As anyone who has ever run for elected office knows — along with going out and shaking hands, having coffee with anyone who is anyone, participating in forums, organizing mailings and lawn signs — there are a seemingly endless stream of questionnaires by specialty groups to fill out.
As a example, below is the questionnaire form a group called Progressive Newton, a local chapter of Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide grassroots organization. The organization says all answers will be posted on its website and distributed to Newton residents via email. Some of these questions seemed to me to be a little far afield from the job of city councilor and especially school committee (for example, city councilors don’t negotiate with unions and school committee members have nothing to do with 40B). Some just seem curious. But what do you think?
Progressive Newton 2017 Municipal Candidates’ Questionnaire
PLEASE ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS AS SPECIFICALLY AS POSSIBLE:
- How will you approach collective bargaining with public unions and how will you weigh the value of well paid, skilled union labor against potential cost savings from outsourcing?
- What value do you place on increasing affordable housing in Newton, and what concrete steps will you take to expand affordable housing?
- Do you support the welcoming city ordinance? What other steps will you take to make our city welcoming to all, regardless of race, class, immigration status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other discrete characteristics?
- What concrete steps will you take to combat global climate change, increase renewable energy, and decrease energy consumption in Newton?
- What does Black Lives Matter mean to you?
- Would you support a zero-tolerance policy for discriminatory language by city employees?
- What concrete steps will you take to address income inequality in Newton?
- Under what circumstances would you support an override?
- What steps would you take to assist seniors, millennials, and others who might be cost-burdened? HUD defines cost-burdened as paying more than 30% of their income for housing.
- How would you improve access to transportation? What do you see as Newton’s role in advocating for expanded transportation?
- What do you believe the role is of local elected leaders in promoting progressive policies at the state and national level?
- Why are people poor?
YES/NO (Massachusetts state legislature bill numbers follow in parentheses, where applicable):
- Do you support or oppose a $15/hour minimum wage? (S1004 / H2365)
- Do you support or oppose paid family medical leave? (S1048 / H2172)
- Do you support or oppose the 2018 ballot question to place a 4% increased tax rate on taxable income over a million dollars per year?
- Do you support or oppose the 2018 ballot question to roll back protections for transgender individuals in public accommodations?
- Do you support the safe communities act? (S1305 / H3269)
- Do you support the great neighborhoods bill? (S81)
- Do you believe Newton has met its obligation to provide affordable housing under MGL Chapter 40B?
I wouldn’t be able to answers many of the survey questions as each one is complicated and yes, no response do not do justice to the question.
Would love to see an equivalent conservative questionnaire.
I doubt any politician would lock themselves into answering these questions besides Bernie Sanders.
That’s why I still admire Bernie. You always know where he stands and some of his answers to these questions would have a surprising twist to them. He’s really not a lockstep liberal.
I can’t support asking candidates for a Yes or No answer to complex bills that are in very different places in the legislative process.
As I’ve expressed my concerns to two members of PN, both of whom are friends and whom I highly respect, about the last question. It requires a highly nuanced response. As a public school teacher in Title I schools and one who grew up in an economically disadvantaged household, I see a significant difference in the concept of being “poor” and living in “poverty”.
@Jane Frantz
What’s the difference? It’s not clear to me.
As someone who helped in the drafting of these questions, I’m happy to take constructive feedback about how they should be asked in the future.
I just hope we can all agree that asking tough questions of our candidates and expecting them to be willing to answer them publicly is not asking too much if they wish to represent us.
I know a lot of people who had the fortune of not being born poor look down on folks that were and still are. Brings to mind a saying by Jim Hightower–“they were born on third base and think they hit a triple.”
Same thing with people that suffer from depression, various addictions and severe mental, learning and emotional conditions that they never asked for.
@Bryan, some feedback: I understand that open-ended philosophical questions can give you some insight into a candidate’s character. However, questions about Black Lives Matter and why people are poor make it less likely that you’ll get candidates to answer your questionnaire and, in my opinion, are only marginally relevant to the mayoral race. Yes, I know we have a police department that has to interact with citizens, but still. I think you should frame those question in a context directly relevant to Newton, as you’ve done with some of the other questions.
@Newtoner: Thanks for the feedback, we struggled with whether and how to include more open ended questions, and you’re exactly right that we were looking for insight into a candidate’s character.
My personal take on your specific example: Frankly, if a candidate in this city isn’t going to answer a questionnaire because they can’t say what black lives matter means, to me that would be quite troubling.
In my view, the biggest flaw with this survey is that you ask the same questions of the candidates for mayor, city council and school committee. The jobs and responsibilities are different.
Why is it necessary or helpful, for example, to know where school committee members stand on the millionaires tax or whether or not the city has reached its 40B threshold? (Which really is a legal question at this point.)
Or how does familiarity with S1305, H3269, S81 help Progressive Newton decide they will be good at carrying out their main duties as the school committee person (hiring and firing the superintendent overseeing the budget and setting local, not state, policy)?
Oh and why are people poor anyway?
@Bryan: I think the police department’s behavior is important. However, the answer to your question (if you get one at all) will likely be vague. You didn’t ask candidates “what do taxes mean to you?”, you asked for specifics about overrides and budgets.
In my mind, being “poor” typucally describes one’s economic situation. I think of poverty as a network of disadvantages that are interconnected and when combined, undermine hope.
This is about electing good leaders that share our values. We have a state rep and state senator that started as city councilors. We have several city councilors that started as school committee members. And on top of that, their leadership at the local level on these issues helps us advance our goals at the state level. So we want to elect good leaders with good values, not just people who will take the right votes on specific issues. That’s why we tried to strike the balance between specific questions and more general questions while also including some statewide priorities.
By the way, the fair share amendment (Millionaire’s tax) in particular is critically important for school committee members since the money will be earmarked for education and transportation. Passing the fair share amendment is critical to fully funding public education.
@Bryan– I could make a good argument that the hottest progressive issue right now is the reform of marijuana laws. Marijuana related initiatives were on the ballot in nine states just this past November, including here in Massachusetts where we legalized recreational marijuana. This is the “will of the people,” expressed in the most democratic way possible–at the ballot box. Yet, a consortium of politicians at the state and local level continue clinging to prohibition by obstructing implementation of the new law.
This issue [unlike some of the other issues on the candidate questionnaire] has direct local relevance, as it will be the City Council that actually determines IF Newton will allow recreational marijuana stores, and WHERE they would be allowed to locate. While common sense might dictate similar zoning regulations as those enjoyed by liquor stores, I believe there are some City Council members who will attempt to block these businesses entirely from Newton, and/or place exceedingly difficult zoning requirements on them.
If “Progressive Newton” is supposed to represent progressive ideals, why is this issue being entirely ignored by that organization? Why is there no question about marijuana on the candidate questionnaire, and why is there no reference to marijuana or cannabis on the organization’s website?
I agree with Mike. Marijuana shops will become a hot issue when stores begin to open. I still remember the ridiculous prohibition imposed on Star Market when they wanted to sell alcohol.
Bryan
Can you show us the math on the millionaires tax? According to the article below there are about 1200 people in Newton will annual income over 1M.
A 1% tax Wouk yield approx 10k x 1200 = 10 million
School budget alone is 200m so 10m really just covers short fall to get the budget into the black. We’ve not even talked about unfunded liabilities.
I think you are looking at a 2-3% tax to make any noticeable difference .. At which point the millionaires will just pack up and go to another town.
https://patch.com/massachusetts/newton/amp/26762505/how-many-millionaires-are-in-newton
I fully support the millionaire’s tax as a means to support public education and an improved public transportation system, both of which are essential elements to providing access to a secure future for struggling families.
As the responses to Progressive Newton’s questionnaire come in, I am struck by the intelligence and care the candidates have put into their answers. Especially by the thoughtfulness to the more open ended questions.
Our intent was never to send out something that felt overly burdensome or time consuming but to give all candidates a forum to let Newton voters know where they stand on critical issues for all of us.
@Bugek: To be clear, the Fair Share Amendment is a statewide initiative, it’s not just for Newton. It’s a 4% tax on the income that is above $1 million. So if you make $1 million a year, it doesn’t effect you. If you make $1.5 million, you are taxed 4% on the $500k above $1 million.
…so if you make $100 million a year, you’re taxed 4% on the $99 million. In the aggregate, it’s expected to yield a few billion dollars per year for the state.
And no, millionaires aren’t going to leave the state because of it. Here’s an article from Forbes explaining that, no, millionaires don’t move very much based on taxes, or really move very much in general: https://www.forbes.com/sites/beltway/2016/05/26/do-high-state-taxes-drive-away-millionaires-not-really/#404e352b360f
Bryan. I have read the original article closely about 6 months ago. The interpretation is fatally flawed. I won’t get into the statistical details now. At some point, as we get closer to the vote, I am likely to give a more detailed analysis. It is too bad the State Legislature did not get the opinion of someone who understands statistics before voting on this. For now, here are some things to chew on.
First, the original article shows that millionaires indeed leave. When the authors kick out Florida, which is the state (with no income tax) where most of them go, they don’t find much. I don’t care if the “millionaires” leave for Florida or Alaska. We lost them, and the tons of tax that they pay. The worst case is we lose them and they move businesses and employees (who also pay tax) of the state.
Second, whether or not millionaires leave is not the big issue. The big issue is how many millionaire tax returns are filed in MA. Most people who file millionaire tax returns do not do so every year. A lot of it comes from capital gains realization. People can easily choose when to realize capital gains. They can hold off on realizing gains until death, in which case MA gets no tax on the gain whatsoever, or they can realize the gains when the move to another state for 185 days of the year.
Thomas Piketty is a super liberal, the statistics in his peer-reviewed articles are solid. Look at his papers on taxes. He finds incredible evidence of how these taxes fail.
This tax proposal is really bad. It very likely will lead to the MA generating LESS tax revenue. People with two comma tax returns who don’t leave hire really good tax lawyers. Trust me.
If you still think this is a good idea, Google “Connecticut millionaire tax.”
Jeffrey
Thanks for the facts, interesting point about deferring the taxes. Large incomes do not come from base salary but stock which can easily be deferred
It would great to see a full breakdown of the sources of income before unintended consequences (businesses leave the state) occur
Call me old fashioned but when I hear the phrase ” fair share” it means that EVERYONE Contributes to income tax, not just 40% of people. If you make 0, you get to pay no taxes but should not be getting money back from the tax system… That should be a separate safety net program
Connecticut’s millionaire migration myth.
https://ctviewpoints.org/2017/06/27/connecticuts-millionaire-migration-myth/
Marti, I will come back to the op-ed in a few days. I promise. In the meantime, here is what news stories say about CT.
Like in MA, in CT the millionaire tax was sold as way to get easy revenue. Despite the sales pitch, after the increases, tax revenue kept coming in well under all budget forecasts. Gov. Malloy, who loved tax increases, now realizes these increases made their situation worse. CT residents are migrating on net, to lower tax states. GE will leave the state (presumably for MA, unless we can persuade them otherwise). Largely for tax reasons, Aetna is now planning to leave CT. In the meantime, CT’s deficit gets worse and worse.
As bad as CT’s situation is, MA will likely be worse. CT only jacked up the tax rate on the highest earners by 35%. The new MA proposal would DOUBLE our top rate. Someone please give me an example of another state that doubled their top marginal tax rate? We will be in uncharted territory.
As promised, I am coming back to the op-ed to which Marti links. The op-ed is misleading. My advice is to go the original study. The original study’s interpretation of the data is 180 degrees different.
Here is is the original study.
http://ctdata.org/news/migration-and-population-trends-ct/
The author looks at the growth of tax returns for millionaire returns between 2011 and 2014. Of course, the number of millionaire returns increases because of market performance. The way to control for this is to compare CT growth in millionaire to other states.
Comparison of growth in $1M tax returns (table 2.3-4)
15% CT
33% MA
26% NJ
24% NY
31% RI
35% USA
You to ask yourself why is the growth in millionaires greater than CT everywhere else you look? Compared with the rest of the country, the growth of millionaires is lagging by 20%! This is exactly why CT has such acute budget problems. Hopefully MA voters won’t make the same mistake.