I heard a disturbing piece of information from Representative Jones this morning on AM680. As far as Jones could determine, out of the 1400+ pork budget amendments, none were about shutting down the loopholes. Does the Governor have no supporters of this idea on Beacon Hill?
Please share widely!
the loophole closing bill is not filed as part of the budget. It’s a separate piece of legislation. And, as Rep. Jamie Eldridge recently informed us, the bill has plenty of backers on Beacon Hill.
Now I feel as stupid as Jones – and that hurts! But, he’s getting paid to do this legislating thing, so why is he so ill informed? Here’s the teaser from the State House New Service: “Brad Jones: ‘I think the story of the budget’s what’s not in there'”. Since I don’t have an acct, I can’t see the stupid things that Jones was saying in that SHNS article about the loopholes, but if they were anything like his radio appearance on Finneran, he’s the one that should be embarrassed.
it’s conceivable that a legislator could move to insert something like the loophole closing bill as a series of outside sections to the budget, so it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility. But the advocates may have decided that it’s better strategy to keep the battle in one place, that is, the bill that the Gov filed.
Just as soon as I think that I have the disfuncunctionality of our legislature figured out, they tack and use another tactic. The attempt to make the tax laws more fair should be in a stand-alone bill – the press may actually give it a few column inches.
Proposed corporate increase by introducing combined reporting: 3026
I was misled by the Minority Leader this morning into thinking that the battle on the loophole closings was going to be in amendments to the budget bill. As they used to say, ‘my bad’.
Let us look at the Committee on Taxation…whoops! REVENUE! (It was renamed by diMasi, similar to the change from Dept. of War to Dept. of Defense at the Federal level). It has held no hearings thus far. Of its chairs, Sen. Creem might be sympathetic, Sen. Joyce, more tepid, and Rep. Binenda and Rep. Strauss would most likely be opposed, based on past performance. Not a single member of the Revenue Committee has co-sponsored the bill, which does not bode well for its support as legislation. Even when the hearing is held, there is no promise that the Committee will act upon it, except to send it to a ‘study’.
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SO – why HAVEN’T Scortino, Marzilli, Patrick, et al, introduced it as an amendment? The entire budget will be in place for July 1. The Governor’s agenda requires this revenue to be in place. If he stiffs New Bedford again about the train, he’s mistaken if he thinks people will blame the Lege – they will blame HIM for making promises he can’t keep.
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This kind of belt-and-suspenders approach to getting a law passed timely is common when legislation is serious instead of window dressing.
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You decide.
A major, well-attended hearing, including testimony from the Governor, was held last Tuesday.
The legislative process is a giant, slow moving, titanic-sized ship. It takes a huge exertion of time and effort to make it change course even just a little.
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The budget process is a freight train. It gets up to speed in a tunnel and by the time it bursts into the light of day it’s going blazingly fast.
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It’s easy to load cargo and people on and off the legislative ship, since it’s moving so slowly. And loading cargo and people is what one has to do if you want to change the ship’s direction.
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With the budget train moving so fast, the legislators can do little more than stand alongside the tracks and throw sticky things at it in the hope that they adhere and get carried through the process. But the conductors (DeLeo and DiMasi) don’t want too many things sticking onto the train, so they have their staff reaching out the windows and knocking off anything that’s creating too much drag.
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The point of this ridiculous comment is that it would be damn near-impossible to close the loopholes in the budget process, especially when both DeLeo and DiMasi aren’t fans of the idea. The budget process has been designed to favor those in power. So has the legislative process, but there are still more opportunities there to build coalitions, rally support, lobby legislators, and put in the monumental amount of effort needed to get anything done. The house budget will be amended and voted on 2 1/2 weeks after being revealed. That’s a split-second in legislative time.
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And besides, everyone has to make sure their pet projects get money. If the train gets derailed, you can be sure that whoever knocks it off-track won’t get any money.
Thank you to everyone for their advocacy in closing corporate tax loopholes to raise the revenue for core essential services and important programs in Massachusetts.
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The main reason that there were no amendments to the House budget to close corporate tax loopholes is the agreement between Speaker DiMasi, Senate President Murray, and Governor Patrick on creating a commission to study the governor’s proposals and the Massachusetts tax code in general. This commission is to report back to the Legislature and Governor this June, including recommendations.
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While I disagree with this agreement (I believe that Governor Patrick and supportive legislators should bring this fight to the public, given the need for more revenue, and recent polls showing support for closing corporate tax loopholes), the commission is now a political reality.
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Therefore, legislators were inclined not to file amendments that closed corporate tax loopholes in the House budget.
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Given this information, I would encourage voters to contact their State Representatives to ask them to request that Speaker DiMasi appoint House members to the commission.
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As of today, Senate President Murray and Governor Patrick have made their appointments, but the Speaker has not.
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Once the commission makes it recommendations in June, I am hopeful that all or part of the governor’s proposal can pass, provided much-needed revenue for education, state parks, public health, etc. We need the make sure that the commission is “real” and not just a maneuver to kill closing corporate tax loopholes.
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Of course, it IS embarassing to have your point of view seconded by a reporter that doesn’t know that Ruth Provost hasn’t been a Rep. since Republican Jeff Perry beat her in 2002 – unless he means DENISE Provost who was only elected last November, and who is unlikely to buck leadership in her first budget. Unless he doesn’t realize they are different people?
After all, she does list “Closing corporate tax loopholes” on her campaign website. The time is ripe to “buck” the leadership. With Patrick holding the veto pen, all is not lost if a legislator follows the Governor’s mandate.
Denise actually went in, I believe it was February of 2006, in a special to fill the vacancy created when Pat Jehlen went in to the Senate.
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Kate