TAXES AND PUBLIC SERVICES

Massachusetts Democrats condemn the tax cuts that leave cities and towns to fend for themselves with only the regressive property tax as the primary source of revenue.

Massachusetts Democrats favor providing tax relief as soon as fiscally possible, particularly for our senior citizens, whose tax burden has continued to increase under Republican administration policies.

As we reaffirm our vision for healthy communities as the most effective way to build healthy families, we acknowledge the discrepancy among our urban, suburban, exurban, and rural municipalities in their different population densities, and their fiscal and administrative capacity.

Recognizing that small communities face unique challenges in providing government services with largely volunteer citizen officials, we support state and regional efforts to educate and empower local officials with the information and resources necessary to carry out their duties in a professional manner.

We support funding to help rural towns build administrative capacity to provide housing, public health programs, environmental protection, land use planning, and social service support.

We support comprehensive reform of state zoning and land use statutes in order to enable communities to manage growth and development in ways that will increase affordable housing, protect open space and natural resources, and preserve and enhance community character.