Anti-income tax group lags in funds

Foes plan ad blitz before Nov. election

Activists seeking to repeal the Massachusetts state income tax are running low on money and face a lopsided battle with a coalition of well-financed unions that will sponsor TV and radio ads in a bid to defeat the November ballot initiative, according to newly filed disclosure reports.

The Committee for Small Government, led by libertarian Carla Howell, had less than $25,000 left in its account to try and persuade voters to repeal the income tax, according to the group's reports filed yesterday, four days after a disclosure deadline.

The Coalition for Our Communities, formed to convince voters to keep the 5.3-percent income tax intact, still had a war chest of $1.3 million in contributions from a group of teacher and labor unions, according to its filings submitted on the Friday deadline.

"It certainly is a David-versus-Goliath contest," said Howell, who ran for governor in 2002. "It's a battle for both sides. The polls show us in a dead heat. We certainly have a shot at winning in spite of the money and power of our opponents."

The largest expenditure from the antitax group was to gather 11,000 signatures needed to get onto the ballot. Another major expenditure was consulting fees paid to Howell and her political ally Michael Cloud. The records show that Howell and Cloud received nearly $25,000 in consulting fees this year between them, representing almost a fifth of what the committee spent from January to August.

Since 2002, when their committee was formed around a similar ballot initiative, Howell has received nearly $70,855 in consulting fees from the committee, while Cloud has made $55,600, according to campaign finance reports.

Howell said it is appropriate for her to receive payments from an initiative committee that she controls.

"I don't have time for much of anything else," she said, calling any criticism of the arrangement "just plain silly."

The Coalition for Our Communities has hired two powerful firms as consultants, paying $18,000 to Carpman Communications and $19,500 to the Dewey Square Group. But the group has also raised $1.5 million, with two-thirds coming from national teacher unions. The Boston Teachers Union donated $150,000 and the national Service Employees International Union gave $60,000. Unions would probably have the most to lose if the income tax was repealed, since it would trigger layoffs across state government.

The Coalition for Our Communities is planning to officially launch a campaign in the next week or two, and plans to run television and radio ads, according to Stephen Crawford, a spokesman for the group.

"There is a great deal of enthusiasm for the campaign," Crawford said.

Eliminating the income tax would save the average taxpayer $3,600 a year, but would also cost the state roughly $12.7 billion - about 40 percent of the budget. Governor Deval Patrick, as well as the Senate president and House speaker, have spoken out against the measure, saying it would cause dramatic cuts and force layoffs throughout state and local government.

Howell's group, the Committee for Small Government, pushed a similar initiative that almost passed six years ago. At the time, Beacon Hill leaders paid little heed to the effort, and no one organized a campaign to fight it. But it got a surprisingly strong 45 percent of the vote, and the economic conditions this year seem even riper for supporters to capitalize on a sour economy, rising gas and grocery prices, and distrust in government spending.

Between January and August, the group spent $139,466 and raised $160,180, in donations from individuals ranging in size from $10 to $10,000.

Howell said the fund-raising will continue, and the group hopes to have "advertising across all mediums." Howell and others in the Committee for Small Government also plan to travel around the state and speak with local groups about the ballot question. They also plan to start distributing 5,000 yard signs and 5,000 bumper stickers.

Citizens for Limited Taxation, another nonprofit advocacy group, also plans to get involved, and will distribute red and white bumper stickers that read, "Hell Yes! Question 1."

An initiative petition is intended to be binding if it passes, although the Legislature has found ways to buck the will of voters in the past. In 2002, for example, lawmakers halted a gradual income tax rollback approved by voters two years earlier. The same occurred with a ballot question in 1998 that called for publicly funded campaigns, the Legislature famously refusing to pay for them.

The income tax repeal is one of three ballot questions that voters will weigh in November. Another will determine whether to ease criminal penalties on marijuana possession, and a third will decide whether dog racing should be banned in Massachusetts.

The Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy, a group seeking to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana possession, raised more than $219,000 from January to August, more than 80 percent of which came from the Washington-based Marijuana Policy Project. Billionaire and liberal activist George Soros gave the group $400,000 last year. The state's district attorneys oppose the measure, and nearly $27,700 has been raised through a group called the Coalition for Safe Streets.

The proposal, which would make Massachusetts the 13th state to lift or ease criminal penalties on marijuana possession, would make having an ounce or less of the drug a civil offense punishable by a $100 fine. Parental notification and completing a drug awareness program would be required for anyone under 18 caught with an ounce or less.

The Committee to Protect Dogs, which is pushing to ban dog racing, had $119,255 in its account in January but has yet to file an updated campaign finance report. George Carney, who owns Raynham Taunton Greyhound Park, said yesterday that he plans to fight the ballot question but has not yet formed a committee or done any fund-raising.

Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com.