Topic: Central Berkshire County.
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posted by G.M.Heller at Friday, March 25, 2005
Friday, March 25, 2005
About Me
- Name: G.M.Heller
- Location: Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., United States
Hailed by Berkshire cognoscenti as that "crank on the grassy knoll".
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- Topic: Southern Berkshire County.
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1 Comments:
Dear News Media, Pols, & the People:
The Letter to the Editor of the Eagle, below, makes a great point about how the levels of state aid to cities and towns have been dramatically cut during the three consecutive years of state cuts in local aid in the FY2002-2004 Massachusetts State Budgets! What the author omitted or failed to mention is that while state aid to municipalities was higher (adjusted for inflation and other costs) in the FY01 Massachusetts State Budget than in the FY08 one, the SPECIAL INTEREST tax loopholes and breaks did not skip a beat. Why not? The answer is that Pols like "Bureaucrat" Bosley, "Private Insurance Industry Attorney" Luciforo, et al, receive many thousands of campaign contributions from the corporate elite in return for making the system of taxation more and more regressive and inequitable. Ergo, if Bureaucrat Bosley and his fellow SPECIAL INTERESTS serving hack Legislators on Beacon Hill ever raised the progressive state income tax ease the ever-higher regressive property taxes and other fees, then they would perversely find ways to pass more laws providing even more tax breaks and loopholes to the privileged corporate elite. The net outcome would be the same: The working poor get screwed over once again by the corrupted Pols serving their Corporate Masters: The Corporate Elite!
Once again, SHAME ON YOU: CORRUPTED POLs WHO SERVE THE CORPORATE ELITE at the expense of the WORKING POOR.
All I can say to the People is DISSENT against your CORRUPTED POLs and SUBVERT YOUR CORPORATE MASTERS who are collectively screwing you out of your basic human needs and rights!
I WILL ALWAYS SPEAK MY GOOD CONSCIENCE AS LONG AS I LIVE!
In Truth,
Jonathan A. Melle
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Target income tax hike for towns
Letters
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
To the Editor of THE EAGLE:
Fiscal reality is becoming clearer as communities across the commonwealth debate and decide their town budgets for the upcoming year. Regardless of the outcome, the local property taxpayer continues to shoulder an ever increasing real estate tax toward supporting schools, town government and various capital outlays and improvements.
During the past decade, the state income tax has decreased from a rate of 5.95 percent of earned income to the current rate of 5.3 percent. This lost revenue at the state level has resulted in a concomitant loss of state aid for our towns and cities. Is it any wonder that our local property tax has ratcheted steadily upward? In Dalton for Fiscal Year 2008, state aid for public education will approximate the amount received in FY '03. Local aid for our town government is expected to be flat for FY 08 relative to FY '07.
The state income tax is a more equitable and progressive tax: the more one earns, the more one pays in taxes. It is estimated that increasing the state income tax by one quarter of one percent to 5.55 percent, would generate additional state revenue of approximately $500 million. If the state income tax were to increase one quarter of one percent, an income of $40,000 would be subject to a tax increase of $100. Reliance upon the property tax places the onus of taxation upon one's wealth or capital irrespective of earned income. For many if not most of us, personal income has been outpaced by the often double-digit appreciation of our homes and property. An aging demographic, particularly in Berkshire County compounds this phenomenon.
Increasing the state income tax will provide relief to the property taxpayer only if such revenues are dedicated to fund the two mainstays of every community: schools and town government. In earmarking this additional revenue, communities will be able to maintain the integrity of their town services via a fairer tax system. The local property taxpayer will be relieved of an often onerous tax increase in meeting the obligation to support schools and town government.
I would ask our governor and state representatives to consider implementing a more equitable tax system. I believe that the citizens of the commonwealth would support a modest increase in the state income tax if such additional revenue were to be returned directly to our communities toward financing our schools and town government.
ANTONIO P. PAGLIARULO
Dalton, May 22, 2007
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