Advocates promised the new tax would bring in over $1 billion a year in new revenue. And they quickly saw their predictions surpassed: the state Department of Revenue estimates it will generate over $1.5 billion this fiscal year.
“Think of the veterans!” is almost as ubiquitous as “think of the children!” in terms of political propaganda, and there are areas of Mass that are basically retirement communities and rich people’s summer houses (often at the same time). Convincing grandma and grandpa that the government is coming for their retirement funds is an easy way to get them to vote against their interests, and in some places they make up the majority of voters.
Fun fact, here in eastern Mass we refer to the wealthy summer folk as “snow birds” because they migrate south to Florida during the fall and migrate back north at the end of spring. There’s some very red areas of Mass because of these people, as they only care about keeping the taxes on their summer homes low and don’t care at all about the communities that their houses are in.
“Think of the veterans!” is almost as ubiquitous as “think of the children!” in terms of political propaganda, and there are areas of Mass that are basically retirement communities and rich people’s summer houses (often at the same time). Convincing grandma and grandpa that the government is coming for their retirement funds is an easy way to get them to vote against their interests, and in some places they make up the majority of voters.
Fun fact, here in eastern Mass we refer to the wealthy summer folk as “snow birds” because they migrate south to Florida during the fall and migrate back north at the end of spring. There’s some very red areas of Mass because of these people, as they only care about keeping the taxes on their summer homes low and don’t care at all about the communities that their houses are in.