Truth about taxes

A friendly warning on this (belated) tax filing day. The next time a group of progressive lawmakers in Massachusetts insists they’re interested only in raising taxes on millionaires to ensure they pay their “fair share,” be on guard. Given the chance, those lawmakers might feel perfectly comfortable with the rest of us paying a higher tax rate, too.

Among the 1,200 proposed amendments to the House Ways and Means budget, which will be debated on the House floor next week, is a proposal from a Democratic lawmaker to freeze the state income tax rate at its current 5.1 percent.

Now, under the current schedule, should revenue meet certain targets, the tax is expected to drop to 5.05 percent on Jan. 1. And blocking a .05 percent reduction in the income tax rate may not sound like much of a burden on Massachusetts taxpayers.

But the gradual reduction of the income tax rate back down to 5 percent is part of a longstanding promise on Beacon Hill — a promise that was only made after a previous promise to voters, who ordered a full rollback to 5 percent, had been broken.

The amendment’s sponsor, Rep. Denise Provost (D-Somerville), doesn’t just want millionaires to pay a higher tax rate (a 4 percent surcharge on income above $1 million, the subject of a proposed constitutional amendment for which Provost advocates). She wants the tax burden to remain where it is for all filers, regardless of the voters’ intention.

The amendment has 11 Democratic co-sponsors. Fortunately it is unlikely to find support among House leaders, who to their credit have put together a budget proposal that holds the line on broad based taxes.

A small group of Republicans, meanwhile, has filed an amendment that would accelerate the reduction in the income rate to 5 percent by next Jan. 1. Given the tight control House leadership wields over the process, neither amendment is likely to pass (and their sponsors know it).

But both amendments reveal something about those sponsors — and their relative level of respect for both voters and taxpayers.