[Becky]

There are three questions we in Massachusetts will be voting on for election day.

For eliminating the state Income Tax:

This proposed law would reduce the state personal income tax rate to 2.65% for all categories of taxable income for the tax year beginning on or after January 1, 2009, and would eliminate the tax for all tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2010.
The personal income tax applies to income received or gain realized by individuals and married couples, by estates of deceased persons, by certain trustees and other fiduciaries, by persons who are partners in and receive income from partnerships, by corporate trusts, and by persons who receive income as shareholders of “S corporations” as defined under federal tax law. The proposed law would not affect the tax due on income or gain realized in a tax year beginning before January 1, 2009.
The proposed law states that if any of its parts were declared invalid, the other parts would stay in effect.
A YES VOTE would reduce the state personal income tax rate to 2.65% for the tax year beginning on January 1, 2009, and would eliminate the tax for all tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2010.
A NO VOTE would make no change in state income tax laws.


What do you vote?

[Art]

What will the state use to replace this money?

[Becky]

Towns raising taxes
higher sales taxes
cut in State supported services
More careful use of money that is given

There may be more, but these are the ones I'm aware of. Please take into consideration that all 4 of these options have both pro's and con's to them. There are logical reasons why, for example, replacing income tax with higher sales tax particularly is a good idea. This is especially true since necessary items such as food are not taxed at all.

One argument against the bill however, is that we have little to no trust in our state government (part of the reason for the bill in the first place), therefore, can we trust them to do the right thing after we cut their budget? or will they act erratically, and do things even more stupid?

It's hard to say... when you can't trust your own state government, it becomes a bit scary to think about the power that they hold over your lives. I'd like to compare it with the Mafia... if you had evidence that could put one in jail, would you risk your life to do it? It's a topic worth debating.

[liveirisjul]

Where would the state gain or replace the money?