Cellucci, Swift secretary says we need higher taxes

Really interesting editorial in today's Boston Globe on the need for the Commonwealth to raise taxes, particularly if you look at who wrote it: Steve Crosby, who was a secretary for former Republican governors Paul Cellucci and Jane Swift.

Typically, governments spend at least all that they collect. The enormous revenue growth of the mid-'80s led to no savings, a huge unfunded pension liability, and vastly increased spending. If the tax cuts had not occurred, the Commonwealth's spending would likely have matched all the tax revenue the state collected. Nearly two decades of tight fiscal policy has been an essential brake on state spending, and an appropriate response to the legitimate concerns of personal and business taxpayers about profligacy in state government.

But times have changed. Service delivery is genuinely compromised in vital areas of government. There is also a structural deficit that probably cannot be made up with spending cuts that the public will support.

We have reached the end of the inexorable pendulum-like cycle of government change, from the social investment of Governors Sargent and Dukakis, to the fiscal conservatism of Weld/Cellucci/Swift/Romney, and now back to the demand for social investment under Patrick. New revenues are needed, and that means taxes need to be increased. It should not occur until pension and health costs for state employees are brought to standards that are sustainable and fair in today's environment. It should be done with shrewd phasing, and with full utilization of the stimulus and rainy day funds.