"VOTERS WILL NOT have a $5 billion question to answer after all.
The state’s highest court on Thursday tossed a measure seeking to trim the income tax rate by one-fifth from the November ballot, stopping in its tracks a bruising, months-long political fight that would have carried major implications for both household budgets and public services.
Justices on the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled that the attorney general’s office erred in its summary of the question, rendering the measure ineligible to appear before voters in November.
It’s a massive decision that cuts the fuse of a revenue bomb that had top Democrats in the House, Senate, and corner office sweating. Independent analysts estimated that reducing the income tax rate from 5 percent to 4 percent, once fully implemented, would trim more than $5 billion from the state’s coffers, likely forcing cuts to public spending.
Justice Serge Georges, Jr., writing for a unanimous court, said the official summary produced by Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s team “misstates the petition’s impact” by incorrectly stating the rate cut would not impact taxes on long-term capital gains.
“The summary’s contrary statement is not a minor imprecision. It is significantly misleading and likely to influence voters,” Georges wrote, concluding that the AG’s office therefore did not provide a sufficiently “fair” summary."
Continue reading about the SJC decision
You can read the full decision here (PDF)
You can find the full court docket here (PDF)
Video of the Supreme Judicial Court hearing of this matter
