[Update: May 18: The amendment to impose a four percent surcharge on taxable incomes over one million dollars was approved by a vote of 135-57 (50 yes were needed to advance the amendment to another vote in 2017 or 2018).
House members voted in favor, 102-50 (the roll call is here). Senate members voted in favor, 33-7. The no votes in the Senate were: DeMacedo, Fattman, Flanagan, Gobi, Humason, Ross, Tarr. Everyone else (including newly-sworn GOP Senator O’Connor and newly-sworm Democratic Senator Boncore) was a yes. A list of the 40 Senators is here.
One of the 17 House Democrats voting no was David Nangle of Lowell, who denounced the amendment as “the introduction of class warfare.” “It’s stealing from the rich to give to the poor,” he added. “We are legislators. We are not Robin Hood.”]
The proposed state constitutional amendment to impose an additional four percent tax on taxable incomes over one million dollars will receive its first vote in the Constitutional Convention that’s being held tomorrow. This vote will be one step in deciding whether we in the Commonwealth think the cause of our perennial state budget shortfalls is a spending problem or a revenue problem.
Advocates of the proposed amendment collected 155,000 signatures last year (way more than twice the number required) to submit the proposal to the legislature. The Joint Committee on Revenue held a hearing in January and gave the proposal a favorable report in February.
At tomorrow’s Constitutional Convention, the amendment needs a yes vote from 1/4 of the 200 legislators in order to advance. If that happens, another yes vote of 1/4 of legislators in 2017 or 2018 will put the amendment on the ballot in November 2018. Under the constitution, these votes are roll call votes (or, in the quaint constitutional language, votes “taken by call of the yeas and nays”), so it will be possible to see which lawmakers vote which way.
Here’s some advocacy in favor of the amendment by Raise Up Massachusetts and in opposition by Associated Industries of Massachusetts. In legislative offices, operators are standing by to hear what you think — it’s your civic duty.
