Grassroots passion vs. blitz of opposition reports
BATTLE OF MASSACHUSETTS MILLIONAIRES’ TAX PITS ...
For the supporters of a socalled millionaires’ tax, the road to success is all about pitting grassroots passion against a blitz of “fear-mongering” reports from rightleaning think tanks and lobbyists who oppose the measure.
“We need to hold the millionaires accountable. It’s time. This is about fairness, equality, equity,” Rosalinda Midence told the Herald moments after riling up a group of ralliers in Nubian Square on Monday night.
Midence said the 4-cent surtax on all state income over $1 million would “level the playing field” for working Bay Staters who lose a disproportionate amount of their wages to income taxes by raising an additional $2 billion from millionaires.
She’s one of the dozens of speakers who have stood to support the Fair Share Amendment measure at a series of 14 rallies across the state this month organized by the Raise Up Massachusetts Coalition.
The group is the same one behind the successful campaigns of other progressive measures including raising the state minimum wage and pressuring the Legislature to take up — and pass — the Family Medical Leave Act.
The measure is finally headed to the 2022 ballot after state lawmakers in a joint session earlier this month took a final procedural step, voting 159-41 to clear the way for the proposal to be placed on the ballot after years of prior attempts have been stymied by political and court battles.
“The time has come and I think the pandemic has really exposed major inequities in our society and we need to create something that creates long-term sustainable change for the future of the commonwealth,” said organizer Enid Eckstein of Jamaica Plain Progressives, who said the grassroots approach is the best way to reach voters.
The measure appears popular among Bay State voters, with a recent poll from Boston-based MassINC Polling Group showing 72% back the wealth tax.
Lawmakers have promised the added cash will be earmarked for transportation infrastructure and public schools, but opponents argue the gains won’t outweigh the losses.
Monday’s rally came just days after Libertarian thinktank Pioneer Institute, which opposes the measure, released yet another study — this time a literature review — that warned a wealth tax would likely scare off the state’s highest earners.
“Research data allow us to put some hard numbers on the devastating and perhaps permanent impact of a graduated income tax — as much as $2 billion in lost taxable income,” said Pioneer Institute Executive Director Jim Stergios. “And calculating the impact on state tax revenues ignores the enormous human toll: lost jobs and less security for homeowners. The long-term effects may include, as is abundantly clear in the case of Connecticut, anemic growth in state tax receipts and therefore fewer resources for social programs and public investments.”
Supporters of the surtax boil the literature down to “fear-mongering” but the Pioneer report is just one of the several reports opposition groups have released in recent weeks.
Ralliers like Midence said they “get angry” when they see the pushback to something she describes as “justice for the poor and middle class.”