Member-at-large Andrea Burns proposed the resolution to support a bill that would raise the rate from 5.3% to 5.95%.
EASTHAMPTON – The City Council is considering a resolution to support a bill in the state legislature that would raise income taxes in certain brackets.
City council member-at-large Andrea Burns proposed the resolution Wednesday.
The bill, entitled “An Act to Invest in Our Communities,” would raise the state income tax rate from 5.3 percent to 5.95 percent, the rate before it was decreased in 1999. It includes a higher personal exemption for middle- and lower-class families.
According to documents provided by the office of the bill’s author, Rep. James J. O’Day, D-West Boylston, “Lower income people, on average, currently pay between 9.7 and 9.4 percent of their income in combined state and local taxes. By contrast, people in the top 1 percent of the income distribution, on average, currently pay 6.0 percent of their income toward these taxes.”
The documents also show what would be a decrease in the tax rate of .3 percent to .4 percent for those making $39,000 or less annually and no change in the tax rate, 9.4 percent, for those earning $62,600 to $103,800 annually.
The bill also raises capital gains taxes in some situations and raises the exemptions for lower tax brackets and small businesses, Burns said.
“We don’t have enough revenue to maintain basic services and maintain employees,” said Burns. “While we’ve asked our workers to go down to four days a week and thought about cutting teachers, asking our employees to share more of the cost for their benefits, what we haven’t asked is for the wealthier amongst us to pay more in tax.”
Burns said the current tax code is “currently very inequitable” and, while this bill is not the only solution to the city’s dwindling budget, “I think it’s a very smart way to approach some of our revenue problems and some of the inequities that exist in the system.”
Councilor Daniel C. Hagan said he will offer his input, but is likely to abstain from the vote on the resolution.
“In my short tenure on the council, it has been my practice to abstain from votes on any issue that is front of voters, other legislative bodies, either state or federal,” said Hagan. “I think it’s their purview.”
Councilor Donald L. Cykowski said the council has to be careful when considering a vote. He said he believed voters in Massachusetts have spoken in the past about their desire to keep income tax rates low.
“I’ll most likely vote no,” said Cykowski.
“Increases in revenue for cities and towns is very necessary,” said Mayor Michael A. Tautznik. “We’re all facing difficult budgets because of reductions in state aid.”
“If a fair method of taxation can be devised that doesn’t hurt the people on the lower income scales, then I think it certainly deserves” consideration, said Tautznik.
The council may vote on the resolution at its next meeting, which will be held April 20 at 6 p.m. at White Brook Middle School.