Yesterday, I was listening to the Jordan Levy Show, when he announced Representative James O'Day, D-West Boylston, would be a guest in the five o'clock hour to respond to the harsh criticism he has been receiving for his recent tax hike proposals. I immediately made a mental note to make sure I was able to hear the interview in anticipation of hearing him explain how he was taken out of context, misunderstood or at the least respond to legitimate questions raised by opponents of his approach to solving the state's budget crisis.
Instead Rep. O'Day opined about the need for discussions about finding new revenue for the state so the neediest among us would not suffer. I really could not believe I was hearing him say the same things I had blogged about a few days ago. There was no backing down, no shame, and there were no other solutions presented by him. He could not think of one single thing other than raising taxes by 20% on most of us, that could help to solve the fiscal crisis. Rep. O'Day said a few other things like telling the audience he has heard people tell him directly that our taxes are too low. What? If I had been watching TV I would have hit the rewind button on that one just to make sure I heard him right. After the interview Jordan brought it up with Mike Mussina so I know I did. I may be just one person but I have never heard anyone in this state complain about the low taxes.
Rep. O'Day also explained how people making over $32,000 per year would be the ones with tax decreases. Really? Apparently Rep. O'Day doesn't understand that most of the people in that category are already exempted from most state taxes anyway. He also failed to point out how married folks would be paying an even higher price. Rep. O'Day explained how people making $60,000 to $70,000 per year could afford the new hikes. Well, if you have two married people each making $30,000 per year and combine their income, voila! You get to the magical $60,000. If that same couple has children can you imagine the econmic effect his proposals will really have? Apparently Rep. O'Day cannot.
Since Rep. O'Day cannot think of any ideas beyond raising taxes to help the state budget, I thought I would offer a few suggestions here. How about eliminating state pensions and have all the state workers go into Social Security like the rest of us. How about doing what Wisconsin has done and take away the ability of unions like the Teamsters to hold our legislature hostage and then turn around and pay parking attendants and floor sweepers over $100,000 per year at places like Logan Airport and the Hynes Convention Center. How about cutting taxes for businesses like then Governor Dukakis did in the early eighties. Those cuts brought such businesses as Digital and Wang to our state which ignited one of the biggest econmic growth periods in our history. How about going through each state agency and eliminating redundant positions or services? How about eliminating the Mass Turnpike authority? How about getting more of our fair share from the federal government stimulus funds, 70% of which have not been spent. Currently Massachusetts has received less than 1% of the total of those funds. These are just a few ideas that should be discussed long before we hear about new higher taxes.
Unfortunatley Rep.O'Day is typical of the tax and spend liberals who populate the halls and offices of our statehouse. Although most of the legislators are publicly saying they are not in favor of Rep. O'Day's proposals, there is no doubt in my mind they would like nothing better than to continue the status quo by raising taxes and fees. There is also no doubt that at some point in the near future we are going to hear about modest increases from other Represenatives which compared to Rep. O'Day's proposal will look much better. They will still be tax increases but the politicians like Rep. O'Day will couch them as something else. There is only one way to change this horrible tax and spend game. Change the players!
