On Wednesday night the Massachusetts legislature voted 159 to 41 to put the Fair Share Amendment on the 2022 ballot. The initiative was shepherded through the legislature by state Representative Jim O’Day and Senator Jason Lewis.
The initiative would impose a 4% surtax on household income of more than $1 million dollars. This is income — not assets. So even owning a million dollar house would not trigger the additional tax. It is estimated that only a sixth of one percent of all Massachusetts residents would be affected by the amendment. Massachusetts currently has a flat tax of 5%. The estimated $2 billion more in tax revenues would be used for education and transportation infrastructure.
On June 8th the investigative research site ProPublica disclosed a huge trove of 15 years of IRS documents showing that America’s super-rich don’t pay their fair share of federal taxes — if they pay any at all. While everything a normal citizen earns is fair game for the IRS, under federal tax law much of the income of America’s wealthiest is not even regarded as taxable income!
On Wednesday at 5:30pm local organizations supporting the Fair Share Amendment rallied in Buttonwood Park in New Bedford. Represented were members of the Coalition for Social Justice, RaiseUp, New Bedford Coalition to Save our Schools, the NAACP New Bedford Branch, SEIU and other UMASS unions, Democratic politicians, advocates for better transportation, religious organizations, and many others. NAACP New Bedford president, Dr. LaSella Hall, spoke briefly.
