Investing in our Commonwealth: A Community Campaign

Everyone in our state desires a healthy and productive life. But access to good jobs and safe communities does not just happen; it depends on shared investments in the public systems that underpin our quality of life.

By providing all children with the opportunity to learn, we offer a chance to build a better life – and a stronger Massachusetts economy. By protecting our environment, maintaining our highways and bridges, and providing adequate police and fire protection, we create communities that are safe and secure for us all. By ensuring that everyone has access to quality health care and a network of social support systems, we build robust and healthy communities for all of our neighbors.

These shared goals cannot be achieved without also sharing the support that makes them possible.

Today, the public structures that are the foundation of our Commonwealth face a severe challenge. The national recession and an inadequate state revenue system threaten to disable and dismantle the core functions of our state. Though we face a funding gap of nearly $3 billion dollars, many of our elected leaders have suggested that any revenue increases are “off the table.” The consequences of such a short-sighted position will be devastating, with layoffs and deep cuts to programs that support virtually every aspect of our lives.

We stand together for Our Commonwealth.
We stand together for Our Quality of Life.
We stand together for new revenue to protect and preserve our public systems and services.

There are common sense answers to the challenge we face:

• Ensure That Everyone Pays Their Fair Share, Including The Wealthiest of Our Citizens. Restore the tax rate on investment interest and dividends to 12%, with an exemption for moderate income seniors and generate an estimated $500 million, almost exclusively from those at the top end of the income scale.
  
  
• Eliminate Unnecessary Tax Breaks. Start to address the giveaways in the tax expenditure budget by capping the film credit tax for one year to generate an estimated $75 million, limit life sciences tax credits to generate another $5 million, repeal the aircraft sales tax exemption and generate another $4.2 million, for a total of $84.5 million.
  
  
• Support our Common Health. Eliminate the sales tax exemption on soda and candy and generate an estimated $51.7 million for public health programs, and end the exemption on cigars, smoking and smokeless tobacco and generate another $15 million, for a total of $66.7 million.
  
  
• Support Transparency in the Tax Expenditure Budget. Support proposals by Governor Patrick, the Legislature, and its Revenue Committee to make the tax expenditure budget more transparent and accountable. 

These proposals will help protect what we value about our state while asking wealthy individuals and corporations to pay their fair share. Together these proposals, and the $650 million in revenue they will generate, will allow us to reinvest in our Commonwealth for the long-term well-being of all of our people.

JOIN THE CAMPAIGN

UPDATE: Visit the following link for an update on which Revenue Amendments were filed last week by our State Representatives. [Update on Filed Amendments]

Rep. Matt Patrick has filed the entire bill on Soda and Candy. It appeared incomplete due to an error in the House’s electronic bill filing system (Full Amendment). Please let your people know that they should ask their representatives to call Rep. Matt Patrick and ask to sign on as co-sponsor for these important amendments.
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Join the ONE Massachusetts network and its allies in pushing for these reforms in our commonwealth - sign on to this campaign today for regular updates!

For more information about the language for our proposed amendments please go to the following link: [Language of Revenue Amendments] 

SAMPLE MATERIALS

Feel free to use the following scripts and materials when you contact our State Representatives asking them and urging them to support our communities and our campaign: [Sample Letter] [Sample Phone Script]

Information about Dividends and Interests. Nobody has the data for how much revenue the State would get from raising the rate for dividends and interests in 2011. We do know that the State lost 638 millions when the rate was reduced to 5.3% a decade ago. We can refer you to a 2008 Budget Brief from the Mass Budget and Policy Center - Pag 2 and Pag 3 [Information about Dividends and Interests]

Information about removing the salex tax exemption on Candy and Soda. Learn more about how removing the sales tax exemption on candy and soda can help us create benefits for our communities by attracting more revenues and discouraging the consumption of unhealthy snacks and soft drinks by children, youth and adults. [Health and Prevention Fund Fact Sheet] 

Letter from Rep. Matt Patrick. Rep. Patrick sent a letter to his colleagues about their need to support his revenue amendments to keep funding our public structures. [Letter from Rep. Matt Patrick]

LIST OF ENDORSERS

• ONE Massachusetts Leadership Team
• Mass Teachers Association
• Coalition Against Poverty
• Coalition for Social Justice
• Boston Parent Organizing Network
• Mass Community Action Network
• Mass Society of Professors at UMass Amherst
• Mass Home Care
• Mass Public Health Association
• YES! Northampton
• Mass. Senior Action Council
• Health Care for All
• Public Higher Education Network of Mass
• New England United 4 Justice
  (More organizations have votes pending)