Republican Rep Lombardo files amendments to lower Massachusetts income and sales taxes, exempt tipped workers

By Sam Drysdale

Republican Rep. Marc Lombardo used the opening hour of the House’s annual budget debate to try to force representatives to take roll call votes on a number of tax cuts, and in doing so showed a rift among House Republicans.

Lombardo, of Billerica, filed amendments to the House Ways and Means $61.4 billion annual budget to reduce the state sales tax to 5%, decrease the income tax to 4.5%, make adjustments to the way the surtax on the high earners is calculated, and exempt waitstaff, bartenders and barista’s tips from getting taxed.

“For years, we’ve watched hardworking families and retirees and job creators leave Massachusetts in growing numbers, not because they want to, because they feel like they have no choice. Skyrocketing costs, energy costs through the roof, housing costs and yes, tax burden have driven many to seek opportunities and affordability elsewhere,” Lombardo said, plugging his amendment to decrease the income tax (#418).

Rep. Adrian Madaro of East Boston, chair of the Revenue Committee, was the only House member from either party who spoke in opposition to any of Lombardo’s amendments from the floor. He argued that the ideas should go through a public hearing process, and that it’s a precarious time to hamstring state revenue by cutting taxes as the state is bracing for federal funding cuts.

“It’s important that we do our best to gather the information we need to appropriately evaluate the potential impact of this proposal on state revenue as best we can at this juncture, however, we simply cannot afford to make cuts due to uncertainty from the federal government. It is unclear if we’ll be able to continue to rely on that funding to fulfill the needs of residents of the commonwealth until the federal government finalizes its own budget, which won’t occur until June of this year. If necessary, we need to be prepared to fill the gaps in essential state programs and services to the greatest extent possible. However, without a full fiscal analysis, we risk making budgeting decisions without a clear picture of the consequence,” Madaro said of the amendment to reduce the sales tax to 5% (#420). 

Republicans sometimes try to force a roll call vote on measures they believe are popular but are likely to get shot down by the Legislature’s Democratic supermajority. Roll calls can get Democrats on the record on issues Republicans hope voters will care about. However, they need sufficient support to force the roll call vote, from 10% of the 160-person House — 16 representatives.

For each of Lombardo’s amendments, only eight of the 25 Republicans in the House rose in support of taking a roll call vote. Rep. Steve Xiarhos joined them to make nine on an amendment to exempt tax on overtime pay. No Democrats stood to support taking recorded votes on the tax policy amendments.

As presiding Democrat Rep. Kate Hogan called from the rostrum for the count of how many representatives in the Second Division — where the Republicans sit — stood to support the roll calls, Rep. Nick Boldyga of Southwick shouted out “sixteen” for each amendment, despite the fact that just over a handful stood. Boldyga backed Lombardo in his bid to oust Minority Leader Brad Jones as the top House Republican earlier this year.

Minority leadership then did an official count for each amendment, which they reported to Hogan, saying it was insufficient to force a roll call. Boldyga continued to shout out “sixteen” for subsequent amendments.

Meanwhile, Jones left the chamber.

At one point, Lombardo tried to use a procedural maneuver of questioning the presence of a quorum to force Jones back into the chamber.

“I was hoping that the quorum was going to bring the gentleman from Reading back to join the discussion today, because I know that he would support this amendment,” Lombardo said, of his amendment (#421) to exempt tax on overtime.

Lombardo on Jan. 1 received five votes for minority leader, losing his bid to Jones’s 19. During Monday’s session, Lombardo’s cause picked up support from members of the new class of Republicans, including Reps. John Gaskey of Carver, Jason Thurber of Somerset and Kenneth Sweezey of Plymouth.

The Billerica Republican’s tax amendments were defeated by voice votes.

After they got through Lombardo’s amendments, House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz approached Boldyga on the House floor, shook his hand and spoke with him before the House then quickly dismissed six Boldyga amendments in a row dealing with income, sales, gas, capital gains and estate tax relief.