RUSH: Nancy in Concord, Massachusetts, you’re next on the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. What a thrill and an honor to speak with you.
RUSH: Thank you very much.
CALLER: I told my husband you’re the only man on earth I would leave him for.
RUSH: And I’d take you.
CALLER: (giggles) My question is I live in Concord, New Hampshire, and —
RUSH: I’m just kidding.
CALLER: (giggling)
RUSH: It’s just a flippant comment.
CALLER: (giggling) I live in, um, Concord, Massachusetts, and it’s a very liberal town and I happen to be on the town’s Finance Committee. We’re in town meeting last week and one of our warrant articles is creating an option for a local income tax in Massachusetts because apparently we feel we’re not taxed enough and we’d like to go to the legislature to give us the option of imposing a local income tax on residents.
RUSH: Wait a minute. You mean in addition to the state income tax?
CALLER: Exactly.
RUSH: Like New York City has an income tax in addition to the state income tax.
CALLER: Exactly.
RUSH: And in Concord they want to do the same thing?
CALLER: Exactly. And the premise is that the tax would be revenue neutral because it would be offset by a decrease in the property tax.
RUSH: Bull. That’s not going to happen. You know it as well as I do.
CALLER: (laughs) I do, I do, and a lot of us —
RUSH: I’ll tell you what. You say you’re on the council or committee doing this?
CALLER: I’m on the Finance Committee, and we voted whether or not to recommend it.
RUSH: No! No, no! How did the vote come out? I got 30 seconds here. I have a point to make here.
CALLER: 10-4. It went down. So today goes to the town.
RUSH: Uhhh, it went down? So it’s not going to happen?
CALLER: The town is actually gonna vote. We made a recommendation at the Finance Committee.
RUSH: Oh, you mean the population is going to vote?
CALLER: Exactly.
RUSH: All right. Here’s the deal: If these people that want this local income tax in Concord claim it’s going to be offset by a property tax cut, you tell ’em to cut property taxes first and when we see the property taxes cut then we’ll talk to you. But it ain’t going to happen. Oh! They’re going to drive people out of Concord. This is what’s gonna happen. It’s happening in New York; it’s happening in New Jersey. Thanks for the call. Back in a minute.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Look, a quick question here also for our last caller from Concord, Massachusetts. They want a local town income tax, and they say, ‘It won’t matter. It’s going to be revenue neutral. We’re gonna pay for it that property tax cut.’ Fine. If it’s revenue neutral, why do it? If you’re gonna have a tax increase offset by a tax cut, why go to the trouble? Because everybody knows it’s going to be a tax increase ’cause property taxes will never be cut — and if they are, the income tax will go up accordingly.