100+ Massachusetts Businesses Endorse Question 1 to Improve Transportation and Public Education

BOSTON – Supporters of Question 1, the proposed ‘Fair Share Amendment,’ today announced the endorsement of more than 100 businesses from across the state.

“I’ve researched Question 1, and here’s what I found: it would increase funding for our schools and roads, and small businesses like mine wouldn’t pay a penny more,” said Steysy Clark, owner of House of Art and Craft, a home goods business in Brighton and Randolph. “As a business owner, I know how important public schools and transportation are for a strong economy. Question 1 is a clear win for small businesses.”

The businesses include restaurants, bookstores, farms, barber shops, breweries, retailers, hotels, solar installers, banks, home repair contractors, record stores, salons, bike shops, pet groomers, and other businesses from across Massachusetts, in communities such as Adams, Amherst, Arlington, Belmont, Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Everett, Fairhaven, Fall River, Framingham, Grafton, Greenfield, Hyannis, Lexington, Malden, Medford, Montague, Newburyport, New Bedford, North Adams, Northampton, Pittsfield, Randolph, Shelburne, Somerville, South Hadley, Springfield, Stoneham, Woburn, and Worcester.

“Over the past few months, more than 100 businesses across the state have joined together in support of Question 1,” said Gerly Adrien, Business Director of Fair Share for Massachusetts & owner of Tipping Cow Ice Cream in Somerville and Boston. “The billionaires and corporate lobbyists who oppose Question 1 have spent millions trying to scare business owners and mislead voters by claiming that it is a tax on businesses, but that’s not true. The 100-plus business owners supporting Question 1 understand that it will help our businesses, and make our economy stronger.”

The Fair Share Amendment adds a tax only on personal income over $1 million – business taxes would not increase, and Question 1 doesn’t apply to any business’s revenues. The only individuals who will pay more, including business owners or shareholders, are those who earn more than $1 million in personal income in a single year, regardless of their business’ revenues or profits. Less than 3 percent of all business owners in Massachusetts have taxable personal income over $1 million that would be subject to the Fair Share Amendment.

A new report from the Massachusetts Budget & Policy Center, released on Monday, found that “very few small businesses ever would sell for amounts that would require the sellers to pay any Fair Share tax on the proceeds from the sale.”

“For me, Question 1 means better roads and public transportation to help my employees get to and from work,” said Matthew Gray, owner of Neighborhood Produce, a grocery store in Somerville. “It means better schools and colleges so that we have a well-trained workforce in the future. And it means only the super-rich will be asked to pay more, not small businesses like mine. That’s an opportunity I can get behind.”

The full list of endorsing businesses is below and can be found at https://www.fairsharema.com/local-businesses.

40 South St. Vintage, Boston

Acorn Business Advisor, Grafton

Adeline's Hair Salon, Everett

Adorn Me Africa, Somerville

All She Wrote Books, Somerville

Almquist & Associates, Somerville

Amalgamated Bank, Boston

Amantolli, Somerville

Amherst Books, Amherst

Apex Noire, Boston

Asamass Trading, Worcester

Avest Home Repair and Painting, Cambridge

Bedlam Book Cafe, Worcester

Belltower Records, North Adams

Bicycle Belle, Somerville

Boston Black News, Boston

Bread + Roses Bookshop and Cafe, Hyannis

Brewer Banner, New Bedford

Brothers Kafe Kreyol, Everett

Cafe Beirut, Jamaica Plain

Cambridge Local First, Cambridge

Cambridge Naturals, Cambridge

Caravan Kitchen, Northampton

Center Goods, Lexington

Ceramica Paint Studio, Stoneham

Cincon Group, Boston

Chill Out First Class Limo Service Inc, Everett

Chuck Talley Illustrations, New Bedford

Coffee Liberation Front, Adams

Cookie Time Bakery, Arlington

Crawford Strategies, Arlington

Democracy Brewing, Boston

dNB Craft Kitchen, New Bedford

Fairhaven Yacht, Fairhaven

Field First LLC, Boston

Fiore's Bakery, Jamaica Plain

Flint Fruit and Variety, Fall River

Foxtrot Farm LLC, Shelburne

Greenfield Solar, Greenfield

Hair at Little Hollow, Somerville

Hair by Christine, Somerville

Hair Passion Salon, Medford

Hartley's Original Pork Pies, Fall River

Henna Inspired, Malden

Herrera's Mexican Grill, Boston

Hope and Feathers Framing, Amherst

House of Art and Craft, Boston

If Wishes Were Horses, Amherst

Irving House at Harvard, Cambridge

Juguitos, Springfield

Katiejobelle’s Gifts, Randolph

Katy Rogers Photography, Everett

Kitchenwitch, Jamaica Plain

KrafTea Kombucha, Worcester

Kusiak Music, Arlington

La Perle Restaurant, Everett

Leise Jones Photography, Boston

Like A Phoenix Behavioral Health, Woburn

Maxima Book Center, Lexington

Maxima Gift Center, Arlington

Mechanica, Newburyport

Micky's Hair Design, Everett

Montague Bookmill, Montague

Montague Village Store, Montague

Monumental Market, Jamaica Plain

MVP Barber Shop, Jamaica Plain

N.P. Hayes LLC, New Bedford

Nadia Colburn: Align Your Story, Cambridge

Neighborhood Produce, Somerville

Nifty Nate's, Hyannis

Odyssey Bookshop, South Hadley

Panda's Playcare Family Childcare, Boston

Papercuts Bookshop, Boston

Peace Train Tees, Pittsfield

Pikliz International Kitchen, Somerville

Porter Square Books, Cambridge

Punk Rock Aerobics, Boston

Purveyor of the Unnecessary & the Irresistible, Boston

Quiet Moon Postpartum Care, Belmont

Radio Concorde, Boston

Rebel Rebel, Somerville

Red Sun Press, Boston

Rosaline's Skin Care & Spa, Brookline

Rosetta Languages, Malden

Said & Done Tattoo, Jamaica Plain

Sanctum Folklorica, New Bedford

Simple Gifts Farm, Amherst

SKM Collection, Framingham

Somerville Grooves, Somerville

Stand Up 8 Dance Studio, Malden

Stinky's Kittens and Doggies Too, Somerville

Talk of the Town Barber, Fall River

Teletronics Broadway, Everett

The Island, Malden

Tibari Travel, Everett

Tipping Cow Ice Cream, Somerville

TL6 The Gallery, New Bedford

Tony's Barber Shop, Malden

Vanda's Salon, Framingham

Wah Lum Kung Fu & Tai Chi Academy, Malden

#MAPoli Strategies, Boston

Background on Question 1: the Fair Share Amendment

The Fair Share Amendment – Question 1 on the November ballot – will allow Massachusetts to improve our transportation and public education systems by making the very rich pay their fair share. Question 1 would create a 4 percent tax on the portion of a person’s annual income above $1 million and constitutionally dedicate the funds to be spent on transportation and public education. Only people who earn more than $1 million annually will be impacted; 99% of us won’t pay a penny more. And we’ll all benefit from better schools, roads, bridges, and public transportation.

Thousands of educators, workers, small business owners, parents, faith leaders, municipal officials, drivers and transit riders, and more than 500 organizations across the state are working together to pass Question 1. Our campaign has been endorsed by 87 labor unions; 72 community organizing groups; 18 faith-based groups; more than 100 businesses; 64 city councils, select boards, and school committees; 89 local Democratic town and ward committees; and 115 other social service and not-for-profit organizations focused on housing, education, transportation, public health, and the environment. Learn more and get involved at FairShareMA.com.

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The Fair Share for Massachusetts campaign is led by Raise Up Massachusetts, a coalition of community organizations, faith-based groups, and labor unions committed to building an economy that invests in families, gives everyone the opportunity to succeed, and creates broadly shared prosperity. Since our coalition came together in 2013, we have nearly doubled wages for hundreds of thousands of working people by winning two increases in the state’s minimum wage, won best-in-the-nation earned sick time and paid family and medical leave benefits for workers and their families, and started to build an economy that works for all of us, not just those at the top.