Income tax fight costs a lot to wage
Question 1 foes outspend backers to make their case
When voters faced a ballot question to repeal the state income tax six years ago, tax supporters dismissed it as an outlandish idea and spent just $4,600 to oppose the question. So they were stunned when it collected 45 percent of the vote.
This time, Question 1 opponents say, they are taking no chances. They formed the Coalition for Our Communities to raise money and make the case for keeping the income tax, the elimination of which they say would wipe out funding for schools, public safety, and other services and create turmoil for the Massachusetts economy.
By Oct. 15, they had spent more than $3.5 million to make their case on television and in print, as well as through door-to-door campaigning and phone banks, compared with less than $400,000 by the Question 1 backers, the Committee for Small Government, which is led by Carla Howell, a Libertarian.
A new poll released last night suggests that the anti-Question 1 investment is working. In a survey of 400 voters conducted Monday through Wednesday, 59 percent said they oppose the question and 26 percent support it, according to a 7News/Suffolk University poll.
A Suffolk poll conducted in August showed 50 percent opposition and 36 percent support.
"That's telling me the arguments on the no side actually have traction," said David Paleologos, director of Suf folk University's Political Research Center. A majority of Republicans polled opposed the question, as opposed to a majority who supported it in August, he said.
Steve Crawford, spokesman for the Coalition for Our Communities, said the coalition has "mounted an aggressive campaign that includes all the components that modern campaigns utilize."
Crawford declined to address the polls directly, but said, "We're not taking anything for granted." Advertising will increase up to Election Day, Nov. 4, he said.
Kamal Jain, spokesman for the Committee for Small Government, said ballot questions are difficult to predict. Polls failed to predict the support Question 1 received in 2002, when the economy weighed less heavily on people's minds, he said.
Each side has received a majority of its donations from out of state, according to analysis by the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance, which collected finance reports through Oct. 15.
Almost 52 percent of the Coalition for Our Communities' $4.5 million in cash and $520,000 in in-kind contributions, including use of office space and staff time, came from out-of-state donors, overwhelmingly from labor organizations. The National Education Association contributed $1.5 million, and its state affiliate, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, gave almost $1.6 million in cash, plus another $225,000 donated in-kind.
Jain said the millions in opposition funding "from the people who make their living off of tax dollars" illustrate why the tax must be abolished.
"They represent the special interests that lobby for spending," said Jain, a former Libertarian candidate for several offices. He said repealing the 5.3 percent tax - which would range widely but amount to roughly $3,700, based on average income - would help middle-class families afford to live in Massachusetts and force government to spend more efficiently and with more transparency.
Jain, a Lowell resident who works for a software start-up, gave $4,600 to his own group, though on state disclosure forms he alternately declined to list his occupation and employer or gave them as "hard working taxpayer" and "not the government."
The Committee for Small Government had collected $431,489, almost 54 percent of which came from outside Massachusetts. The donors were mostly individuals, like software executive Craig Franklin ($25,000) and investor Jason Hommel ($10,000), both from California. The committee received one in-kind contribution, a free magazine ad, worth $1,900, from Dartmouth-based SoCo, which covers Southeastern Massachusetts.
Crawford said out-of-state donors to the other side "are using Massachusetts as an experiment." The national unions, he said, all have members here with a stake in the outcome.
The $1.5 million from the National Education Association presents a significant piece of the tens of millions that the union is spending on ballot questions and political campaigns across the country, said Karen White, director of campaigns and elections for the Washington, D.C.-based organization, which represents more than 3 million educators and school staff.
"We spend money when we know we need to win an issue, and this is one of the most critical issues to our members," said White, adding that the money comes from political donations by members. "It's an important contribution to a reckless initiative that we hope to defeat."
The question, brought by a voter petition organized by the Committee for Small Government, would become law if approved. It would reduce the state's income tax from 5.3 percent to 2.65 percent on Jan. 1 and eliminate it entirely one year later. That would cut about $12.5 billion, or roughly 40 percent of the state's revenues, based on last year's budget.
Those figures are enough to unite labor and business interests that ordinarily might clash on Beacon Hill. It has also generated opposition for Question 1 from many public officials.
On Monday, the Lexington firm Global Insight released a report commissioned by Associated Industries of Massachusetts, Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Massachusetts Business Roundtable, and Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation that said Question 1 "goes too far."
Eliminating the income tax, particularly during a global financial crisis, would ruin the ability of the state and its cities and towns to borrow money, drive up other taxes and fees - like property tax, public college tuition, and tolls - and spoil the state's attractiveness to companies, the report said.
Also this week, the Boston City Council became the latest official board to pass a resolution opposing Question 1; the list includes selectmen in Wayland, where Howell, a former Libertarian gubernatorial candidate, runs the pro-Question 1 effort from her home.
Yesterday, some of Boston's city councilors joined leaders from a host of social service and community activist organizations at an anti-Question 1 press conference downtown.
"Passing Question 1 would be a disaster," said Councilor Chuck Turner, predicting a loss of $300 million in state aid to Boston, which would trigger thousands of layoffs and eliminate or reduce all manner of services. 