Massachusetts is a good state. It doesn't deserve the nickname Taxachusetts.
I moved from New York to Massachusetts, and I can attest that I'm taxed less here. The state spends the money more wisely, with beautiful parks, reasonably good roads, and some money remitted back to towns and schools.
Back in 1980, Massachusetts passed a property tax cap, a conservative proposal that I feared at the time. But it has helped curb spending, weeding out some waste and ensuring that extra local spending is approved via referendum of the local voters.
The legislature has raised taxes in tough times to avoid slashing state and town budgets, then kept its promise and lowered them back. It hasn't been a one-way street, unlike with the 1970's Democratic Congress and the 2000's Republican Congress.
Right now, with the recession, we are in a higher tax mode. The state sales tax went from 5% to 6.25%. My New York friends can't remember taxes that low. The state has a rainy-day fund, as does my town.
With this sensible management, we won't have to sell our state house to balance the budget, as some states have (thank you, Daily Show). But maybe we'd sell Plymouth Rock, the sites of the first battle of the Revolutionary War, and the Old North Church first (except the church is probably owned by a diocese). No, we'd probably be boring and make some cuts, raise some fees, and get along. I just hate government that's too responsible. What could I write about?
Not For Sale
P.S. The state that sold its capitol building--Arizona. And they think they're patriots and we're a bunch of pansies.
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