$150 fines for not shoveling your sidewalk within 12 hours...

[kalimba21.livejournal.com]

According to the Somerville Journal, the next thing the city is trying to get approved is a standard $150 first offense fine for non shoveling within 12 hours of a storm, 4 hours for businesses. This is up from $25 and 12 hours for both residents and businesses. Repeat offense will be $300. Probably the biggest part of this is they are looking to have it enforced by the people who write the parking tickets, currently it is the city's Inspectional Services dept. who write the tickets.

Comments

[ethanfield.livejournal.com]

Though it's off-topic: Any idea why Massachusetts of all states has a flat state income tax? Instead of raising it across the board, it seems like adopting a progressive income tax could do us a world of good.

[cos]

We're far from the only state with a flat income tax. In MA, the reason is that it's in the state constitution, so instituting a graduated progressive tax rate would require a constitutional amendment. Instead, the legislature took some easier shortcuts to a similar end, such as a large personal exemption, so our income tax is a bit progressive. Unfortunately, ever since the idiotic anti-tax movement of the 80s and 90s, we've relied more and more on the property tax and sales tax and other regressive forms of revenue, so that our overall tax burden is actually regressive: the poor pay a higher percentage of what they have than the middle class, who pay a higher percentage than the wealthy. So for now, the easiest way to make our tax system more progressive would be to just raise the (flat) income tax rate, lower the sales tax, and increase local aid in order to prevent forcing cities and towns from raising more crazy fees like this Somerville is doing.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Probably the same reason they decided to raise the sales tax (it being THE most regressive tax) instead of the income tax or the gas tax in response to the recession and the transportation funding catastrophe.

That is to say, no good reason at all.