JIM BRAUDE IS TAKING YOUR QUESTIONS!

Lessons from 1994's Campaign for Guaranteed Tax Relief

You've probably heard Jim Braude asking tough questions on NECN's NewsNight, and on WTKK's Jim & Margery. In our last Insider Budget Briefing, ONE Massachusetts members had a chance to ask Jim their own questions!

On Wednesday, December 17th, the second in our series of Insider Budget Briefings analyzing the current public debates on tax policy, Jim Braude, former Executive Director of the Tax Equity Alliance of Massachusetts, debriefed 30 attendees on the lessons he learned during the Campaign for Guaranteed Tax Relief in 1994.

Keep your eye out for future events!

1994

Jim and his crew at TEAM spent 4 years planning and implementing the Campaign for Guaranteed Tax Relief, including collecting the required signatures and winning the approval of two consecutive legislatures. At issue were two related measures, the first of which was a constitutional amendment that would have replaced the state's flat tax with a graduated income tax. The second question would have set new personal income tax rates. Both questions were defeated.

We will examine what worked and what didn't work in talking to the public about taxes during the campaign.

For more information on the 1994 Campaign for Guaranteed Tax Relief, see the case study from the Magazine for Political Professionals.

TODAY

Our political leaders are now engaged in a full blown discussion about funding the capital expenditures needed to repair and reform our public transportation systems, repair our roads and bridges, and deal with the debts associated with the "big dig." A complex complicated set of problems with the solution discussion boiling down to: Tolls or Taxes or a little bit of both?

Meanwhile, 9C cuts to the operations budget that keeps our residents (and our economy!) healthy and strong are already occurring due to our state's budget gap, and more cuts are likely to be imposed during the FY10 budget debate. Now is the time that we must begin to decide what we want and need from our government, and how we are going to pay for it. No solution has yet been determined by our political leaders - at least not in pubic - but we all know the choice we face. More cuts or more revenues.

But which cuts can be absorbed by the programs we care about? Which programs can be eliminated entirely? Which new revenue sources are the fairest, the most stable and the easiest to administer? How do we make sure all tax revenues are spent wisely and well? Should some tax revenues be directed at specific programs?

NEXT STEPS

Our mission at ONE Massachusetts is to educate the public about our revenue options through a series of budget and tax policy literacy training programs - giving the people of our state the information and the confidence they need to engage their political leaders - telling them what they think about current budget and tax policy, and what they will support in the future. For information on hosting a training at your organization, or in your community, please contact us!