After the vote, Councilor Donald Cykowski expressed skepticism that the resolution would hold sway with the Statehouse.
EASTHAMPTON – The City Council narrowly passed a resolution Wednesday that would support a bill in the state legislature designed to increase income taxes in certain brackets.
The bill, “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 in an effort to ensure their taxes do not increase, said the office of the bill’s author, Rep. James J. O’Day, D-West Boylston.
The rate increase would affect only those earning $62,600 or more annually, and would have the greatest impact on those earning $580,000 or more annually, O’Day’s office said. The bill also raises capital gains taxes in some situations.
Andrea BurnsCouncil member-at-large Andrea Burns introduced the measure at the April 6 meeting.
Four councilors voted in favor of the resolution and three voted against it. Councilor Daniel C. Hagan abstained and Councilor Salem Derby was absent.
“If we don’t have enough revenue, then we’re going to have to cut or we’re going to have to raise property taxes or cut positions or go down to three days a week instead of four days a week (of the Municipal Building being open for business),” Burns said before the vote. The Municipal Building is closed Fridays as a cost-cutting measure.
“I think with the wealthy doing better than they ever have before, it’s sort of unconscionable to not ask for them to sacrifice anything while the middle class is bearing the majority of the burden,” said Burns.
Councilor Justin P. Cobb said he “whole-heartedly” supported the resolution and the bill, but that his constituents “overwhelmingly” asked him to vote no, which he did.
Before voting, Cobb apologized to Burns.
“This was a hard vote,” he said after the meeting. “I have to remember that I was elected to office to represent my district.”
“I would oppose it,” said Hagan, who announced beforehand he would abstain. “I think that what we need in this state is to increase revenue with jobs. I don’t think we need to raise taxes.”
Councilor Joy Winnie voted in favor, saying it’s “very obvious that the wealthiest of the wealthy” benefit most from the current tax laws and the middle class is “carrying our society today.”
After the vote, Councilor Donald L. Cykowski expressed skepticism that the resolution would hold sway in Boston.
“What do you think will happen when that resolution hits the Statehouse? Right in the wastebasket,” he said. “They care less about us in this community. They’re going to do what they want at the given time.”
There will be a hearing of the Revenue Committee at the Statehouse’s Gardner Auditorium on May 5 at 10 a.m. to discuss the bill.