Jul 2, 2009 8:38 am US/Eastern
Governor Deval Patrick Talks Taxes
Gas Tax Off The Table, Sales Tax Holiday In Doubt
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
After signing the ethics reform bill Wednesday, Governor Deval Patrick sat down with WBZ's Karen Anderson for a one-on-one interview. They talked about his gas tax proposal, the summer sales tax holiday, and loosening controls for local cities and towns.
GAS TAX
Governor Patrick says the gas tax is off the table for now.
"I can't tell you for how long. I had misgivings all along about asking people to dig deeper at a time like this. It's hard for everybody. It's a crummy economic time.
"Over the long term we know we need a new funding source. I put that gas tax on the table; the legislature responded with the sales tax. I don't want to do both at a time like this. We live with the gas tax, excuse me, the sales tax increase now.
"With the recession being what it is, let's live with that for a while. Let's just try to hang on and do what we have with what we have and then return to this subject, whatever the right solution, when the time is better.
"We've got to be honest with people. We have a continuing challenge to put our transportation network on a sound financial footing, but we're going to have to live with this short term fix the legislature has given us instead of the long term."
SALES TAX HOLIDAY
Will we see the traditional Sales Tax Holiday Weekend in August? We asked the Governor.
"That's a question I don't know the answer to yet. We have not talked about it in leadership. It's expensive at a time when state tax revenues are so flat and unpredictable, it's a hard thing to justify, but it's very popular. People really do enjoy it. We just haven't talked about it yet."
MUNICIPAL CONTROL
City and town leaders dealing with budget gaps are asking lawmakers for more control over health care systems. Will Governor Patrick push to give municipal leaders more control?
Karen Anderson - "Do you think they should be able to get out of these collective bargaining agreements to be able to do more, to be able to move into a lower cost health care?"
"It's a fair question and not an easy one for me to answer because I respect the bargaining rights of the workers, but I do think at a time like this, we have to have more flexibility. The workers have got to come to the table.
FEWER OUTSIDE CONTRACTS
Governor Patrick says this fiscal crisis can be used as a platform for original thinking and reform. He hinted at a future idea involving less privatized government work.
"There are areas where in some cases we won't contract independently, where it may be more cost effective to bring that work inside. There are sensitivities because of the appearances of head count going up when we're thinking about head count going down."
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