THE QUESTION [From State Elections Division]

As required by law, summaries are written by the State Attorney General, and the statements describing the effect of a "yes" or "no" vote are written jointly by the State Attorney General and the Secretary of the Commonwealth.

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.

WHAT YOUR VOTE WILL DO

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.

[More Background on the Massachusetts State Income Tax]

POTENTIAL IMPACT

The ballot question to eliminate our state income tax would have reduced the state’s income by about 40 percent - taking over $12 Billion from teh state budget.

The Mass Taxpayer Foundation performed an analysis of the potential impacts of Question 1, including a look at who pays the Massachusetts income tax and who would benefit most from its repeal, the consequences on the state operating budget, the impact on capital spending, and how the nine states without a state income tax raise the revenues they require.

GROUPS OPPOSING QUESTION 1

Coalition for Our Communities:

The Coalition for Our Communities is a group of non-profits, human services providers, unions, and citizen activists across the state that mobilized to stop this dangerous ballot question. ONE Massachusetts joined the Coalition for Our Communities to help organize this effort. You can read the Coalition’s fact sheet on the coalition's website.

Communities of Color:

Grassroots and community organizations working within the communities of color and ethnic communities in Boston joined together to educate local residents about the importance of our income tax in their daily lives and communities, and to have conversations about how vital voting down-ballot on this issue was.

Participating organizations include:

ACORN, Boston Tenant Coalition, Dorchester People for Peace, Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance, Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy (MIRA) Coalition, Mass Peace Action, Mass Senior Action Council, MassVOTE, ONE Massachusetts, Union of Minority Neighborhoods.

Activities:

ONE Massachusetts' PlainTalk presentation was used to give community groups and nonprofits some tools to educate their constituents, friends, and neighbors about the ballot question and its effect on the vital local programs that keep our families and communities healthy. It also helped those groups to use the media to communicate the importance of state funding in our communities.

The grassroots members of this committee took great time and effort in reaching out to their membership, doorknocking leading up to the election, and covering polls on election day.

In addition, the Communities of Color working group planned and held a very successful Making History Together - Community Unity Rally at the Roxbury Community College on election eve - Monday, November 3rd, 2008. The rally included inspirational speakers and local entertainers, and aimed at building a sense of unity among the neighborhoods, races, and ethic groups that make up our Boston Community.

LESSONS LEARNED

During our campaign against 2008’s Ballot Question 1 – the elimination of the state income tax – these community partners acted as “trusted ambassadors” to their members and allies, increasing our effectiveness in reaching out to targeted voters.

We learned a lot during Question 1, and our biggest lesson was that even the least tax-literate community members we spoke to were very interested in learning more about how decisions are made concerning who pays what taxes, where those tax dollars go, and why their favorite public institutions, particularly their children’s schools, are now under-funded.

Those community members very-quickly understood that Question 1 threatened the various public structures that educate their children, keep their water clean, their streets safe, and their roads repaired. They voted overwhelmingly to protect those programs. More exciting – they wanted to know how they could continue to be more involved in those decisions – after Election Day!

We are continuing to build our bonds with our community partners even stronger by collaboratively analyzing our work and planning future membership trainings to answer the question:

Are your community members ready to pay more taxes to repair and reform these institutions?

Already, local leaders believe that their communities will answer ‘yes,’ but only if they can see evidence that their government will operate more openly and transparently in its policy-making process, and that their leaders will be held more accountable – exposing and eliminating corruption.

They will answer ‘yes’ if they believe that their taxes will be collected fairly, and if they know where those tax revenues will go.