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To the editor,
I hope you’ll join me in voting YES on Question 1, the Fair Share Amendment (FSA). It would amend the MA Constitution to put an additional 4% tax on the amount of annual taxable income over $1 million. Revenue from this tax would be constitutionally required to be used for public education and for the repair and maintenance of roads, bridges, and public transportation. The $1 million cutoff would be adjusted annually for inflation.
Only 1% of Massachusetts taxpayers will pay more under the FSA. Currently, 99% of MA taxpayers pay an average of 9.4% of their incomes for all state and local taxes (e.g., real estate, sales, and income taxes, etc.). The richest 1% of MA taxpayers pay an average of only 6.5%; roughly 3% less than the rest of us. With the FSA, their percentage would go up to about 8.0%, still less than the rest of us are paying. They would pay an extra four cents of tax on every dollar of income over $1 million. In other words, on their second $1,000,000 dollars of income (and each additional million), they would pay an additional $40,000 of tax, barely putting a dent in their very large incomes. The FSA will NOT tax away anyone’s retirement nest egg. Learn more about the FSA at fairsharema.com.
Five states have top income tax rates higher than the FSA’s top rate of 9% (CA, HI, MN, NJ, and OR) and four others are above 8.5% (DC, IA, NY, and VT). New York City’s is over 11%. The dire predictions of the ads against Question 1 (paid for by a few multi-millionaires) have NOT come true in these jurisdictions and they won’t in MA.
The FSA will generate about $2 billion every year that will help Massachusetts pay for enhanced education and transportation, which will benefit all of us and all our businesses. Please vote YES on Question 1 on or before November 8. It’s a win-win.
John Lippitt
Mineral Street
Reading, MA 01867
