Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr released the following statement regarding today’s Revenue Committee hearing:“Bills on today’s Revenue Committee hearing agenda clearly delineate the philosophical differences between some Democrats and the Senate Republican Caucus when it comes to taxes. Our bills are focused on assisting Massachusetts residents and allowing them to keep more of their hard-earned money, including:
• Senate Bill 1526, which would establish a commuter tax deduction to help offset rising gas prices;
• Senate Bill 1537, which would assist first-time homebuyers by offering a private mortgage insurance tax deduction; and
• Senate Bill 1542, which would fulfill the voters’ wishes to reduce the income tax to 5 percent.
Unfortunately, some legislators continue to explore ways to extract even more revenues from the taxpayers. An impartial observer might assume that with April tax revenues coming in at record highs, the Legislature wouldn’t be trying to raise taxes even higher. But Senate Bill 1416 would implement a graduated income tax that would increase the personal income tax from 5.3 to 5.95 percent and the investment income tax from 5.3 to 8.95 percent for some taxpayers.
Taxpayers shouldn’t be lulled into a false sense of complacency just because the House passed a budget with no new taxes. The reality is that some legislators are intent on pursuing every available avenue to raise taxes, but the Senate Republican Caucus intends to stand up for the taxpayers and work aggressively to defeat these proposals. We believe now is the time to be proactive in moving the state forward from a period of recession to prosperity, and the best way to do that is to empower our taxpayers with more disposable income to invest in our economic recovery.”
