Recently, a would-be candidate for Lieutenant Governor in Massachusetts had to withdraw after it was revealed that she had a huge backlog of unpaid taxes, loans, defaults, and other records of financial mismanagement. (She was a Democrat, naturally.) Inspired by that, the Boston Herald decided to do a bit more digging.
There are 36 elected officials from Boston who oversee public budgets, on the City Council and in the state legislature. And it turns out that 6 of them — 1 out of 6 — all have run afoul of paying the state their “fair share.”
Admittedly, some of them are pretty minor — one Councilor says that he’s disputing one $399 excise tax bill, not ignoring it, and a clerical error on his part ballooned a $26 shortage in 1997 ballooned into $76 in penalties and interest, for example — but one would think that those who hold public office would be “purer than Caesar’s wife” in such matters, and would be extra-vigilant to comply with the laws that they help to pass.
But then, one would not be discussing Massachusetts politicians.
Isn’t Massachusetts the state that has an option to pay a higher tax rate IF YOU WISH?
I believe that during the Kerry run I heard that someone had checked his returns and found he DID NOT VOLUNTEER to pay the HIGHER STATE TAX.
I’d love to know how many state officials DO PAY up the extra dollars.
The correct term is “vertically challenged”.
any politician who is in arrears for more than one per cent of income unless the matter is being litigated with evidence that they do not owe the money, ought to be suspended from office without pay until the deficiency is made whole.