Word: furcolo
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Enthusiasm such as Furcolo is showing is perhaps a distinct characteristic of a Massachusetts Democrat. Aristocratic and arthritic Christian A. Herter '15 could never have damned the villains with the same lusty invective that the new Governor has used to popularize his legislative recommendations. Bobbing and weaving and using his slashing hands like an aggressive North End fighter, Furcolo has swept through the state since January with motorcades, a multiple inauguration ceremony, and a month-long speaking and hand-shaking tour...
Wherever he has appeared, Furcolo's words have been carefully chosen and oft-times repeated. His initial task, as he states it, is to awaken Massachusetts to its precarious financial situation. He blames the Republicans for leaving the "largest budget, the greatest debt, the biggest deficit and the worst state credit rating" in the Common-wealth's history, but at the same time he is seeking increased state spending for social services and access to new sources of revenue. "Our financial situation," he concluded in one of his three inaugural messages, "is the worst it has been in the history...
...reduce the tax on real property--currently standing at a per capita level higher than any other state in the nation. In all, his January budget message called for a $423-million outlay for next year (compared to ex-Governor Herter's last budget of $387 million). Furcolo's recommendations would require $130 million in new revenue, of which $75 million would be returned to cities and towns for the express purpose of reducing the real property...
...Furcolo's biggest bombshell did not fall among the economy-minded Republicans, who narrowly control the upper house of the General Court. Although he was elected with heavy support from organized labor, the new Governor has proposed to raise added tax revenue by a state-wide three percent limited sales tax, traditionally the breadwinner's anathema. His party, meanwhile--under Senate leader John E. Powers and buttressed by a detailed survey prepared by Arnold M. Soloway, assistant professor of Economics--has stood strongly behind temporary relief through eliminating loopholes in the existing structure. To the terror of the Associated Industries...
...Furcolo, however, claims that an income tax revision could never produce enough revenue, despite his earlier assertion that "of all the taxes there are, I think the sales tax is the last that should be enacted." His Democratic opponents, on the other hand, claim that the sales tax, in any form, would unjustly affect the lower income classes and inaugurate "the greatest orgy of spending in Massachusetts history," according to Professor Soloway...