2008 Massachusetts Ballot Initiative ("Question 1") to End the Income Tax
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* Who We Are
* The Small Government Act
* Contact Us
* For The Media
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Who We Are
The
Committee For Small Government is a non-partisan, grass roots
organization with thousands of generous and enthusiastic volunteers and
donors. We put an initiative to End the Income Tax in Massachusetts on
the ballot in 2002. It won an unprecedented 45% of the vote - in a
state that's a hotbed of Big Government.
Carla Howell, Chair, heads the committee. She and Michael Cloud co-sponsored both the 2002 and 2008 End the Income Tax ballot initiatives.
Carla Howell is also the President and Co-founder of The Center For Small Government.
In 2002 she ran as candidate for Governor, making the case for Ending
the Income Tax in six televised debates . In 2000 she ran for U.S.
Senate and won 308,860 votes - the highest vote of any third party U.S.
Senate candidate running against both a Democrat and Republican in
recent history. In 1998, she ran for State Auditor and received the
endorsement of the Boston Herald.
Carla Howell is a political
songwriter. In 2001 she released her spoof song How Could I Live
Without Filing Taxes? In 2003 she published a unique song-and-booklet
package on the topic of education freedom called Maybe We Would Be Amazed.
Michael
Cloud is Co-founder of the Center For Small Government. In 2002 he ran
for US Senate against 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry,
winning 19% of the vote - the highest vote for a Libertarian US Senate
candidate ever. Michael Cloud was C.E.O. of the 2000 Carla Howell for
U.S. Senate campaign. In 1996 he organized the Harry Browne for
President campaign, and was fund-raiser and advisor for Browne's 1996
and 2000 campaigns. Michael Cloud has been politically active since
1976 and has raised over $9 million for small government candidates,
projects, and initiatives.
Michael Cloud is a speechwriter and
the Master of libertarian communication. He writes the Persuasion Power
Points column for over 70,000 readers of the Advocates for
Self-Government Liberator Online and is author of the powerful book Secrets of Libertarian Persuasion.
Both
Carla Howell and Michael Cloud consult local, state, and federal small
government campaigns and initiatives in and outside Massachusetts.
Kamal
Jain is an Information Technology professional and spokesperson for End
the Income Tax. He ran for State Auditor in 2002 and has actively
supported numerous small government campaigns.
Attorney Peter
Kuntz is chief counsel for the Committee For Small Government and wrote
the text of our proposed law: the Small Government Act to End the
Income Tax.
Contact the Committee For Small Government
The Small Government Act
Question 1: The Small Government Act to End the Income Tax
The
Small Government Act to End the Income Tax is a Massachusetts citizen
initiative - Question 1 on the November 4, 2008 general election ballot.
If
a simple majority of voters say "YES" to Question 1 on November 4th,
the Small Government Act to End the Income Tax will become law. We will
end the Massachusetts state income tax.
The new law will go into
effect immediately when election results are official, and will affect
taxpayers starting January 1, 2009.
The Small Government Act to
End the Income Tax is a binding referendum, not a constitutional
amendment nor an advisory question. It's a statute, just like any law
passed by the legislature. If a majority of voters say "Yes", it will
be encoded in the Massachusetts General Law, the body of law for the
state government, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
If we END the Income Tax in Massachusetts:
-
You will save an average of $3,700 for each taxpayer in your family.
Money you'll be able to spend on your family, save for your retirement,
or give away to your favorite charity - in your own community.
- You will no longer pay the 5.3% income tax on wages.
-
If you're living on an annuity, you will no longer pay the 5.3% income
tax on interest or dividends than you need to make ends meet.
-
If you sell your house or your business, or need to liquidate your
stock or retirement fund, you will no longer pay 5.3-12% interest on
capital gains.
Best of all, we'll take $12.6 billion now wasted
and misspent every year by politicians on Beacon Hill and put it back
into the hands of the men and women who earned it.
Summary (as appears on petition sheets and in the 2008 Official Massachusetts Information for Voters guide as Question 1):
This
proposed law would reduce the state personal income tax rate to 2.65%
for all categories of taxable income for the tax year beginning on or
after January 1, 2009, and would eliminate the tax for all tax years
beginning on or after January 1, 2010.
The personal income tax
applies to income received or gain realized by individuals and married
couples, by estates of deceased persons, by certain trustees and other
fiduciaries, by persons who are partners in and receive income from
partnerships, by corporate trusts, and by persons who receive income as
shareholders of “S corporations” as defined under federal tax law. The
proposed law would not affect the tax due on income or gain realized in
a tax year beginning before January 1, 2009.
The proposed law states that if any of its parts were declared invalid, the other parts would stay in effect.
Full text of The Small Government Act to End the Income Tax
State Personal Income Tax
OFFICIAL STATEMENT IN FAVOR – 150 words
“41% waste in Massachusetts state government,” reveals survey. Eliminating government waste is one reason to vote “Yes.”
Your
“Yes” vote cuts your state income taxes 50% starting this January 1st –
and eliminates the last 50% next January 1st. For you and for 3,400,000
Massachusetts workers and taxpayers.
Your “Yes” vote gives back
$3,700 each to 3,400,000 Massachusetts workers and taxpayers –
including you – on average when we end the state income tax. $3,700.
Each worker. Every year.
Your ”Yes” vote will create hundreds of thousands of new Massachusetts jobs.
Your ”Yes” vote will NOT raise your property taxes NOR any other taxes.
Your ”Yes” vote will NOT cut, NOR require cuts, of any essential government services.
Your
“Yes” vote rolls back state government spending 27% - $47.3 billion to
$34.7 billion – more than state government spending in 1999.
3,400,000 Massachusetts workers, taxpayers and their families need your help. Please vote “Yes.”
Authored by:
Carla Howell, Chair
The Committee For Small Government
P.O. Box 5268
Wayland, MA 01778
www.SmallGovernmentAct.org
Full text of The Small Government Act to End the Income Tax
Contact Us
To contact the proponents of the 2008 Question ballot initiative, send an email to 
.
Thank you! Small government is possible!
For The Media
The
Yes on 1 campaign gives radio stations permission to use these sound
bites in radio news segments about Question 1. Please visit our videos
page for video clips.
Right-click a link to download the MP3 file.
Gives back $3700 - money for bills and mortgage
Will create jobs
Will cut government waste
Tax cutting starts with Question 1 (mentions property taxes)
Get Active
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