I was curious when I was told by a reliable source, that I’d be proud of our freshman legislator, Paul McMurtry, because he voted against the leadership in the past legislative session on Beacon Hill. In checking the roll calls, this is what I found.
Paul voted along Democratic Party lines for the $28.2 billion state budget and then, again along party lines, to keep $200 million from being sent back to the cities and towns in desperately needed local aid. Paul then voted along Democratic Party lines once again to deny us the annual sales tax holiday weekend we’ve had for the past several years. So even with surplus tax collections, there will be no sales tax holiday this August. So far I’m not impressed.
But then, there it was; one step in the right direction. Paul voted along with five other Democrats and the Republicans in the house for a tax amnesty program that would waive penalties for overdue taxes due the state. Unfortunately his Democratic colleagues killed the measure that, when passed in 2002, helped raise $176 million in delinquent taxes. Kudos Paul! Even though it lost, you made a good “Common Sense” vote. Keep it up.
