Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Stupidest controversy ever

By

State Rep. buys booze in NH — even after he voted to raise the tax in MA. Stop the freakin' presses, whoop-de-doo-dah.

Just sheer inanity. That is all.

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No… it's not all … I don't usually watch local TV news. Sometimes I remind myself why. It is the most mind-boggling, brain-pureeing triviality imaginable. The View is like the freakin' Supreme Court compared to our local TV news. 

I mean … when does the lowest common denominator get too low?

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  1. Doesn’t the MA DOR require payment of Use Tax fees when you shop out of state?  When you get a rep stopping in a NH liquor store loading up a car with Rep plates (in an age of cellphone cameras), this is a problem.  Yep, it doesn’t look good Charlie.

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    p>Keep whistling past that graveyard.

  2. is that

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    p>1.  Who honestly cares?

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    p>but…

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    p>2.  What a dope for springing for vanity plates and then expecting any level of anonymity.  Welcome to the public life!  

      • But it’s just so easy to run a low-turnout primary on that one issue (along with some standard-issue “listening to the people” stuff).  

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        p>Here’s some outdated (2005) info on his voting record.  I can’t find anything more recent.  Strikes me as run-of-the-mill moderate/conservative Dem stuff.  Pro-death penalty; conservative-ish on tax breaks for the rich and tuition for children of undocumented immigrants; liberal-ish on social issues and spending.  Easy to run against from either the left or the right.

  4. the other day I was near a not-my-neighborhood-liquor-store, and I ran in to pick up a six pack, since (a) it’s almost football season, and (b) I like buying beer from my not-my-neighborhood-liquor-store due to their obnoxious, truthie-at-best signage.

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    p>Guy rings it up and sarcastically proclaims “including our wonderful new liquor tax, nine sixty nine,” to which I replied “Hey, knock it off.  I won’t go to the liquor store down the street because of their obnoxious anti-tax signs.  Don’t make me go yet another block down the street.  We need the revenues.”  He was cool about it, maybe because I enlightened him a bit, maybe because he’s a smarter businessman than John Mackey.

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    p>The beer: Blue Moon seasonal.  Tasty, tax and all.

      • the beer is for my wife, and she doesn’t share the same moral crises I face.  As for me, I drink super-local unlabeled home brewed beer brewed by my friend who lives about 1/2 mile away.

  6. Thank you!  Bring your beer money and come back often.

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    p>Your grateful neighbor,

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    p>New Hampshire

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    p>$$$$

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    p>

    • Dear Graniters,

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      p>Thank you for making your best and brightest feel compelled to join our schools and economy because you’re too stingy to raise the revenues needed to support a world-class society that competes on 21st century terms.

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      p>We appreciate your nearsightedness!

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      p>Massachusetts.

      • By all means “stay the course”…

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        p>We’ll just continue to enjoy a lower unemployment rate and a state budget gap (despite a lack of all those hikes in taxes, those nifty sales taxes and income taxes) that is a drop in the bucket compared to yours.

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        p>Keep up the good work with your “world-class society” you speak of.

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        p>We’ll just keep enjoying a percapita crime rate about 1/3 that of yours and a fine and paid for public education system.

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        p>Somehow we are able to pay for it and collect revenue without taxing the BEJEEZUS out of everyone.

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        p>When you see Mr. Rodrigues, thank him for us.  Thanks to all the fine residents of Massachusetts that spend money here!

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        p>Your friend,

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        p>New Hampshire

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        p>  

        • Can you just remind me which New Hampshire world-class hospital you take your loved ones to when they have acute and serious illnesses? Would that be Manchester? Concord? Nashua? When you fly to Europe for that oh-so-important business meeting or vacation, which airline do you take out of Manchester? Speaking of that “lower unemployment rate”, what percentage of your workers earn their wages in NH (as opposed to MA), and how does the total income share split between the two states? What share of NH wealth does NH actually create in-state, as opposed to siphoning from its neighbors?

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          p>I watch the long lines of vehicles, almost all with just one occupant, clogging southbound I93 and Rt 3 every morning and the reverse every evening. That, alone, demonstrates the fundamental lie of the yahoo mantra.

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          p>How does NH do it (“pay for it and collect revenue without taxing the BEJEEZUS out of everyone”)? Simple — Freeloading. Build an entire statewide culture around the greedy, self-centered expedient of soaking the world-class neighbor to your south.

          • That’s fresh.

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            p>Yeah, you made one point… anyone from New Hampshire has to catch a flight from Boston if they choose to fly to Europe… Which I’m sure is on the top itenerary for an overwhelming number of people!

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            p>Does your sales tax pay for your international airport?  Are the flights out of Boston free, cause they are funded by your state revenue?  Now that would be some serious “free loading”.

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            p>Just keep sending elected officials and other Mass residents over the border to spend the hard earned money.  The shopping malls, restaurants and liquor stores appreciate the extra business.  I doubt Mass business owners close to the border appreciate it much.

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            p>Your other point about Hospitals… Massachusetts General for example is a fine hospital indeed.  I’m not a betting man, but I would guess an overwhelming majority of  New Hampshire residents (who are more likely to be employed) who travel to Massachusetts cause he/she is not satisfied or can’t get the help they need in New Hampshire, pay there own way and are insured.  No free ride.  If that is not the case, then thanks for your generosity.  Keeping paying those taxes!

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            p>  

            • The folks who drive on Massachusetts highways every day to work pay their own way? The folks who use those same highways to get to Mass General pay their own way? Do their insurance premiums pay for the environment that attracts the providers at Mass General (and the dozens of other world-class hospitals)? Why do you think those hospitals are in Boston and not Concord, NH? How many world-class universities are in NH, compared to MA? How many Nobel and Pulitzer prizes have been awarded to NH institutions? How many peer-reviewed publications originate in NH, vs MA?

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              p>New Hampshire sites its state-run liquor monopolies on highway rest stops, just across the border from MA. A fine example of the free market in action. Salem NH and Nashua NH provide more examples of New Hampshire’s fine “self-sustaining” economy — not to mention the land-use policies they exemplify.

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              p>Perhaps you prefer “parasite” to “free-loader” — the effect is the same. The plain fact is that most of the revenue that sustains the New Hampshire economy originates in MA — whether you like it or not. The primary way that NH avoids levying taxes on NH residents is by providing bare minimum amenities on its own and shifting the cost burden of what’s left to neighboring states.

              • are epitomized by its fireworks laws. Explosive fireworks of the kind sold in NH are illegal in every place that borders the state, and in NH itself.

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                p>The term ‘leech’ may be offensive, but it’s not inaccurate.

              •   And when I fly, I use RI and CT airports. I like the UMASS system myself. But UMASS is just a way station to better positions out of state.  

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