The Wall Street Journal reported the following on August 20 about the Massachusetts proposal:
Advocates of repeal are hoping for support from voters worried about tough economic times and angered by bloated government spending. Six years ago, a similar proposal attracted 45% of the vote. Eliminating this tax "will mean less money in the hands of politicians and will give back an average of $3,700 to each of 3.4 million workers and taxpayers in Massachusetts -- not just once but every year," says Carla Howell of the Committee for Small Government, a nonprofit citizen group battling to repeal the tax. "There are tax-cut activists around the country who are very interested in what we're doing here," she says. "If it does well, we may see copycat initiatives in 2010 and 2012 across the country."
Of course, well-funded special interests feeding off the taxpayers don’t like this idea. The Boston Globe reported on September 18 that Howell’s “committee, which ran a petition drive to put the question on the ballot, had less than $25,000 to fight for Question 1, according to it latest campaign finance reports. The opposition, just getting started, had $1.3 million, mostly from teacher and labor unions.”
The income tax is by far government’s most anti-growth levy. It is a tax on working, saving, entrepreneurship, and investment. For good measure, the tax has served as the high-octane fuel that grows government. That’s a bad economic combination, and any chance to eliminate income taxes should be supported.
Imagine onetime “Taxachusetts” becoming a beacon of pro-growth economics in the Northeast.
Raymond J. Keating
Chief Economist
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council
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