|
Revenue has to be examined, says Montalbano |
|
|
Monday, 17 December 2007 |
|
By JIM BARONWOONSOCKET – Senate President Joseph Montalbano adds his voice to the choir of state political leaders who say they won’t raise income or sales tax rates to fill a nearly half-billion hole in the state budget, but he acknowledges that officials may have to take some steps on the revenue side of the ledger.
Say it ain’t so, JoeWhether it is the Historic Structures Tax Credit, the Film and Television Tax Credit, the flat tax option for the state’s highest earners, or the capital gains tax which was being phased out but was frozen in the current year when it was scheduled for oblivion, “the revenue side has to be examined,” Montalbano told editors of the Pawtucket Times and Woonsocket Call on Monday.Montalbano recognizes that cities such as Pawtucket, Woonsocket, Central Falls and Providence have benefited from the historic tax credits by getting some of their previously vacant buildings back on the tax rolls and that it is “good for business and good for the construction industry.”But every time a developer takes advantage of the tax credits “it is a direct hit on the state budget.” So while Montalbano admits he is an original sponsor of the historic tax credit program – as he was with the film and television tax credit -- and has supported it over the years, he says the time may have come to “freeze it or in some way modify it.” With longtime RIPEC (Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council) honcho Gary Sasse preparing to take over as new head of the state’s Department of Revenue, the North Providence Democrat said, “this may be a good time to get a read on the cost of these programs and the benefits being derived from them.”The sales tax, too, could be up for some tinkering, the Senate President said, not a hike in the 7 percent rate, but perhaps broadening in the types of economic activity covered by the tax. “You are going to see proposals to expand the sales tax,” he said, “perhaps adding luxury items such as clothing that costs over a certain amount of money, or professional services such as legal services or accounting, things like that.“That in effect is raising taxes, I’m not denying that is a raising of taxes,” Montalbano conceded. “But when they say raising broad-based taxes like the income tax in terms of the rate, that seems like the only thing that isn’t on the table.”This year, Montalbano says he hopes to have more people sitting around that table when the budget is being carved up, particularly Gov. Donald Carcieri and the state employee unions.“The approach should be a collaborative one between the House and Senate and governor,” he asserts. “But under this administration up to this point, the governor has vetoed three of our first five budgets together and unlike the previous administration there is no dialogue or very little dialogue on the budget before he unveils it in February. It has to be more than he comes out with a plan and we take it apart and put it together this year. “We had one cursory meeting with the governor when he said he was laying off 1,000 state workers,” Montalbano said. “At that meeting, the Senate advised him that we should have meetings like that on a regular basis and that when the solution involves labor, labor should be at the table. It’s his style to announce his intention and then meet with the parties almost after the fact. “Whatever the solution is this year,” the fourth-year Senate leader said, “labor has to be at the table contributing to that solution. It is not all going to be solvable on the backs of the state workers but there are definitely going to have to be cuts made and union contract concessions made and any time that is the case you have to have the unions there. You can’t just dictate contract changes, they are certainly not going to be legislated.”That same dynamic will also extend down to cities and towns, which will almost surely see a second straight year of frozen school aid and other funds from the state, Montalbano said.“It’s going to be tough medicine for everybody,” he said. “The days of four-year contract extensions with 3 percent raises and no co-pay in insurance and not comparison between Blue Cross and United are over. The locals are negotiation contracts they can’t afford. With the two-year old law authored by Senate Majority Leader Teresa Paiva Weed – called the “3050 Bill” by those who love and hate it, and there are both, because that was its number as it passed through the legislature -- and the freezes in state aid, Montalbano said. “the message is: we’re going to mandate that if they are going to spend that kind of money, they are going to come up with it some other way than taxing the locals.” |
|
Last Updated ( Saturday, 22 December 2007 )
|
Horoscope