Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

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  1. You can find the Senate W&M’s budget recommendations here later today.

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    p>Meanwhile Matt Viser at the Globe has conducted his own poll of Senators and hasn’t been able to get any more information about their inclination to support new taxes than the advocates. (Excuse me, special interest lobbyists)

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    An informal Globe poll this week of the 40 senators indicated that few are willing to take a strong stand for or against new taxes to repair the recession-ravaged budget. The Globe asked all senators to respond to an informal survey on whether they would support raising taxes at all and which specific ones they would support.

    Few responded at all, and several senators, who are known to discuss issues for hours on end, hedged in interviews.

    “I’m not going to give you a specific answer,” said Senator Marc R. Pacheco, a Taunton Democrat.

    “We need to do something, but I don’t know that there’s a consensus at this moment,” said Senator Stanley C. Rosenberg, a Northampton Democrat. “Some people are saying we should only do income. Some say gas, no tolls. Some say sales, no income. It’s a mixed bag.”

  2. Mass Budget has released their preliminary analysis of the Senate Ways and Means Budget.

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    p>It goes into detail on budget areas of Education, Environment & Recreation, Health Care, Human Services, Infrastructure, Housing & Economic Development, Law & Public Safety, Local Aid, Revenue.

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    p>Here’s a taste:

    This budget does not include new broad-based taxes and instead imposes over $2.5 billion in cuts and spending reductions,1 affecting almost everything government does, including public safety, education, health care and human services, environmental protection, libraries and parks, and our infrastructure. The SWM budget recommends cutting local aid, for example, by $487 million (36 percent) from the amount originally appropriated in the General Appropriation Act (GAA) for Fiscal Year 2009.

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