The lies out there on the internet always amaze me. When you Google the Fair Share Amendment, (Question 1 on the ballot in the next elections), what pops up first is a paid advertisement: “Question 1 Would Give Politicians A Blank Check, With No Accountability. Question 1 Would Increase Taxes By 80% On Tens Of Thousands Across MA.”
Neither of these statements is true, and saying it would “increase taxes by 80% …” is a real whopper. The amendment would impose a 4% tax on millionaires, period. Here’s what the amendment says: “There shall be an additional tax of 4 percent on that portion of annual taxable incomein excess of $1,000,000 (one million dollars).”
Got that? If we vote Yes on Question 1, the Fair Share Amendment to the State Constitution, it will increase the state income tax only on earnings over $1 million by 4% (four percent!) Again, this is only on earnings over a million, not on property or investments.
A series of familiar figures appear on the screen in the ad: an elderly woman looking very serious (we guess she’s doing her taxes), a worker in a construction helmet — the ad is professionally done. It must have cost a lot to make and still more to get it at the top of Google’s list. How could the wealthy sponsors possibly claim the amendment would “Increase Taxes By 80% On Tens Of Thousands Across MA”? They must believe the motto “The bigger the lie, the more the people will believe it.”
How about “Question 1 Would Give Politicians A Blank Check, With No Accountability?” In fact, this revenue would be spent on education and infrastructure and managed the same way all state money is spent, with oversight by dozens of state agencies to make sure it’s spent the way it’s supposed to be. If it’s spent on trips to Bermuda for politicians or a new golf course for the governor, we’ll hear about it.
As the actual amendment says, the new revenue, approximately $2 billion a year, is to be spent on “quality public education and affordable public colleges and universities, and for the repair and maintenance of roads, bridges and public transportation.”
This would do immeasurable good for the people of our state. Even before COVID, the Massachusetts’ economy worked fine for people at the top, but not for most people and not for some whole communities. Transportation infrastructure was falling apart. Public colleges were underfunded and getting harder to afford, and public education was not really giving equal opportunity to all students.
For years, Massachusetts’ communities of color, in particular — but white communities, too — have been harmed by poor access to transportation and money-starved public schools. And now the COVID pandemic has made things even worse.
All of us, but especially working families, desperately need high-quality public schools and colleges and an expanded modern transportation system. It will take money to improve our schools, to rebuild crumbling roads, bridges and sidewalks; to make high-quality public higher education affordable; and to get fast, reliable public transportation. That requires new revenue. The Fair Share Amendment is one way of getting it. And it is beyond fair.
It is our current state income tax that is truly unfair. Why? We all pay the same 5% of our incomes! That’s just it. The less money you have, the more burdensome a flat tax is. If I earn $30,000 a year, I’ll have to pay $1,500. That leaves me with $28,500. I’ll have to spend almost all of that on basic necessities — food, shelter and clothing. If I earn $2 million a year, I’ll pay $100,000 (assuming I don’t have an expensive, unscrupulous accountant), which sounds like a lot of money. But that would leave me with $1.9 million. Rough, huh? What percent of that do you think would be spent on necessities?
That’s why the only fair tax is a progressive income tax: the more you earn, the higher the percentage of your income you pay. A flat tax is regressive, not really flat. And the idea of taxing earnings over a million dollars 4% is so fair it’s obvious.
The Fair Share Amendment is a small, reasonable step to make our taxes less unfair and provide things people urgently need. It also asks millionaires and billionaires to make a small investment in the future of the commonwealth.
Vote “Yes” on Question 1.
David Ball lives in Northampton.