MA 2022 Question 1 (Boston, Salem: layoffs, live in, cost of living)

[maclel]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Sure, but what do you do with the children who need special ed? That’s expensive and mostly socioeconomic. The cherry sheet props up school systems in the failed cities but it’s not enough to get people up to grade level. I think it’s the only way to break the cycle of generational poverty.

The majority of children with individualized learning plans being served by Special Ed teachers are not children with underlying neurological problems, which are intended to be the recipients of those services. Many children are dumped in special Ed because they are too disruptive for the rest of the class and the teacher is overwhelmed. Extremely few of those problematic children will ever amount to anything and spending untold dollars trying to bring them up to grade level using this approach are doomed to fail. What is needed is a 180 degree societal change in how we approach this issue. There needs to be a realization that we need to stop fostering the sense of entitlement in these communities and instead find ways to instill values of self-improvement, hard work and respect for academic excellence. We are currently moving in the opposite direction and I have very little hope that anything will improve while we are consumed as a society by a very misguided litany of woke mantras.

[WestieWhitie]

Originally Posted by maclel

The majority of children with individualized learning plans being served by Special Ed teachers are not children with underlying neurological problems, which are intended to be the recipients of those services. Many children are dumped in special Ed because they are too disruptive for the rest of the class and the teacher is overwhelmed. Extremely few of those problematic children will ever amount to anything and spending untold dollars trying to bring them up to grade level using this approach are doomed to fail. What is needed is a 180 degree societal change in how we approach this issue. There needs to be a realization that we need to stop fostering the sense of entitlement in these communities and instead find ways to instill values of self-improvement, hard work and respect for academic excellence. We are currently moving in the opposite direction and I have very little hope that anything will improve while we are consumed as a society by a very misguided litany of woke mantras.

Unfortunately we’re living in the age of equitable equity, where everyone gets equally terrible education and everyone is taught at the pace of the slowest kid in the classroom.

[City Guy997S]

The Bahamas is currently in the same mindset. More taxes solves all their problems, until it doesn't. Tax the tourists, in MA its tax the rich. The glitch happens when the rich tourists stop coming.........and paying the higher taxes.

My guess: MA govt will squander the money, the windfall won't get anywhere near the projected amount and then like the Bahamas they will want to raise the existing tax higher to cover the shortage. Bahamas had no VAT tax, then implemented a 7.5% tax, then raised it to 12% on already crazy expensive imported goods/services. Tourism plummeted due to hurricanes/covid and wow the golden goose is dead.

What happens when firms move out of MA taking their high earning management with them. NH isn't that far away 35 miles or so north of Boston?!? Not a hard sell to eliminate the regular income tax AND the millionaires tax too!

Reminds me of the 10K student loan forgiveness, remember it was going to free up money so young folks can buy homes. Local paper did an article this week that guess what.........10K off isn't going to make any difference in home ownership ability!
A five minute phone call with a mortgage broker would have told anyone this:
https://www.boston.com/real-estate/h...homeownership/

[Cape Cod Todd]

It is telling how the poll is so close and I think the voting was the same. WHO wants to be taxed more and WHO thinks the state will actually spend that money as they claim they will?



The Sheeple fell for it though and after several tries the "graduated income tax" finally passed. Who doesn't want to stick it to the Rich and "make them pay their fair share" ? It sounds good until what they define as Rich is you.



Oh well, we have to live with it now. It will be interesting to see if any of the rich move out of the state but of course we will never know if they do except for maybe a closed business or 2.

[WestieWhitie]

Originally Posted by Cape Cod Todd

It is telling how the poll is so close and I think the voting was the same. WHO wants to be taxed more and WHO thinks the state will actually spend that money as they claim they will?



The Sheeple fell for it though and after several tries the "graduated income tax" finally passed. Who doesn't want to stick it to the Rich and "make them pay their fair share" ? It sounds good until what they define as Rich is you.



Oh well, we have to live with it now. It will be interesting to see if any of the rich move out of the state but of course we will never know if they do except for maybe a closed business or 2.

Precisely - with all the checks and balances gone give it a year or two and it will suddenly turn out that anyone making more than the median income is in fact “rich.”

[City Guy997S]

Originally Posted by Cape Cod Todd

Oh well, we have to live with it now. It will be interesting to see if any of the rich move out of the state but of course we will never know if they do except for maybe a closed business or 2.

I have a relative that works in recruiting. Company is sizable, does over 4.5 billion. The main office is in a very high tax state, Covid got weird and they basically sent everyone home/remote. It worked so well that they do not want people back in the office. People have since relocated to places 1000-1500 miles away to be closer to family or take advantage of the opportunity to move.

So the home office is still there but you don't get taxed from there if you have relocated. So imagine adding 7-8-9% back into your paycheck if you moved out of a place like NYC! Make 300K a year, suddenly you got 25K more. That's 1/4 million in 10 years! Combined with a cheaper cost of living, you literally could go from a cramped apartment to a 4 bedroom house and still save money! The 25K is simply bonus money at this point.

Can you really tell me Salem MA is much different from Salem NH? 35 miles apart, yet between income and sales tax it could really make a difference for a secretary making 60-75K a year. I don't think you could compare Back Bay to Manchester NH but plenty of other towns in Mass could easily be compared to towns in NH.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by City Guy997S

Can you really tell me Salem MA is much different from Salem NH? 35 miles apart, yet between income and sales tax it could really make a difference for a secretary making 60-75K a year. I don't think you could compare Back Bay to Manchester NH but plenty of other towns in Mass could easily be compared to towns in NH.

I lived in tax free New Hampshire for quite a while. It’s not just the 5% income tax. If you drive new-ish cars, automobile is a lot cheaper between no sales tax and cheaper insurance. You can live in a lower mill rate town. Portsmouth where I used to live has a property tax mill rate of $15.03. There are lots of Massachusetts towns higher. I used Boston frequently from Portsmouth. It’s just a coastal Boston suburb. It’s a 4 lane wide 80 mph road from Maine to the 128/Route 1 split so the drive time isn’t all that different from living in Salem Ma.

[msRB311]

What is the state even saying they're going to do with all of this money they're taking from people who earned it ?

[Cape Cod Todd]

Originally Posted by msRB311

What is the state even saying they're going to do with all of this money they're taking from people who earned it ?

Who knows where the money will go but they will probably say it will go towards rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure... OR there are always the children to consider that are learning in substandard schools despite the Millions that is already floating around for them..
Of course as more and more EV's hit the road there will be less raised with the gas tax so that will have to be addressed.



What really gets me about this question passing is that the State is actually in the process of mailing back checks to us because they overtaxed yet the People voted for more taxing? Weird.

[msRB311]

The schools are likely going to get worse. MCAS scores are down in MA, covid is being blamed. Throwing money at public schools that need it is like throwing it into a black hole.

I do think there are some over paid people in this state for sure but I don't think it's fair to tax people more.