, we show just what the costs or savings will be for individual households." The program not only lets users enter …
Thursday, February 28, 2013
While specific tax breaks would end, personal exemptions would double under the Patrick budget.
A recent analysis of Gov. Deval Patrick's proposed budget finds that it eliminates 44 tax breaks that benefit a large slice of Massachusetts taxpayers. Patrick's $34.8 billion FY2014 budget includes not only a 1 percentage point hike in the income tax—from 5.25 percent to 6.25 percent—but the end of such deductions as the capital gains from the sale of a person's primary home, college tuition and contributions to a health savings account. The analysis, by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, found that the eliminations would raise an additional $1 billion for the commonwealth. But Patrick's assistant secretary for fiscal policy, Gregory R. Mennis, told The Republican that that amount would be offset by the doubling of personal …
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
The plan submitted on Wednesday focuses on investments in transportation and education while calling for an income tax increase coupled with a lower sales tax.
In submitting his $34.8 billion budget to the state legislature on Wednesday, Governor Deval Patrick said the proposed income tax hike is part of a comprehensive package aimed at investing in the state's infrastructure and in driving growth. The proposal asks for an increase in the income tax from 5.25 percent to 6.25 percent coupled with a reduction in the sales tax from 6.25 percent to 4.5 percent. It also doubles personal exemptions. Despite the proposed income tax hike, Patrick said that low- and modest-income workers will pay less in taxes under his proposal, and only the "more fortunate see a larger increase." "I do not submit this proposal lightly. I understand that many households in Massachusetts continue to struggle from the …
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Instead, respondents said, the state should increase taxes on the rich and end corporate subsidies.
As Congress wrestles with how to avoid the imminent fiscal cliff, a new poll finds that Massachusetts voters strongly favor increased taxes on the rich, less corporate welfare and no cuts in Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. "I think that this survey really gives us a clear view of voters expectations of their elected officials," said Jason Stephany of MassUniting, a coalition of community groups, neighborhoods, faith organizations and workers advocating for good jobs, corporate accountability. MassUniting conducted the poll along with Public Policy Polling. It was conducted from Nov. 27-29 and included 638 Massachusetts voters. "Essentially, the big thing that this poll tells us is that this election was not a fluke or a one-off …
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Patrick announced the budget adjustments Tuesday.
In anticipation of the “fiscal cliff” combined with projected tax revenues that are more than half a billion dollars lower than previously expected, Gov. Deval Patrick on Tuesday released a revised budget designed to deal with the gap. “The uncertainty of the fiscal cliff and the resulting slow down in growth, is the direct cause of our budget challenges,” Patrick said. “Congress and the President must come to terms on a solution so the private sector will continue to make the kind of investments that create jobs, grow state and federal tax revenue collections and contribute to a lasting economic recovery." The state is now expecting to bring in roughly 21.5 billion in tax revenue, and Patrick's plan to bridge the gap between this amount …
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
The governor's budget in $32.1 million slimmer that that proposed by the Legislature.
Gov. Deval Patrick largely passed on Sunday the 2013 budget hammered out by the House and Senate, but vetoed 10 line items that totaled about $32.1 million in spending from the $32.5 billion plan. His vetoes included a plan to keep the 169-bed Taunton State Psychiatric Hospital open with 45 beds. Instead, Patrick wants to close the hospital altogether, shaving $5.1 milllion from the budget. But his veto of the scaled-back plan presented by the Legislature stirred controversy in light the dwindling state resources dedicated to those with psychiatric problems. South Shore legislators have already said they will seek to override it, according to the Boston Globe. In another controversial move, Patrick vetoed an amendment that would require…
Plenty O'Toole
9:53 am on Friday, April 12, 2013
Either way, state pension drains will continue to be funded, unions will be placated so who gives a rats ass. more ›