Patrick tax plan DOA, but it's a start

Taxes discourage that which is taxed. Would we rather discourage income or consumption? Eliminate the income tax and jack up the sales tax accordingly.

Given that food and clothing is exempt from the sales tax, it's not AS regressive as it could be...

No mention of toll or fare hikes. Just that the tolls will be "person free" and we can blow through them at lightning speed.

No mention of toll or fare hikes. Just that the tolls will be "person free" and we can blow through them at lightning speed.

The plan that MassDOT put out there on Monday explains a lot more of the details, but as I understand it, there are a number of user fees that will increase. Fares will increase by smaller amounts than last summer and more regularly, as will tolls. Likewise RMV fees, but at a different rate. That's more like how other states do it, as opposed to our "punctuated pandemonium and outrage" model. Periodic freak-outs aren't great, but they do get people off their ass. The regular increases are a bit more of the "how to boil a frog" scenario - which means we're lulled into accepting regular increases.

The other thing to keep in mind is that this is the Governor's PROPOSAL. He does not expect it to pass. The idea is to put something on the table for the Legislature to say "hey man thas crazy." But then THEY have to propose some sort of solution. The important aspect of what MassDOT released on Monday (available on-line) was the proforma that was included. The numbers are solid and jive with what all the nonpartisan groups and reports have been saying for the past 5-6 years. So you really look like an idiot if you stand up and say "we need to do more reform before we raise additional revenue."

There is more reform to do but it's a piss stream in a raging ocean of red ink and crumbling infrastructure. Eventually a bridge will collapse or something critical will give out and people will die. Then the same assholes who say "no new revenue" will be saying "why didn't someone do SOMETHING???"

So the ball is in the Legislature's court. You don't like a progressive income tax set-up with a less regressive sales tax, well then what do you suggest beyond prayer and scratch tickets? Gas tax? (already a known dead-end with more efficient cars and less driving occurring in general -- the fed transpo trust fund fed by the gas tax has been in the red for years - we backfill from general revenue at the fed level) Payroll tax? (Yeah your business buddies love that one.) Quick-pick on the Megamillions?

I have to wonder whether an actual liberal would describe her/himself that way. Isn't it usually others who have thusly imbibed?

A graduated State income tax would require a change to the Massachusetts constitution. It's one tax rate for all, no brackets. However the exemption can be increased and that's what ol' gimpy duck did. He doubled the exemption. The Globe had a graph of the effect of this on the front page.

What that boils down to is people with taxable income below $32,000 (individual) and $64,000 (couple) would see their taxes go down under the proposal, and for people above that, taxes would go up. Now this applies to your taxable income, not to your salary. So if you go through your deductions (medical savings account, commuting expenses, student loans, mortgage deduction or whatever), a couple making $85,000 could still see flat or lower taxes in this scenario (if I'm understanding this right).

And as a friend pointed out to me, median household income in 2011 was about $66,000, so while the proposal does increase income tax rates, a majority of people would actually pay lower income taxes as a result of the plan.

When you add this to the reduction in the very regressive sales tax (the poors pay a larger percentage of their income than the toffs), then this is about as progressive as it gets.

The business community seems to have been convinced that something needs to be done about transportation investment, but we'll see what their proposal is on how to fund it. We wouldn't want to chase the "job creators" out of the state to ....I don't know North Dakota? This sort of explains why some folks with deep pockets have been pushing a gas tax. It's a user fee and makes sense in that way, but it's a dead-end. It should probably be part of the mix but realistically we should be getting transportation revenue from a bunch of different sources, like fares, tolls, fees, gas taxes, maybe even some sort of value capture tax on developments whose appraised values go up because they are located next to transit (transit oriented development). And of course automated tolling gets rid of the remaining toll takers and there are other little bits of reform that can bring in dribs and drabs here and there.