DISAPPOINTMENT AND DISILLUSIONMENT IN ADOPTION OF SALES TAX INCREASE AMENDMENT

House Minority Leader Bradley H. Jones, Jr. released the following statement tonight after the adoption of an amendment to increase the state’s sales tax.

Disappointment and disillusionment does not even begin to describe how my caucus and I are feeling following tonight’s adoption of the amendment to increase the state’s sales tax. For those Democrats who stood beside us, we applaud and appreciate their efforts to do what is right for the citizens of the Commonwealth. For those who support this ridiculously regressive tax increase, I say shame on them.

We are in the midst of a deep economic recession, and while the federal government is putting money back into the economy, Democrats here in Massachusetts are reaching into taxpayers’ pocketbooks and wallets and grabbing whatever they can get their hands on. Since the beginning of the economic downturn, the Commonwealth has lost thousands of jobs, and if this sales tax increase goes into effect, we can expect thousands of others to lose their jobs as well.

As of the debate and vote tonight, not one meaningful reform has been signed into law and put into motion. We, as a governing body owe it to the hard working taxpayers of Massachusetts to accomplish real reform first.