Reminiscent of Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee's brilliant "Tax Me More!" fund, BostonIrish reports that Taxachusetts has created a checkbox on its state tax forms that allows the taxpayer to decide which tax rate he wants to pay: 5.3% or 5.85%. Surprisingly, even though recent tax-hike proposals by liberal lawmakers were only narrowly defeated, a mere 0.03% of taxpayers have opted to pay the higher rate.
Some will argue that no one wants to volunteer to pay the higher rate because then they'll be unfairly carrying the burden of paying for services that other people get the benefit of... but isn't that the exact position that "rich" people in higher marginal tax brackets are in already? Very few are eager for the government to redistribute wealth when they themselves are not the beneficiaries. This attitude reflects blatant hypocrisy on the parts of many presumed advocates of progressive taxation.
As I wrote last year, the tax rebellion continues. In 2002 Massachusetts voters almost passed a ballot initiative that would have eliminated all state income taxes, and it's only a matter of time before they try again and succeed. If the Bay State isn't first, there are plenty of others waiting in the wings.
(HT: Ace-o-Spades.)
Note, too, that these anti-tax measures are largely the children of the Massachusetts Libertarian Party, because the state GOP is as lefty as the Democrats.
TAC: Does it say that in the article? The one I read implies it's the Mass. GOP doing it.
To clarify, the Mass GOP passed the "checkbox" measure. The 2002 ballot initiative (a.k.a., the Small Government Act) was pushed by the Mass. Libertarian Party.