In The News: Budget

MA Taxpayers Foundation's Michael Widmer says people need to learn how to deal with the upcoming round of cuts, wherever they hit, because it's not the last time we're going to hear it.

"It's going to be a triple whammy," said Michael Widmer, executive director of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "Homeowners will see their property taxes go up, the value of their homes go down and their services will be cut."

Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, echoed the sentiment. "This is another pension excess that is causing increasing outrage to taxpayers," he said. "You have these thousands of employees who earn legitimate pensions and then these kinds of abuses undercut support for the entire system. It is past time for the Legislature and the governor to close these kinds of loopholes."

MTF President Michael Widmer says retailers weren't hit as bad in the previous recession because home prices were rising quickly, and consumers could tap into that newfound wealth. Of course, that's not the case today, with local home prices suffering percentage declines in the double digits since their peak nearly three years ago.

 

"In an economic recovery, 100,000 jobs was a modest goal," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a nonpartisan research group in Boston. "In a recession, it's an impossibility."

"There will be winners and losers, and it will be very complicated trying to figure it out for a given community" because of the convoluted formulas used to determine aid, said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a nonprofit budget watchdog.

New York announced massive tax increases to help make up a budget deficit. Could Massachusetts do the same thing? Michael Widmer of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation spoke with FOX25's Gene Lavanchy.

The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a generally reliable fiscal prognosticator, delivered its state revenue forecast this week. As MTF president Michael J. Widmer aptly put it, "Not surprisingly, the picture is bleak."

For the current budget year, fiscal 2009, MTF predicts tax revenues will total $19.4 billion, $900 million less than the administration's latest forecast. Worse, MTF predicts a decline in revenues to $18.6 billion in fiscal 2010.

Fiscal forecasting is a mix of science and art, to be sure. However, the MTF figures - based on trends in employment, personal income, capital gains, sales taxes and corporate profits - demand serious consideration.

Michael Widmer of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation said the lottery has virtually escaped the tough scrutiny endured by other state agencies because it is considered a source of revenue, rather than an expense like most other state departments. Widmer, like Tuerck, thinks that should change.

"To make a dent in the problem would be hard to do without going to local aid," Widmer said. "I think the numbers are shocking, but the global economic calamity is taking everything in its wake."