On Nov. 2, the Massachusetts electorate will vote on a ballot question that would reduce the state sales tax from 6.25 percent to just three percent. But a report from a watchdog budget group issued Wednesday warned that the results from such a drastic cut could have disastrous consequences for the state education system, police department and countless other tax-funded institutions.
Although most voters would jump at the idea of having to pay only three percent sales taxes, the option is simply not feasible. According to the report, cutting sales tax to three percent would create a $2.5 billion budget deficit.
Very few politicians support the cuts, with all of the candidates for governor opposed to the measure, although they all say that they will respect the will of the people. Even Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker, along with most other Republicans, advocates trimming the sales tax to five percent instead of cutting it all the way to three.
However, putting the question up to popular vote makes it very likely that it will pass. Most voters would not pass up the opportunity to reduce their tax spending &- a reaction that is both logical and reasonable. But we also need to be able to look beyond the immediate impact on our wallets and see the larger picture.
Voters can't have everything. Every service needs to be paid for somehow, and whatever we gain in money from the tax cuts we will lose in the effectiveness of our public institutions. At a time when the state's public education system is failing students, slashing tax revenue so drastically would only hurt the system more, affecting the kids who are already struggling. Bostonians are constantly complaining that the T closes too early, but a tax cut wouldn't help this case, possibly forcing politicians to trim hours or raise fare costs.
Instead of making the two options so drastically different, the ballot question should instead have voters choose whether to lower taxes to five percent or keep them as they are, which would still allow voters to choose, but with a more reasonable option.
In a perfect world, tax cuts would be a welcome change during a tough economic time. But in reality, the state can't afford these cuts without the risk of being thrown into a full-fledged budget crisis.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
