Patrick Vows to Veto Sales Tax Hike If Ethics Reform Falters
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Lawmakers approved a $27.4 billion spending plan for fiscal 2010 on Friday that cuts local aid up to 15 percent and funding for 800 local projects, according to The Boston Globe.
The Legislature earlier agreed that raising the sales tax from 5 percent to 6.25 percent was necessary to partially offset a multibillion-dollar deficit; the House-Senate conference committee budget approved today also includes a 1.25 percent increase in meals taxes to be targeted toward local aid.
Municipalities for the first time will get a local option to raise meals taxes by 3/4 percent and rooms and meals taxes by 2 percent to help fill budget holes left by reductions in state aid.
Chapter 70 education aid is being cut 2 percent across the board; school districts that fall below foundation level can expect to receive federal stimulus funding to make up the difference.
Lawmakers rejected the governor's calls for a 19 percent gasoline tax to fund transportation needs.
The governor has 10 days to sign or veto all or part of the bill. He's said that without all three reforms he's pushed for — transportation, pension and ethics — he won't back a hike in the sales tax.
The following is a statement released by the governor this afternoon:
I pledged to veto the Legislature's proposed sales tax increase unless the Legislature first enacted meaningful reforms in the pension system, the transportation network, and our ethics and lobbying rules. In the last 10 days, the Legislature has passed and I have signed legislation eliminating long-standing pension abuses. They have also passed what, at first review, seems to be a good-faith effort at reforming our broken transportation system. I commend the House and Senate for their work on these reform measures.
However, the fact that we have not been able to pass a strong ethics reform bill — despite the clear need to restore the public's trust - threatens all the progress we have made. For the Legislature to enact a 25 percent increase in the sales tax without first passing a strong ethics bill goes against the pledge that the Legislative leaders and I made, and that the public expects us to keep, to deliver all three reforms before new revenue.
We know what to do. The House passed a solid ethics bill. The Senate's bill contains a good new idea regarding campaign finance. Legislative leaders should quickly agree to final ethics legislation that includes the strongest provisions from the House, the Senate and my original bill — including a gift ban and campaign finance reform. Without that, I will veto the sales tax.
