Jul 12, 2022
Campaign to Tax Million-Dollar Earners to Improve Transportation and Public Education in Full Swing
BOSTON – Fair Share for Massachusetts, the campaign working to pass the Fair Share Amendment, the proposed state tax on incomes above $1 million which would raise billions of dollars to invest in transportation and public education, today announced that the constitutional amendment will be Question 1 on the November ballot.
“Question 1 is a win-win for Massachusetts: 99% of us won’t pay a penny more, but we’ll all benefit from better public schools, safer roads and bridges, more affordable public colleges, and more reliable public transit,” said Lillian Lanier, Field Director for Fair Share for Massachusetts. “With Question 1, only the richest 1 percent of Massachusetts taxpayers – those who earn more than $1 million in a single year – will pay more. By making our tax system fairer and investing in transportation and public education, we’ll grow our economy and make it work for everyone. That’s why thousands of teachers, parents, students, small business owners, and voters across Massachusetts are organizing together to pass Question 1 in November.”
“As a small business owner, I’m voting Yes on 1 because while we work harder than ever to get ahead, the super-rich keep getting richer and richer,” said Hilken Mancini, owner of 40 South Street Vintage Clothing in Boston. “Question 1 will fix the lopsided tax rules that allow the wealthy to pay a smaller share in taxes than the rest of us. And every business will benefit when our communities have better schools and colleges that prepare a well-educated workforce, and a more reliable transportation system that gets employees to work and goods to market.”
The campaign to pass the Fair Share Amendment, now officially Question 1 on the ballot, has been in full swing for months. Volunteers with the Fair Share for Massachusetts campaign have already reached out to more than 175,000 voters to have conversations about how making our tax system fairer can help improve our roads and bridges, our public schools and colleges, and our public transportation infrastructure. More than 100 grassroots canvassing and phone banking events have taken place in dozens of communities across the state, from Woburn and Gloucester to Pittsfield and New Bedford.
“Our students need more help to recover from the effects of the pandemic, and that’s what Question 1 will provide,” said Cynthia Roy, a science teacher at Bristol Plymouth Regional Technical School. “From more education support professionals in the classroom to increased access to counselors and therapists, Question 1 will provide the educators our schools need to get students back on track.”
More than 215 organizations and thousands of activists across the state are working together to win Question 1 on the ballot. After years of grassroots advocacy, the state Legislature voted in June 2021 to place the Fair Share Amendment on the November 2022 statewide ballot, where it is now set to be decided on by the voters as Question 1.
Background on the Question 1: 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 dedicate the funds raised to 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.
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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. Learn more at FairShareMA.com.