Liberty Mutual Petition
revoke $46.5 million in unnecessary tax breaks and subsidies; redirect funding to city and state services
Whereas: The Liberty Mutual Insurance Company is building an office tower for its employees near its existing office building on Berkeley Street, and to subsidize this tower, Mayor Menino and the Boston City Council have granted Liberty Mutual $24 million in property tax relief and Governor Deval Patrick has given Liberty Mutual $22.5 million in state subsidies in a so-called Tax Increment Financing (TIF) agreement.
Whereas: These subsidies are being granted to a corporation so wealthy that it is on the Forbes 100 list, earning over a billion dollars a year in profit, and that testified to City Council that it did not even need to take out a construction loan, but could simply build the $300 million tower with cash on hand.
Whereas: This subsidy money is being taken from our city and state services – even as the funding for schools, libraries, parks, transit, community centers, youth jobs, and other essential services is being slashed.
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Better Budget Petition
Goal: a state budget and tax system that expands support for essential services while lowering taxes for those who need it most.
To Governor Patrick and Massachusetts State Legislators: Every year sees additional cuts to health care, education, social services and the environment. Yet you continue to allow massive tax giveaways to corporations - giveaways which have proven ineffective and wasteful. And you have failed to rebalance a tax system that favors the rich, forcing low and middle-income people to pay higher effective tax rates than multi-millionaires. We deserve a Better Budget - one which funds all essential services through three key reforms:
• Eliminate unjustified, no-strings-attached tax subsidies for corporations. Pay for products & services, not for promises
• Implement a fairer tax system in which the poor and middle class get tax breaks and the wealthy pay their fair share
• Stop runaway health care costs by implementing single-payer insurance, an improved version of Medicare for all
