There are two articles in the Boston Globe today, dealing with very different subjects but absolutely related, that we wanted to call your attention to.
First up: Budget Cuts will Imperil State’s Poor:
The state estimates that the children of 9,100 families with parents so severely disabled that they qualify for federal Supplemental Security Income benefits will lose their state cash assistance as a result of the $600 million in budget cuts that Governor Deval Patrick announced late last month.
And second, Disclose who benefits from special tax breaks:
A group of lawmakers wants to revive a proposed requirement under which state officials who administer so-called refundable tax breaks would have to identify the recipients, the number of jobs created, and the average salaries of those jobs. The rule is wise and well worth adopting.
Last summer, we wrote to update you on a measure in the budget that we, and a group of other legislators, have been pushing – a transparency provision which would require state agencies that administer refundable tax credits to report annually the names of recipients, the size of the credits, and the number of jobs produced, providing us with the information we need to effectively manage the public’s money and a measure of accountability as to the cost effectiveness of tax credits.
At a time of extreme budget cuts, this provision is even more important. Tens of millions of dollars go out in the form of refundable tax credits every year – and yet legislators, and the public, have no idea where the money is going or what effect it’s having.
How can we cut services, like those detailed in the first Globe article, to below the bone and still refuse to even look at the impact and effectiveness of the money we spend on tax credits?
During budget deliberations this year, we had many discussions on raising revenue. But it’s also important that we make sure we know how that revenue is being spent, particularly when it comes to tax breaks for corporations. These tax breaks might be effective; they might not. The truth is that right now, we simply don’t know.
We’ve spent the last few months talking to our colleagues, and we know there is support among many of them for tax credit transparency. But if this proposal isn’t brought up for a vote, then that support doesn’t matter. The Legislature’s last formal session of the year is tomorrow.
If you agree with us on this issue, we urge you to please contact your legislators and ask for their support. Then ask them to go a step further, and let House and Senate leadership know that this issue is important to them and they’d like to see it come up for a vote.
Sincerely,
Senator Jamie Eldridge & Representative Carl Sciortino
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p>You’re right Senator, we need to get this budget amendment passed in the next 48 hours, or it’s dead unless we can get somebody to late file or offer it as an amendment to next years budget, or as an amendment to some other budget — đŸ™‚
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p>On page 2 of the House calendar find HB 4442 which would require public disclosure of and analysis of all refundable or transferable tax credit programs in Massachusetts by requiring the organizations that apply for them to publicly disclose the value of the credit received, the purpose for the credit and the extent to which each recipient has met, exceeded or failed to meet their objective.
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p>Call or email your legislator today and let them know you support greater transparency in our state’s tax system. Tell them you support HB 4442.
Do you mean this one?
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This is very appreciated.
I would love to see the “Hollywood” tax credit come under this scrutiny, as it should, because that’s exactly the kind of wasteful cash this state spends which ends up costing those 9,100 families.
So, what actually keeps the credits from being public? Is it the Secretary of State or the Governor or an act of law, or what??
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p>Let’s point fingers – from all I’ve read online, it appears Secretary of State William Galvin keeps the information private. Is this true? How come no one’s mentioning this?