Patrick: We Need to Increase Income Tax to Invest in Our Future

Tell us: do you think we need to increase taxes to strengthen education and transportation?

In his State of the Commonwealth address Wednesday night, Gov. Deval Patrick proposed raising the state's income tax by 1 percentage point and lowering the sales tax to pay for $2 billion in transportation improvements and early childhood education programs.  "There is no good time to raise taxes. I know how tough the times have been on the people and families of the Commonwealth. And though the worst of the recession is over, many, many families still face tough decisions and have deep anxiety about the future. I would not ask if I did not believe in my heart that investing meaningfully today in education and transportation will significantly improve our economic tomorrows," Patrick said. Patrick said he wanted a more fair and …

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Ken B.

1:00 pm on Friday, February 1, 2013

Ayca/MC, So the best you got is a claim that since SC is corrupt we should throw more money down the demotax rathole under the guise of improving education and transportation ? Where's your proof that it will ?.....oh, nevermind, you said so, so it must be true. (Sound of buzzer) Dissss-missed !   more ›

Question of the Day

Question of the Day: Grading the State of the Commonwealth Speech

How would you grade Governor Deval Patrick's speech last night?

  Last night, Governor Deval Patrick delivered his State of the Commonwealth speech. The speech, given before a joint session of the State Legislature focused on successes over the past year - including Massachusetts' high credit rating and improvement in job creation. Patrick proposed strengthinging the community college system with a centralized strategy within the state. He also proposed a medical payment system without a fee-based service, and modifying prison sentancing with more emphasis on violent offenders and less on non-violent drug offenders. To view the entire speech, click on the attached .pdf. How would you grad the Governor's speech last night?

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