(Thanks Scott, for leading the way. – promoted by eli_beckerman)
Having accepted nomination from Independent and from Green-Rainbow voters to be placed on the ballot, and having filed certified nomination signatures and other necessary paperwork with the Secretary of the Commonwealth, I choose to make public my federal and state tax returns from 2011.
My opponent in 2010 scoffed at the ‘political green-ness’ of tax transparency, but I stand by my 2010 statement on the practice of releasing tax returns.
While the tax disclosure is voluntary, all candidates are required to file a Statement of Financial Interest (SFI), which provides a summary of investments, assets, and debts that are personally associated with a candidate. The SFI is filed with and may be obtained by anyone for any candidate from the State Ethics Commission.
This form to request a copy of a candidate’s SFI was provided to me by the State Ethics Commission, with these instructions:
The process for requesting an SFI is as follows:
A written request is necessary and a copy of a valid government issued picture identification and one dollar per copy for paper filings. We are obligated by law to notify the filer when someone requests their SFI. Instructions on how to request an SFI are also on our website. I’ve attached the link .
The commission’s web site provides contact information for further research.
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Hey Scott, real simple question (I don’t need exact #’s just ballpark).
How much income did you make last year?
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Although I do not support there being an optional higher state income tax rate that voters can choose to pay, that is the system we currently have. Voters have a right to ask me and other candidates which of the two tax rates I chose, as one voter did in a blog to which I responded.
Confronting the current regressive tax system and achieving a fair and progressive structure will be realized not through the gimmick of an optional higher tax rate but through clear codification that shifts the current burden by imposing a lower net tax rate for those whose incomes are lower and a higher net tax rate for those whose incomes are higher. Determining if taxes as a whole are progressive or regressive must take into account the burden of local taxes, sales taxes, and fees for essential government services. I discuss this further on my budget and tax page, emphasizing that the value equation includes not only what we pay but what we get.
Unlike my incumbent opponent, Mr. Pignatelli, I will choose not to take the federal tax deduction that allows state legislators to reduce their tax liability through a ‘double dipping’ that allows deducting from income those travel expenses that have also been reimbursed by state taxpayers. This will be known because I will disclose my tax returns whenever I am on the ballot seeking employment from taxpayers and whenever I draw a taxpayer-funded salary.
When the Berkshire Eagle decided to cover tax transparency in 2010 with a front page headline containing this graphic, most candidates in district and statewide races who refused to disclose their tax returns cited spousal privacy as a justification. I point with pride to my own husband, Mark Woodward, who unflinchingly and immediately concurred that making our joint tax returns public was the right thing to do.
Would I vote for a progressive tax rate even if it would increase my own personal tax liability? I sure would when the accompanying budget funds public infrastructure and services that help us to thrive and restores local aid where it is needed. The tax structure that I have proposed on my web site and have articulated in candidate questionnaires would lower the income taxes paid on incomes less than $90,000, which is a large majority of taxpayers in districts like the 4th Berkshire District.
Mitt Romney made his 2011 tax returns public this year only after Newt Gingrich repeatedly prodded him into doing so (asking voters if they really wanted to see the day when a US President had a Swiss bank account). Here in the Bay State, neither Deval Patrick nor my opponent made their tax returns public in 2010, the same year that a Fox News report noted that the number of Beacon Hill candidates making their tax returns public was declining rapidly. Nicholas Shaxson has put the issue of tax transparency into the spotlight with his article in the August 2012 issue of Vanity Fair magazine. That and Paul Krugman’s NY Times column of July 8, 2012 are recommended reading for anyone who believes that tax transparency and tax fairness are important and related issues.
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There’s some genuine organizing going on around your campaign–canvassing, etc. Good to see it, especially in light of what I’m reading here. MA being totally in the bag for Obama–correct me if I’m wrong, someone, please–hope the GRP marshalls whatever forces and dollars it has and puts them squarely behind your campaign.
I liked this: