Any Massachusetts people? (Referendum)Follow

I know there's a few people from Massachusetts here, so I was curious about how you were gonna vote on the referendum questions.

Question 1: Abolish the state income tax?

Question 2: Decriminalize an ounce or less of weed?

Question 3: Prohibit dog racing?



For me, Question 2 is easy...of course yes. I don't see any reason why someone's record should be tarnished over a little bit of weed. Weed is no worse than alcohol or tobacco.

Question 1..I dunno. I'm tempted to vote yes because it SOUNDS like you'd get more money in your check, but they'll just end up raising other taxes, probably. Also, I find the "but the fire dept and police, etc will suffer"...maybe, or maybe people like diane wilkerson and the bodybuilding firefighter need to use our tax dollars more wisely.

And Question 3..I say instead of banning dog racing, they just make laws that force the people who run it to treat the dogs more humanely.

Edited, Nov 4th 2008 8:24am by DaimenKain

Question 1: No. It's not called "Taxachusetts" for nothing. It won't make much a difference, it will simply act as a placebo. They'll make up the taxes elsewhere, of course.

Question 2: Yes. I've always thought it was absolutely absurd that we waste are time turning casual smokers into criminals over an ounce of weed. I mean...really. Big yes on this one.

Question 3: No. I don't see an option to ban horse racing. Why are we banning dog racing? Because the people that raise/care for the dogs are douches. No no no no, same as what Daimen said above.

1: I was kinda against this at first but I'm gonna vote yes just to see how it pans out.

2: Definitely yes. Money saved + More revenue from fines + Nobody's records tarnished for a minor reason = win

3: Sure, why not. The dog racing industry is on a decline anyway.

Our income tax in Massachusetts is 5.3%. Our sales tax is 5%. The we have property taxes. Then we have excise taxes on boats, cars, snowmobiles etc...

All of these taxes and the Massachusetts Gov't still can't get it ******* right.

None of you have a damn thing to whine about, haha.

Nexa

Well that's only one side of the coin. And Massachusetts isn't the worst, either. However, when you consider average income, cost of living expenses, etc., adjusting that chart accordingly would be the only way for it to be accurate. I chose to live in MA over CT because of the difference in Auto Insurance between states, and some generally lower cost of living elements (Gas, Housing, etc). Thank god I obtained my SDEP rating prior to the auto insurance change in MA.

The taxes wouldn't go away, they'd be shifted elsewhere.

My view on this is that they should tax ownership and spending more, rather than take it directly out of someone's paycheck.

No,it's actually be too much of a budgetary difference to overcome. It'd cut out like 40% of the state budget. You can't raise property taxes that much, especially during a time in a recession and given all the changing values on property here.

The town were I live did not raise property taxes. They just reassessed the home values up. Yes, I did say up.

In a time were home values are plummeting, they raised home values up. There was a huge uproar about this.

In an era of enlightened medical knowledge, I'm surprised each of you are encouraging smoking. When many states are limiting smoking by marginalizing it from public spaces and taxing it to oblivion, making MJ more accesible seems to be counterproductive. Note that I am not commenting on the ethical/moral issues surrounding drug use, but just from a health standpoint.

Would you advocate dropping seat belt laws or immunizations as well? Oh, sorry, Ambrya already has. Nevermind.

Totem

Voted today in MA.

1. Voted to keep income tax as is.
2. Voted yes.
3. Voted yes...free the doggies.

Polls were busy, but not especially crowded.

It also isn't legalizing marijuana but rather, you have a fine as opposed to a prison sentence or extended probation.

Restrictions? What like label packaging?

MJ can cause birth defects and an uncontrollable urge to eat Doritos.

It doesn't work like that. MJ is a drug and should be illegal. I just don't think that the stupid 18 yr old kid that gets caught with a joint needs to have a "major" crime on their permanent record.