"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]

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

[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?

[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

[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.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Brevity is the soul of wit.

el duderino

[smoterh.livejournal.com]

I'm not into the whole brevity thing

Puns, the lowest form of comedy.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

There's no need to get short with me.

[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.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

We could propose something like that and call it a "TAX SWAP". :)

[smoterh.livejournal.com]

Although NH has proportionally higher real estate taxes, NH also has one of the lowest overall tax burdens in the nation. In addition, real estate taxes directly benefit your town and each town can regulate how much income they need.

[cos]

Lack of a sales tax can coexist with either a higher income tax (which I would prefer) or cause property taxes to skyrocket and/or basic state services - such as paved roads - to start going away. Oregon, for example, has a progressive income tax which starts at 5% and goes up to 11% for the highest incomes. If we merely had Oregon's second bracket, 7%, in Massachusetts, we could possibly do without any sales tax. New Hampshire, on the other hand, has a constant property tax crisis. We had a temporary property tax crisis in MA, around 2003-2007, but property taxes have mostly stabilized since then.

Q3 is destructive. The *best* possible effect of it would be to finally force our legislature to significantly raise the income tax, but that not very likely (though it's what I'll work hard for if Q3 passes). More likely is that we'll once again have large jumps in property taxes as local aid gets cut, and we'll also shed more teachers and aid for vulnerable people and the court system and so on.

I honestly feel like everyone who favors Q3 is either clueless or a serious asshole. The latter I hate, the former just frustrate me :( My hatred for the latter is pretty personal, though, because I see them as being out to destroy this nice state I live in with their ideological delusions.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

They also have some of the worst roads in New England, serious school funding problems, and have a whole host of social services problems.

I hate to sound like a Linux administrator, but RTFM.

[ckd]

While it's not a perfect solution, the exemptions for groceries and clothing below a certain price do help make the sales tax slightly less regressive.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

On the local level, I'm running into a lot of people unwilling or unable to actually do the research and present evidence for their axioms. How I feel about sales tax is beside the point; I'm voting against 3 entirely because of the Underpants Gnome way of thinking in the entire measure. If you cut taxes, government does not magically become more efficient. Yes, businesses are supposed to, people can, but neither of those are governments.

[ceo]

Except they can't in MA, due to Proposition 2½.

[cos]

When a business loses revenue it doesn't magically become more efficient either. It usually just lays people off, and the loss of institutional knowledge can cause it to become less efficient. I've definitely seen that happen. Of course, sometimes the result is that the business fails, and we're okay with letting businesses fail most of the time. Other businesses can take their place. That's one of the big differences between how we should handle business vs. how we should handle our state government.

the reality according to

[smoterh.livejournal.com]

American Society of Civil Engineers

Roads

Massachusetts:
71% of Massachusetts' major roads are in poor or mediocre condition.
51% of Massachusetts' bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.

New Hampshire:
30% of New Hampshire's major roads are in poor or mediocre condition
33% of New Hampshire's bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete

Schools:

Massachusetts:
75% of Massachusetts' schools have at least one inadequate building feature.
80% of Massachusetts' schools have at least one unsatisfactory environmental feature

New Hampshire:

59% of New Hampshire's schools have at least one inadequate building feature.
78% of New Hampshire's schools have at least one unsatisfactory environmental condition.


http://apps.asce.org/reportcard/2005/states.cfm

[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.