Ballot initiative to abolish income tax will appear on November ballot

By Jeremy P. Jacobs, PolitickerMA.com Reporter

Next November, Massachusetts voters will have the opportunity to cast their ballot to abolish the state income tax.

Secretary of State William Galvin Wednesday certified 12,000 signatures on a petition to put the initiative on the ballot. Though the requirement to appear on the ballot is 11,099 signatures, Carla Howell, the chairwoman of the Committee for Small Government and head of the movement, said her group far surpassed that criteria.

"Today we turned in over 15,913 certified signatures," Howell told PolitickerMA.com. "We don't know what the final count will be [since Galvin has yet to release the total count certified signatures], but we expect it to be higher than that number."

Howell led the campaign to abolish the income tax in 2002 that received 45 percent of the vote. So far, she said, this year's campaign is going better.

"It was actually good last time, and it's been a bit better this year," she said. "People are very concerned about making ends meet and state government spending is going wildly up and up and up."

"It's time for a major tax cut in Massachusetts," she added.

If Howell's initiative passes in November and is enacted, it would cost Massachusetts $12 billion a year in revenue, 40 percent of its annual budget. (The State House is currently putting the finishing touches on a $28 billion budget for the next fiscal year).

Howell's success was immediately applauded by the Massachusetts Republican Party.

"I understand the frustration and anger felt by many voters towards Beacon Hill, and why many will vote to repeal the income tax," said Peter Torkildsen, the chairman of the Massachusetts GOP, in a statement Wednesday morning. "The broken promises have piled up, and the people are fed up. Governor Patrick has proposed hundreds of millions in new spending, and billions in new borrowing, but still cannot bring himself to respect his own campaign promise of providing property tax relief to Massachusetts homeowners."

Not all Republicans are on board, though. State House Minority Leader Brad Jones Jr. (R-North Reading) said he empathizes with why voters are backing the measure but said he doesn't support it.

"I am not surprised they got the signatures," he said. "There is a lot of frustration among the public about the cost of government and people are hurting. They feel often times that we don't get that."

But, Jones went on, on the $12 billion cut would be too devastating to important government programs like education and health care. If he asked those that support the measure where they would cut $12 billion from the budget in areas they think are unnecessary, he said, "I think they would pressed to come up with an answer."

Howell, however, isn't deterred. "There are big government politicians from both parties," she said. "True fiscally conservative Republicans, Democrats, Independents - many of them are in favor of this measure."

"This is the chance of a lifetime," she added. "It's a chance for voters to go to the polls and have a major impact on their state government."

Jeremy P. Jacobs is a PolitickerMA.com Reporter and can be reached via email at noreply@politicker.com.

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