Taxachusetts, here we go again

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Boston Herald:

Well, well — it turns out Charlie Baker was right after all!

In the heat of his 2010 campaign for re-election Gov. Deval Patrick — whose record at the time included signing a 25 percent sales tax hike into law, OK’ing tax increases on restaurant meals, proposing a gas tax increase, and routinely pitching new taxes on candy and soda — denied any interest in raising the state’s income tax. In fact, Patrick’s spokesman at the time accused Baker of resorting to “distortion and demagoguery” by even suggesting Patrick would raise income taxes in a second term.

“You’ve never heard that proposal from me,” the governor huffed during a debate a week before the election.

Well, now we have.

The lame duck governor has stopped pretending that he could be satisfied with baby tax increases and has embraced a $2 billion raid on taxpayer earnings — part of yet another campaign to cement his legacy.

Yes, the state has a major problem when it comes to financing its transportation system, having expanded service beyond a point taxpayers can support and incurring billions in unsustainable debt.

There are ways to balance the transportation budget that don’t involve a hike in the income tax, of course. A couple of smart guys from the Pioneer Institute detailed some of them, including a modest increase in the gas tax, in this space on Wednesday.

Ah, but the only way to achieve Patrick’s vision — which dramatically expands the transportation system — is to go where the most money is. So he wants to raise the income tax by 20 percent.

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Deval's grand delusion.