New Englanders have long held a slight edge on their New York neighbors in fiscal sanity (if not always in baseball). Now progressives in Boston want to join New York and other nearby states in a high-tax arms race. Massachusetts voters have the choice to block a tax hike and preserve a revenue model that works.
Bay State ballots in November will give voters the choice to place a 4% surtax on incomes above $1 million, bringing the top rate to 9% from 5%. The proposal would amend the state constitution to remove its flat-tax mandate. Passing the measure would rocket Massachusetts to seventh from 31st on the list of states with the highest marginal income-tax rates.