The Healey camp's tax fib
Ladies and gentlemen of the electorate....We have the first big distortion of the governor's race!
In a press release that came out earlier today--issued in conjunction with Republican Kerry
Healey's photo-op calling for the state income tax to be rolled
back to five percent-- the Healey camp said Democrat Deval
Patrick "opposes tax relief and wants to increase taxes and state
spending."
Here's the problem: Patrick has never actually said that he "wants to increase taxes."
A few minutes ago, Healey spokesperson Nate Little gave me his take on
the apparent discrepancy, and cited a Patrick appearance on WRKO last
December--in which Patrick said he was "still looking at" the
possibility of raising the income tax--to help make his case. Here's
what he had to say:
[Patrick] has been quoted, basically, saying that the
rollback is a bad idea. In other remarks, he's alluded to the fact that
he wants to open additional lines ot spending, in order to fund what he
calls 'core programs.' He hasn't come out with his tax increase plan
yet. But he's given no indication in any way that he'll be a friend to
the taxpayer....I think, if he had his druthers, he'd increase taxes.
Sorry, Nate, but this one flunks the smell test. Patrick's refusal to rule
out hiking the income tax should offer the LG (and Patrick's
Democratic rivals) ample material to work with--enough, certainly, that
there's no need to embellish the facts. Early in the campaign, when
nobody's paying attention, this kind of screw-up probably won't hurt
Healey. A few more like this, though, and she'll have herself a
credibility problem.
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