revenue reform

Lessons Learned from Question 1

One week ago, voters across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts voted overwhelmingly to preserve our schools and youth programs. They voted to safeguard our emergency and safety structures. They voted to protect our elderly parents and our sick neighbors.

Our neighbors voted against Question 1 - the repeal of our state income tax - in the face of a national economic downturn, while our country and state faced job losses, and amid a presidential campaign that witnessed both parties promising tax cuts to the middle class.

They voted 'no' because voters understand the direct connection between the health of our communities and the revenues that we use to support their public structures.

We all saw community activists working in a network across the state, having conversations with voters in neighborhood action groups, chambers of commerce, public and private employee unions, local town hall meetings, and nonprofit membership meetings. We began to learn what messages worked and what messages didn't work in different communities.

The ONE Massachusetts Network is about to begin a statewide debriefing project to learn more from our communities and organizational members:

Which public structures do you rely and place value on, and where do those structures need improvement?
What sort of changes need to be made to restore your faith that an increase in taxes would be spent wisely and collected fairly?

ONE Massachusetts' job is not to craft the content of a tax reform package, but to help our network of statewide and community-based organizations to develop a membership education program around tax and budget policy, and to empower them to participate in the upcoming public debate by declaring that their communities understand the need for additional revenues - as long as they are fairly collected and effectively used.

[Continued: Next Steps & Insider Budget Briefing Special Guests!]