"Yes on question 3" Yard Signs

[smoterh.livejournal.com]

I've been distributing "Vote Yes on 3" yard signs and bumper stickers and have about 20 yard signs left.  If you're interested in having a yard sign or want some bumper stickers, you can PM me.  I'll be happy to drop them off at your place or you can come to pick them up.

Comments

[rollzroix.livejournal.com]

I wish this was twitter and not a moderated forum because I've got a really snappy comeback about what you should do with those extra signs.

[ron_newman]

You can post it here if you want ....

[smoterh.livejournal.com]

I believe "Davis Snark" is your go-to place for snappy comments. BTW, twitter sucks

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Brevity is the soul of wit.

[ron_newman]

If this question is passed, what effect do you expect it to have on Green Line construction and the Community Path extension?

[littlecitynames.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this comment, because it reminded me to look up the Community Path extension plans. I can't wait til it extends to Lowell so I can avoid more hills on my way to work.

[ron_newman]

I assume you mean Lowell Street, not the city of Lowell? You can ride on Princeton and Alpine streets now to get to Lowell Street.

[davelew.livejournal.com]

Do you have any "No on 3" yard signs for people who actually like paved roads and other trappings of modern civilization? How about any "quit wasting money by getting this question on every ballot even though it fails EVERY time" yard signs? Do you have any of those?

[rollzroix.livejournal.com]

What he said. Question 3, brought to you by Carla Howell, Massachusetts' ansswer to Christine O'Donnell (although quite a bit lessa articulate).

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

if only LJ had a "like" button. This.

[smoterh.livejournal.com]

are you suggesting that there once the sales tax is reduced we no longer will have paved roads? Are you aware that there are 5 states in the union that don't have any sales tax - I believe all of them have paved roads and indoor toilets, although I've never been to Oregon, so I don't know for sure.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

What are property taxes, and thus, rental costs, in those areas?

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

They also, IIRC have really high property taxes.

You can't just reduce the amount of money the state takes in and expect to provide the same services. If you intend to take in additional money through some other tax, that should be mentioned in the bill.

If it's a "reduce sales tax, but create a state-wide property tax on houses over $750,000" or something, then sure. But if it's just "eliminate the sales tax and everything will be wine and roses" umm. not so much.

Sales taxes are very regressive, so I agree that lowering the sales tax would be good. But only if you raise the income tax on the top n%, or raise property taxes, or something.

[derekp.livejournal.com]

Sales tax doesn't exist in a vacuum, though. Ask your friends in New Hampshire how their real estate tax bills look. Sure, Oregon has no sales tax (and great bike accessibility, Ron), but they do allow localities to impose a sales tax and also have a graduated state income tax. We have neither in Massachusetts.

[davelew.livejournal.com]

I am suggesting that if we cut state revenue, we will see cuts in services. If we see large cuts in revenue, we will see large cuts in services. TANSTAAFL.

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

so, I think that the answer to your question is "No. No one wants your extra signs or bumper stickers."

Please recycle them as much as possible so that we don't create any more land fill than we need to.

thanks.

[vonelftinhaus.livejournal.com]

^This^

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

I would like all 20 of your yard signs and all of your bumper-stickers.

drop me a line and I'll come pick them up.

[teele-sq.livejournal.com]

hah. i like this response.

Creative problem solving...

[turil.livejournal.com]

Just for some extra discussion of possible options that thinks outside the traditional box, I'll suggest the possibility of personal choice when it comes to taxes. Not only do you get to choose which form of taxes you will pay but you also get to choose the different basic programs that the money will go to if you want.

So, for example, pick one or more to pay this year: sales tax, property tax, income tax, or a straight donation, all of which will be simple flat rates or quantities per person. Then pick one or more of the following departments for your taxes to fund/subsidize: food programs, clean water programs, clean air programs, shelter/housing programs, greenspace programs, public transportation (including roads and paths), sports and exercise programs (including yoga!), education (including think tanks, business incubators, and continuing ed), community organizing programs (from community gardens, to street parties, to craft groups, to pretty much whatever communities are interested in working together on), and conflict mediation, locally and statewide (to replace the old fashioned punitive legal system).

When people have more control over how they invest their money, they feel more positive about it, and care more about the outcome, and the departments that run these programs become more open about what they are doing, because they end up being much more directly accountable to the public.

Re: Creative problem solving...

[doxasticpirate.livejournal.com]

Many people will not fund initiatives that don't benefit them -- or, don't *think* will benefit them -- either because they're greedy, or they have philosophical objections to funding welfare / entitlement programs. In other cases, some people will conclude that it's in their best interest not to fund programs that they benefit from, if they think that their contribution won't be the difference between having paved roads or not. So, either a) important programs will get less money, or b) the people willing to pay for these programs will have to pay *more* in order to balance out the "freeloaders."

We aready have a few things sorta like this -- not on the scale you're talking about, but if you pay attention on your tax form, people have the option to voluntarily pay into a public election fund (which is probably one of the better uses of public money I can think of).

It's not a major success.

Re: Creative problem solving...

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

You've made two suggestions that are not actually related.

1) people decide how they get taxed

2) people decide where their money goes.

the problem with 1 is that everyone will choose how THEY get taxed the least. In order to actually have the money to govern, we need to tax the rich more, etc. Also, the beurocracy involved in keeping track of that wouldbe horrendous. "Oh, I don't have to pay sales tax on my lunch, because I pay a flat tax, but Sue here DOES pay sales tax, so .. could you split our bill for us? and how do you enforce that? Also, flat taxes never work.

the problem with 2 is that people will try to game the system. I'm going to assume that lots of other people will pay for roads this year, so I'm going to put all of my money into health care and education. Well, if everyone thinks that way, we have no funding for roads. And the rich conservatives who think that the only useful government is the police, will put all of their money into police, and only the middle and lower payed people will put money into schools, etc...

Fundamentally, the problem with leaving all of this stuff up to The People, is that The People are morons. (This is why I cringe every time I hear someone say "We should run everyone out of congress and get 70 guys with callouses on their hands from South Dakota and have them run the government." (Which I did hear on NPR last week)... )

Recipe for a mess, like California

[cos]

That is essentially the problem with the State of California budget. Every year, people get to vote yes or no on various tax & funding questions entirely out of context. Do you want to support schools? Reduce the tax on selling cars? Fund this or that program? etc. The result is a horrible unmanageable mess because each person's individual opinion on each particular kind of spending, in isolation, is no substitute for a comprehensive, sane view of the entire budget. The latter also takes a lot more time and research and work, which most voters will not do because they have other jobs and don't have time to do their legislators' staffs' jobs for them.

[ocschwar.livejournal.com]

Ballot measures are what made California the basket case it is today. Just sayin'.

No on 3 Signs

[masswich.livejournal.com]

Oops, I read it quickly and got excited that I could get a NO ON 3 sign delivered in Somerville.

Putting all else aside, given the specific tax structure of Massachusetts, we rely on the sales tax. If Question 3 passes, expect a serious effort from the state to delay the Green Line extension again. In addition, you can be sure that the T will increase fares significantly (since 2000, state legislation has tied the T to the sales tax.)

If anyone is interested, you can pick up VOTE NO ON 3 signs at SEIU's office at 150 Mt. Vernon Street, Suite 300, 3rd Floor in Boston.