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Senate rejects income and gas tax hikes, continues to debate other increases

E-mail|Link|Comments () May 19, 2009 02:55 PM

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff

The state Senate overwhelmingly rejected proposals to hike the state income tax and gas tax today, as senators opened debate on a series of proposed tax increases.

Supporters, who proposed raising the income tax from 5.3 percent to 5.95 percent, argued that it would raise $1.3 billion annually to help offset deep cuts in services for the poor, elderly, and disabled. Opponents said the measure would drain families’ budgets and hurt small businesses. The amendment was voted down 28 to 11.

The Senate voted 33 to 6 to defeat Governor Deval Patrick’s proposal to hike the gas tax by 19 cents. Senators also voted 30 to 9 to defeat an 11-cent hike in the gas tax.

The Senate is expected to take up another measure today that would impose new taxes on hotels and meals. But it's a proposal to raise the state sales tax from 5 percent to 6.25 percent that is expected to generate broader support. The House has already approved that tax and Senate leaders indicated yesterday that it is gaining momentum in their chamber.

Republican senators belittled the Democratic majority for proposing new taxes in the midst of a recession.

“Tax, tax, tax, tax,” Senator Richard R. Tisei, the Republican leader, lamented in a floor speech. “Where does it end? I can’t even keep track of all the taxes that are being proposed here.”

But supporters of the tax increases made an impressive show of force inside and outside the State House.

Hundreds of demonstrators jammed Beacon Street in front of the State House to demand new taxes to preserve services for the disabled. Many of them were in motorized wheelchairs, using canes and guide dogs, or had developmental delays. They chanted “Save our services!” and sang along with Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey, of the legendary folk trio Peter, Paul, and Mary, who performed “This Land is Your Land.”

“Families will be devastated if this budget passes!” declared Gary Blumenthal, executive director of the Association of Developmental Disability Providers, eliciting cheers and applause from the crowd.

Inside a State House hearing room, about a dozen clergy members from various faiths held a press conference to underscore the value of the services that would be cut without new tax revenues. The Rev. Ray Hammond, chairman of the Boston TenPoint Coalition, decried deep cuts in youth-violence prevention programs, declaring to cheers: "The implication is the lives of these youth don't count and their communities don't count. But we're here to say they do count."

Senator Patricia D. Jehlen, Democrat of Somerville, was among those supporting an income tax hike. She called it a “fair, adequate, and sustainable alternative to the sales tax.”

“We’re faced with restoring revenue and cutting services at the same time, and there needs to be a balance,” Jehlen told her colleagues. “We can’t put an unfair burden on those who depend on government, particularly I’m thinking of the disabled and local aid.”

Senator Michael O. Moore, Democrat of Millbury, urged his colleagues to reject the tax. “People are struggling to get by now,” he said. “We have to restore faith in our economy.”