Dalton Select Board Supports Fair Share Amendment
DALTON, Mass. — The Select Board on Monday voted to support the Fair Share Amendment, which would impose an additional tax of 4 percent on an individual's earnings exceeding $1 million to fund education, infrastructure, and transportation.
It is estimated to generate about $2 billion a year toward public education and affordable colleges and universities, road and bridge repair, and public transportation.
In June, the Legislature voted overwhelmingly to advance the amendment to the November 2022 state election ballot. It is supported by the Berkshire delegation -- state Sen. Adam Hinds, state Reps. William "Smitty" Pignatelli, Tricia Farley-Bouvier, Paul Mark, and John Barrett III.
Tony Pagliarulo, a former teacher in the Central Berkshire Regional School District, brought information about the amendment with a request for support to the board. He described it as a progressive surtax that would essentially affect the top one percent of in the state.
This amendment has been on his radar for 15 years, Pagliarulo said.
"In a nutshell, this amendment is a change to our constitution in the state, and it would provide additional funding for public education and public transportation, and public education. It isn't just K through 12, but it's also our colleges and universities and that's a real consideration in terms of my grandchildren," Pagliarulo said.
"And in terms of public infrastructure, it's the one thing we all seem to agree on that with our potholes and our roads and our bridges, they are in dire need. These monies will be dedicated through this constitutional amendment for that purpose and it would raise well over a billion dollars upwards of two billion given the information by the Mass Budget and Policy Center."
Dalton resident Henry Rose said they wanted the amendment put on the warrant for an upcoming town meeting to be endorsed by the people of Dalton.
The Select Board also supported bringing it to the voters but it will have to be placed on the warrant on at a later date.
Rose added that he was disappointed to see that Wahconah Regional High School does not have a dedicated vocational program.
"I want to emphasize the need for vocational, I don't think anybody on this call would think that our roads and bridges are at the standard that they need to be, and I would hope everybody would agree that our educational system needs extra help," he said.
"And the way to get that is by making the pie bigger, getting more money into the budget, and the estimated $2 billion will go a long way, our state budget is something like $47 billion, the extra $2 billion will go a long way and it's specifically for transportation and education."
Select Board member Dan Esko brought up the issue of residents vacating the state to flee the tax.
The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center estimated in 2017 that the state could lose about $35 million annually in from millionaires leaving the state but that more than 99 percent would continue to reside here.
Esko abstained from the vote.
Chairman Joe Diver pointed to the number of Massachusetts residents who would be subject to the additional tax.
"What I learned from the [Department of Revenue] report is that the impact of residents across the state has been 19,500 that would be impacted in this change, things of that nature," he said.
"And there's a lot of history of this trying to make its way through to the legislative process, including some core challenges which seem to have been cleared up and now on the ballot for November."
Tags: income taxes,
