Speaker DiMasi’s star appointee to the corporate tax panel doesn’t think too highly of his assigned task.
The June 15 deadline is too soon, according to one member of panel, Michael Widmer, head of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Association, which opposes Patrick’s loophole plan. Widmer was appointed by DiMasi.
“You can’t have a legitimate examination of corporate tax code in a month or two,” Widmer said.
Widmer also questioned the value of the commission.
“Of all the priorities that the state faces, I would not put this near the top,” he said. “The impetus for the commission really is a response to the governor’s proposal rather than a crying need in itself.”
Why am I not surprised?
Update, by Charley: Here are the other folks whose time Widmer will be wasting. Pity them:
Commission members include:
· Leslie Kirwan, Secretary of Administration and Finance, Chair*
· Representative John Binienda, House Chair, Joint Committee on Revenue*
· Senator Cynthia Creem, Senate Chair, Joint Committee on Revenue*
· Representative Bradley Jones, House Minority Leader*
· Senator Richard Tisei, Senate Minority Leader*
· Alan LeBovidge, Commissioner of Revenue*
· Professor Alan Clayton-Matthews, UMass Boston
· Joseph Donovan, tax lawyer, Sullivan and Worcester
· Karl Fryzel, tax lawyer, Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge
· Stephen W. Kidder, Managing Partner, Hemenway & Barnes
· Kevin Long, CPA
· Eileen McAnneny, Associated Industries of Massachusetts
· Jane Steinmetz, Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers
· Robert Tannenwald, Economist and Director, New England Public Policy Center, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
· Michael Widmer, President, Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation
(* or designee)
