Governor Patrick Discusses Taxes, Job Growth to Neponset Valley Chamber of Commerce

Gov. Deval Patrick spoke to the Neponset Valley Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday to discuss economic opportunities and job growth. And with the sequester on the minds of many business owners, Governor Patrick believed that it was still too early to tell what can happen in Massachusetts.

"The question is if it that does happen, will it happen right away? Or at the next fiscal year? We don't know," he said.

But he was confident that the investments that are currently being made in education and infrastructure will not only help the economy, but will also help future generations.

"I thought to myself, 'Our grandparents gave us that.' Like Rte. 3 and I-95 or the street I came down to get here this morning; like the T and Logan Airport and UMass," he said. "They sacrificed to make things better for us, making investments that lead to the one the greatest expansions of wealth and opportunity in the history of the world."

Governor Patrick believes that the tax proposal will allow the Commonwealth to make the necessary investments for economical growth.

"I have proposed to cut the sales tax from 6.25 percent to 4.5 percent, raise the income tax a percentage point to 6.25 percent, double the personal exemptions, and eliminate a number of special deductions that no longer serve us well," he said. "The upshot is that for about half the workforce, total taxes would stay the same or go down, and for the other half they would go up according to one's ability to pay."

One business owner asked the Governor, during the question and answer session, if the tax hike would discourage consumer spending. Governor Patrick answered that he believed that the lower sales tax would attract consumers to buy.

"But there is more than one way to accomplish these objectives and raise the $1.9 billion in new revenue annually that we need to grow a lot more jobs and create a lot more wealth. I am open to those ideas," he said.