On the tax front

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Dec 31, 2001 | by Hans S. Nichols, | Brandon Spun

Boston and Seattle, two shining cities on their own icy hills, may have more in common than Interstate 90. The antitax sentiment of Washington state seems to be heading east -- to Massachusetts, one of the most liberal, heavily taxed states in the union.

The successes of Washington state tax advocate Tim Eyman's various tax-slashing initiatives have emboldened people such as Carla Howell of the Massachusetts Committee for Small Government. Taking as her motto "Small government is beautiful," Howell filed more than 71,000 signatures in December for an initiative to end the Massachusetts income tax. "This is the biggest tax revolt in Massachusetts since the Boston Tea Party," she says.

To place an initiative on the Massachusetts ballot, only 57,000 signatures are required. It's good news, then, that Howell exceeded that threshold by 14,000.

Three million Massachusetts workers "will receive a $3,000 per year average tax refund when our initiative becomes law," Howell says. "That's 10 times the George W. Bush tax refund."

HANS S. NICHOLS AND BRANDON SPUN ARE REPORTERS FOR Insight.