Group: State needs revenue for community investment

LYNN – A statewide coalition rallied in favor of a tax increase Wednesday, citing what it called the need for a greater investment in “our communities, our future.””It’s 125 communities, labor and interfaith groups that have come together to call for the state to invest in the community the way our parents and grandparents did,” said Harris Gruman, co-chairman of the Campaign for Our Communities, at the rally, held at the Lynn Housing Authority on Tremont Street.Campaign for Our Communities believes that communities will only flourish if the state invests in them and the best way to raise revenue is to raise taxes.Gruman, who along with representatives from a half-dozen other local agencies, spoke before members of Mass Senior Action and said the campaign has three principles. They include providing adequate revenue to invest in the future of the state, to fund fairly, protecting low and middle income families as well as seniors from big increases, and invest in a broad array of needs, not just transportation and structures.”We think that the state would need $1.5 to $2 billion,” Gruman said.To meet that need, the campaign supports a broad-based tax increase that includes raising the income tax from 5.25 percent to 5.95 percent and increasing personal exemptions, he explained.”We need to look at schools and health care, and all those things that have been underfunded for so many years,” he said.Transportation is a high priority for Kiki Chaiton, a member of Senior Mass Action. Chaiton told the small crowd that life has become difficult since The Ride increased its fare last summer.”It’s pretty lousy when I have to ask my daughter to take a sick day to take me or my husband to a doctor’s appointment,” she said. “The state needs to fund its public transit system so that those of us who depend on it can get to where we need to go.”Carly McClain from the New Lynn Coalition said she represents people who not only use public transportation but who have children in public schools, who rely on the local hospital and health center for care, and who use local services. She said the city has faced a nearly 57 percent cut in state aid over the last decade and this campaign could restore some of that.Lynn Teachers Union President Brant Duncan expressed support for the campaign while talking about inadequate school buildings and overcrowded classrooms.Mary Miles, of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, also talked about how education is no longer considered the great equalizer. The commonwealth is still home to some of the best schools in the country but the gap between the haves and the have-nots is growing at an alarming rate, she said.The Marblehead teacher said she has seen that impact across the state specifically in towns like Weston, which sends roughly 96 percent of its seniors to college, while families in nearby Gardner are struggling to afford college even when students are lucky enough to win scholarships.Gruman said he’s received fairly good feedback from residents across the state on the plan, despite the fact it calls for a tax increase.”We’ve polled on it and we get about 50 percent,” he said. “People get that ? they get the need.”The rally is the first of a planned statewide tour by the campaign that’s lobbying for support of its own three-point proposal as well as a proposal that Gov. Deval Patrick has included in his budget package.”We need to raise adequate revenue so people can continue to raise their families here,” Gruman said.Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected].