Day 1 of House Floor Debate

So, day 1 of the House Floor Debate is in the books.  What was accomplished today?  Not much other than the on-going debate on the sales tax increase.  Our guys are a little boxed in on income taxes, of course, given that in the last couple of election cycles the electorate almost repealed the income tax altogether.  The electorate at least has signaled a clear desire to get the income tax back down to its original 5%.

The Governor sent a letter to the Legislature yesterday telling them that he would veto the sales tax increase if the Legislature was not serious about the reform agenda that the Governor has proposed, including reform of the state pension system and, most importantly, the Commonwealth's transportation system.  On this point I have to agree with the Governor.

So, last night the House used Rep. Carl Sciortino's proposed sales tax amendment (see amendment #717) as the vehicle for raising the sales tax from 5% to 6.25%.  They apparently counted enough votes to get a veto-proof majority of 108 votes (one more than the 107 needed) to go for the increase.  The roll call vote has, of course, not yet been made available. but we'll post it when it is.  Other than that, and no surprise here, the House didn't accomplish much.  If the 1003 amendments, they've so far dealt with thirteen: two adopted, two rejected, six withdrawn, two precluded because of other action, and one laid on the side.