“Should higher taxes be off the table when legislators discuss next year’s state budget?” — Boston Globe [opinion] (1/29/2016)

NO

Ryan Adams

Swampscott resident, Democratic activist, Progressive Massachusetts member

It’s disappointing to hear Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo and other key legislative leaders say no to putting any increased revenue on the table for the upcoming budget. With a deficit that’s upwards of $1 billion, that means cutting into the bone of the middle class, working poor, and vulnerable communities.

Polls suggest a large majority of America supports increasing revenue to pay for important things, like our schools and infrastructure. Even a majority of millionaires have supported increasing their own taxes.

I’ve met the speaker several times and I think he’s a very good man who cares a lot about the state. But given how effective he can be, we must ask him to act boldly.

Massachusetts used to be the state of firsts. We were the first to embrace marriage equality. We were the first to tackle real health care reform. But what have we done lately?

Since DeLeo took the reins, Massachusetts has become a more expensive state to live in, with fewer good jobs for the middle class. Our traffic gets worse every year. While the speaker just came out against it — to his credit — MBTA riders are the only ones asked to pay more, disproportionately affecting the working poor.

To be sure, the Legislature and its leadership didn’t cause these problems, but they could solve them. It’s a tough task, requiring a great deal of political courage – and new revenue – but now is the time.

We have an incredibly intelligent, hardworking populace that leads the world in many categories, but our progress is bottlenecked on Beacon Hill. We need to tackle our transportation needs, the high cost of health care, and the opioid epidemic sweeping the state.

None of these problems can be solved in a day, but a “no new revenue” pledge can only ensure they grow worse.

There are those who don’t think we can afford to solve our problems. They’re wrong, and because of that cynicism, we end up paying far more in the end: for jails instead of schools, or higher car insurance instead of better roads.

Beacon Hill can change that, but it’s going to take leadership, courage and a little more revenue, to go a very long way.