Thursday, August 31, 2006

What has Reilly said about taxes

Given the back and forth over taxes, it's worth a look at what Thomas Reilly and Deval Patrick have said about the subject. Let's go to the video tape, er ... archives.

First up, Tom Reilly.

In 2004, Reilly laid into Gov. Romney (who called for a cut in the state income tax rate) in an interview with Globe columnist Scot Lehigh.

"It is a national agenda," Reilly maintains. "It is not a Massachusetts agenda. If you were focused on Massachusetts, you wouldn't be calling for tax cuts. At this point, it's frankly irresponsible. You know what's happening to our hospitals. You know what is happening to public safety."

He adds: "If you cared about this state . . . you wouldn't do it. If you did nothing else, you'd put the money in a rainy day fund. You'd build it up."

In March 2005, Reilly said the income tax rollback championed by Governor Mitt Romney was tantamount to "short-changing the future," and added, "We have difficult financial challenges ahead of us over the foreseeable future, over the next few years, and right now we cannot afford to be rolling back taxes."

In December 2005, Reilly switched. State revenues were up, and he told the Globe the legislature should cut the rate. "If these numbers hold up, then we should do it," Reilly said.

Posted by at 08:00 AM

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