The Massachusetts economy is in trouble, according to the
Cambridge Democrats. And if the budgeting structure doesn't change, the
Massachusetts economy will continue to be in trouble. Six speakers,
including three elected Democratic legislators and Green Party
gubernatorial nominee Jill Stein, presented their views on the subject at
a Cambridge Democratic City Committee panel entitled, "State Budget
Crisis: Can We Cut Our Way Out?" The panel discussion was held at the
Cambridge YWCA on March 12.
Rep. Marie St. Fleur (D-Dorchester) set the tone for the panel,
stating, "I wish I had good news, but there isn't.... We haven't bottomed
out yet. We have a structural problem and must deal with that as the heart
of the issue."
Noah Berger, executive director of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy
Center (formerly TEAM), says the source of the $3 billion budget gap is
declining tax revenues due to tax cuts. "Total tax cuts were $5 billion.
The net discounting new increases was about $3 billion, which is the total
budget gap." Berger says we should not believe Gov. Romney's rhetoric that
spending is out of control and caused the budget gap: "State spending as a
share of personal income went down in the 1990s. Massachusetts' spending
ranks 45th in the U.S. as a percent of income. If we had the same tax
rates as West Virginia - hardly a high tax state - we'd make up $2 billion
in revenue."
Gov. Romney's proposed cuts start with $349 million in unrestricted
local aid, $60 million in education cuts and $64 million in aid to seniors
with low income. Alan Clayton Matthews, a University of Massachusetts
economist, says the proposed cuts have "big effects on K-12 and on higher
education. Our economy depends on an educated workforce. Massachusetts is
a high cost-of-living state, and must be high-wage and high-education.
That's the only way we can compete. Ed Reform must continue and expand -
not just level-fund it."
Rep. Alice Wolf (D-Cambridge) points out that Gov. Romney has offered
insufficient specifics: "When we ask the governor what will be cut, he
responds with his PowerPoint presentations."
Stephen Collins, executive director of the Massachusetts Human Services
Coalition, says "We need to focus on the '4 R's': Reductions; Reforms;
Reserves; and Revenue. We need to get these last two R's on the table."
Collins suggests maintaining old taxes before taking a No-New-Taxes
pledge, intoning "All we are saying, is give revenue a chance."
Sen. Steve Tolman (D-Cambridge and Watertown) drew the biggest applause
of the evening by suggesting "The House and Senate both know we can't play
chicken - we need to cut like Democrats." Tolman points out the human
cost: "It's not just line items and numbers - it's people and their
lives."
Tolman issued a call to action for concerned citizens: "Come to the
April 1 rally at the White House - we need more than 5,000 people. We have
to call our representatives, and rally together - that's the only way to
face this pitfall."
Jill Stein, the Green Party's candidate for governor last year,
attended the panel as a representative of her new organization, the
Massachusetts Coalition for Healthy Communities. She made her presentation
from an audience seat off the formal panel, as a compromise solution to
mitigate residual feelings from the gubernatorial race. It was
nevertheless a breakthrough in Green-Democrat relations that she presented
at a Democratic Party event.
Stein's presentation focused on the inequity in the distribution of
recent tax cuts: "The change in the tax burden, as a percent of income, in
the last decade has gone up by 0.2 percent for lower income groups and has
gone down by 1.5 percent for top income earners. The distribution of tax
cuts per person provided $52 for the lowest 20 percent of earners and
$32,045 for the top 20 percent of earners. That's not consistent with any
notion of fairness."
This reporter noticed that Stein and the elected officials complained
about the Romney cuts, but offered only general solutions rather than
specifics. Two non-elected Democrats did offer specific proposals: Collins
suggested "opening the Health Care Trust Fund - $500 million from the
tobacco settlement." And Berger offered several proposals: "$1.9 billion
from restoring the personal income tax to previous levels; $750 million
from raising the sales tax to 6 percent; and several $100 millions from
restoring the corporate income tax to 16 percent".
The three elected officials offered no such specific proposals - they
might do so to earn the right to criticize Romney's lack of specificity.
Stein offered no proposals either, so this reporter asked her to do so.
She responded: "We could get half a billion from closing corporate tax
loopholes: corporate sales tax exemptions, sales tax on luxury housing,
and tax loopholes for polluters like the no sales tax on pesticides."
Stein offered some larger visions also: "We should adjust the 'no-tax
threshold' for the Earned Income Tax Credit and other rates and
exemptions, which would create a more progressive structure. But to
implement a proper progressive tax, we'd need a Constitutional Amendment,
since Massachusetts currently has a flat tax on income." Steve Collins of
the Human Services Coalition points out that "Jill Stein has a beautiful
vision but it ain't gonna happen in this fiscal year."
In conclusion, citizen input on budget issues right now would be timely
and potentially influential. The Massachusetts Democratic Party recognizes
the need to humanize the effects of the budget cuts and requests personal
stories about those effects at policy@MassDems.org. The panelists
concurred that even though Cambridge reps like Alice Wolf are strong
proponents for Cambridge citizens, they need evidence provided by citizens
to make their arguments to Romney and the rest of the decision-makers. You
can locate and contact your state legislator at (617) 727-2828.
"Jesse Gordon is a Green Party member who lives in Cambridge."
-- Please note: The by-line above was published in the Cambridge Chronicle on March 26, 2003.
It is incorrect -- Jesse Gordon is a registered Democrat and an Associate Member of the Cambridge City Democratic Committee.
Mr. Gordon has never been a member of the Green Party, and the above by-line was mistakenly chosen by the Chronicle's editors.
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