Rant:New Mass Taxes and Fees (2010 Budget)

[Vermonster]

Well,
The governor has released his 2010 budget and it looks like all of us who live in or visit Massachusetts will have to open our wallets a bit wider. My quick read shows:

Do you eat candy: new tax
Drink beer: new tax
Do you drink soda, juice or sports drinks: new tax
Eat out at a restaurant: tax increase
Stay at a hotel: tax increase
Do you drink water, juice, etc.: new fee (well, actually a bottle deposit)
Have a drivers license: increased fee
Register a car: increased fee
Title a car: increased fee
Have auto insurance: new surcharge

I'm sure there's more to love, but I've got to run and buy takeout before the price goes up.

 

[trophygrl]

patrick is a p.o.c.

 

[DJF3864]

They don't call us Taxachusettes for nothing.

I would rather pay a little more in taxes and on someother things then have him cut the police, firefighters, and other support personel.

 

[lord1234]

They don't call us Taxachusettes for nothing.

I would rather pay a little more in taxes and on someother things then have him cut the police, firefighters, and other support personel.

he's going to do that too....most of these taxes will go to pay his brothers cousins wife's sisters nephew for sitting in an office somewhere with his thumb up his ass....

 

[doobie]

Oooh I want the economy to recover and need to accept a 10-20k pay cut and move my job to NH and save myself the hassle of paying taxes to MA.

 

[Underwhere]

patrick is a p.o.c.

Don't hold back. We don't need to use terms like P.O.C. here.
We have the means of defending our freedom of speech.

They don't call us Taxachusettes for nothing.

I would rather pay a little more in taxes and on someother things then have him cut the police, firefighters, and other support personel.

My personal belief is that threatening to cut services like those are a ploy to get people to agree with more taxes.

In the big scheme of things is cutting police, FF and support really the right thing or how about plowing services, some social services, some state agencies that do absolutely shit.

They say they will cut vital services because it's a scare tactic.

 

[mikem317]

I think I should run for governor.

Never mind. I'll never win. I'll promote scary things like personal liberty and small government.

I won't stand a chance.

 

[PaulD]

On the bright side, this won't help his chances for another term.

 

[cekim]

Oooh I want the economy to recover and need to accept a 10-20k pay cut and move my job to NH and save myself the hassle of paying taxes to MA.

Yeah, but they kill you with property taxes... It's loose-loose and the bozi in NH elected Obama too - WTF?

 

[Bob P]

Don't hold back. We don't need to use terms like P.O.C. here.
We have the means of defending our freedom of speech.



My personal belief is that threatening to cut services like those are a ploy to get people to agree with more taxes.

In the big scheme of things is cutting police, FF and support really the right thing or how about plowing services, some social services, some state agencies that do absolutely shit.

They say they will cut vital services because it's a scare tactic.

My town does this every year with an attempted 2 1/2 override. It gets voted down and they miraculously find the money someplace. Oh, and one time it DID get passed - and they used the money for something else and laid off people anyway.

 

[Sprocket]

We have the means of defending our freedom of speech.

Freedom of Speech Tax = 2%

 

[cekim]

Freedom of Speech Tax = 2%

Tax credit for speaking on behalf of the "People's Party" though

 

[trophygrl]

out of fairness, he could have left out tax on booze-- we need it with him at the helm.

 

[Pilgrim]

I also heard on the radio yesterday that he's planning on cutting 'aid to cities and towns', you know the stuff that keeps our property taxes where they are, by $500 MILLION dollars.

Wait til you see your prop taxes now !

 

[Bob P]

Sin taxes. Typical left thinking. Sugar items, they're bad for you don'tcha know. Let's tax them and we'll fight obesity at the same time! The only thing I'm shocked is missing is an ammo tax.

 

[mikem317]

Sin taxes. Typical left thinking. Sugar items, they're bad for you don'tcha know. Let's tax them and we'll fight obesity at the same time! The only thing I'm shocked is missing is an ammo tax.

Don't worry. That's coming soon.

 

[cekim]

The only thing I'm shocked is missing is an ammo tax.

Give them time - I fully expect a full out war to make it constructively impossible to possess a functional firearm in the next 4 years... They will attack ammo, storage, proximity (to "save the children") etc...

 

[trophygrl]

what is with him wasting our money to take a trip out west in an effort to bring it companies here?

why is he always somewhere else... like book signings and bullshit trips like this?

 

[bostonasphalt2]

Thank you Deval Patrick, you are one step closer to securing the fact that you will NOT get re-elected.


Its astounding the shit that smug polesmoker tires to do to the people who are "below him". You work for us douchebag, not the other way around. Ever heard his voice? I dont think he has actually hit puberty yet.

 

[BOBKATT]

When is it that we can try to vote out this incompitent scumbag again?

 

[clinotus]

On the bright side, this won't help his chances for another term.

I'm pretty sure he doesn't give a hoot about being re-elected. He just needed the state to be in the red so that he could bring it into the black by any means necessary. It works for his political resume. Don't forget he's likely heading to D.C. in two years or so, if not sooner.

 

[one-eyed Jack]

Didn't he talk about property tax relief when he was running? Jack.

 

[cekim]

Didn't he talk about property tax relief when he was running? Jack.

That would only be possible if someone asked him about it - at which point, he would have offered a non-committal, but uplifting message on the topic...

 

[rep308]

More trips to visit our friends in NH. How about a group Budwiser buy in NH?

 

[clinotus]

That would only be possible if someone asked him about it - at which point, he would have offered a non-committal, but uplifting message on the topic...

'You know..[gazes into the distance], I've given a lot of though to this and the problems that the people of this state are having with the current economic downturn. There has to be some kind of solution that, we...[gazes into the distance]..can come up with so that people can stay in their homes and support local businesses and vendors who stay in the state. Together we can, think of solutions that [gazes into the distance] for some time now things have failed in the past with homeownership and we need to reach a commonground in applying aid wherever we can for those who are in need. Together we can and I firmly believe that [gazes into the distance] Yes we can, do this.'

 

[Palladin]

More trips to visit our friends in NH. How about a group Budwiser buy in NH?

Hannaford's in Pelham yesterday...Budlite 30pak $15 .

I switch to JD for the winter, otherwise I would have grabbed two or five.

 

[cekim]

'You know..[gazes into the distance], I've given a lot of though to this and the problems that the people of this state are having with the current economic downturn. There has to be some kind of solution that, we...[gazes into the distance]..can come up with so that people can stay in their homes and support local businesses and vendors who stay in the state. Together we can, think of solutions that [gazes into the distance] for some time now things have failed in the past with homeownership and we need to reach a commonground in applying aid wherever we can for those who are in need. Together we can and I firmly believe that [gazes into the distance] Yes we can, do this.'

Stunning isn't it? I listened to him, Obama and Clinton and watched the liberals around me drool and coo and wondered if perhaps I was missing an organ in the brain to receive the real message that was being transmitted to bring about this trance-like state of pleasure...

Oh well, I guess I will just have to keep trudging along in reality regardless of the election cycle... Does look like fun to just sit there and let your brain ooze out of the yours in orgasmic pleasure though...

 

[Palladin]

OK...let's blow this thread wide open:

Outrage as DOC drops $77,000 on flat-screen TVs for cons
Hoosegow goes high-def

By Jessica Van Sack | Wednesday, January 28, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage

Photo by Ted Fitzgerald
The Bay State’s hard-core killers, rapists and thieves will get to watch this Sunday’s Super Bowl on 117 brand-new high-definition flatscreen TVs purchased with the OK of state prison honchos, the Herald has learned.

The cash-strapped and over-crowded prison system spent a mind-boggling $76,958 for the swanky sets this month even as Gov. Deval Patrick moves to lay off state workers and slash local aid in the face of the worst financial meltdown in a generation.

Paid for with prisoner “canteen” funds, the state-of-the-art TVs are being installed in the common areas of all Department of Correction prisons this month in anticipation of the national digital TV transition, said DOC spokeswoman Diane Wiffin.

Worcester County Sheriff Guy Glodis was baffled by the lavish spending.

“It sends the wrong message when they’re asking sheriff offices throughout the state to cut at least a million out of our budget,” said Glodis, who recently removed TVs from the Worcester County House of Correction. “I would argue there are other things you can spend the money on that are more conducive to rehabilitation.”

The new TVs outraged even inmate advocates.

“What are they thinking?” asked Leslie Walker, director of Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services, noting that many inmates already have TVs in their cells.

Walker said the massive purchase exemplifies the need for greater oversight of the DOC. Rep. Kay Khan (D-Newton) has proposed a commission to monitor spending and other DOC matters.

The DOC convened a committee in December 2007 to study the transition from analog to digital TV, Wiffin said. That committee, which included prison officials, decided to purchase new TVs in lieu of digital converter boxes, Wiffin said. A DOC source said converter boxes, which run fom $40 to $80 a piece, were made available to inmates for their in-cell televisions.

The DOC purchased two types of flat-screens - a 32-inch LG brand plasma and a 26-inch Sharp LCD. While the price of each model was unclear, the total cost put the average at $649.

Wiffin, however, called the TVs “modest” and stressed they were not bought on the taxpayers’ dime.

Canteen money is raised by prisoner purchases of items such as toiletries and food, the proceeds of which go into a fund to benefit inmates. At any given time the account can contain up to $800,000, Wiffin said. Purchases of more than $1,000 require approval by top DOC officials.

The state, meanwhile, is struggling to close a whopping $2.5 billion shortfall in this year’s budget - and could face a seismic $4 billion gap in next year’s spending plan.

Said Steve Kenneway, president of the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union, “I think you can find a better use for $77,000 than to go out and buy TVs for guys who are used to stealing them.”

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1148299

 

[trophygrl]

unbelievable.

 

[clinotus]

Wow.

I cant even comment further.