Word: bostons
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Governor Foster Furcolo has proposed a more sweeping solution: imposition of a limited sales tax throughout the state. Receipts from this three per cent levy would be redistributed to the cities and towns of the commonwealth. In an effort to win Boston support for his proposal, Furcolo developed his program of redistribution so that the city would receive more than a generous share. It was said that such an indirect subsidy to Boston could cut the real estate levy--now $101.20--by as much as $20, a considerable improvement if possible...
Despite the obvious attraction of Furcolo's proposal for Boston members of the legislature, Powers bitterly attacked the sales tax idea, and threw his 28 years of political savvy into the fight. It was not passed. And when the Governor tried several times to revive his proposal, Powers' opposition and the natural reluctance of other congressmen to impose new taxes killed...
...many, Powers' position seemed poorly supported. But others, such as Arnold M. Soloway, assistant professor of Economics and a member of Powers' "brain trust," doubt that Boston would, in the long-run, benefit from the sales tax revenue. "The city is like a sponge," Soloway says. If Boston got a windfall from the state, various groups of city employees would pressure for wage raises; this patronage pressure would soon soak up the additional funds meant for easing the tax burden...
...additional funds from the outside can help Boston," Soloway believes, "and any lasting relief must come by means of internal reform within the city itself...
...Boston already collects more taxes per capita than any other city in the nation--and nearly all this money comes through a real estate levy that is both too high and unequally assessed. The answer to the problem, says Powers, is not new sources of income, but reforms within the city itself. "Any proposed new tax would only be an intolerable hardship upon the people," he says...