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Health & Fitness

Lyons Pledges to Fight for Taxpayers

State Representative Jim Lyons (R-Andover) speaks out against potential tax hikes.

"I promise to fight any attempt on Beacon Hill to increase taxes."

Representative Jim Lyons (R-Andover) made that direct pledge to voters and taxpayers, as he responded to recent reports suggesting that Democrats were considering hiking state taxes after the November election. Lyons has consistently advocated a 5-5-5 Tax Rollback, which would roll back the sales, meals, and income taxes to their traditional 5% rate. "The sales tax increase," Lyons noted, "has particularly hurt consumers and small retail businesses in the Merrimack Valley, because of our proximity to tax free New Hampshire. How did the Beacon Hill Democrats expect small businesses to absorb a 25% sales tax hike during the economic downturn?"

The State House New Service has filed recent articles that say powerful Democrats are entertaining the idea of raising state taxes in 2013, following the November 6 election results. Among the tax hikes mentioned are a broad-based income tax increase, an expansion of the sales tax, and a broadening of the mandated bottle bill return fee. Another possibility is that the Patrick Administration will revive its demand for a special sales tax on candy, soda, and other foods they disapprove of.

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"Maybe we can squeeze all these Beacon Hill 'Tax Tricks' into one big Halloween bag," said Lyons. "Because the Democrat Administration is disguising them until after the election, we'll call them the 'Trick or Treat' Tax Hikes.

"Unfortunately," Lyons added, "the Trick is on the taxpayers. And the Treat is for the Beacon Hill insiders, power brokers, and patronage seekers."

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Lyons pointed to the constant stream of news reports about waste, fraud, and corruption in state government. Among his points: patronage abuse, most egregiously through the probation department; the state drug testing lab fiasco that is still unfolding; subsidies to illegal aliens and non-residents through the Mass Health and Health Safety Net programs; the embarrassing EBT card excesses; state taxpayer funding of the corruption and waste at Lawrence City Hall.

"With such rampant, negligent misuse of precious taxpayer resources," Lyons emphasized, "it's unconscionable to be thinking about burdening working families and small businesses with even more taxes.

"Beacon Hill politicians have fooled voters in the past: campaigning with a false bipartisan mask, and then tricking working families by imposing a highly partisan 25% sales tax hike, as was done in 2009. We must not let that happen again.

"We must not allow the Patrick Administration, along with the power brokers and patronage seekers, to dress up in a taxpayer-friendly costume through election election day, and then unleash their insatiable 'Trick or Treat Tax Monster' in 2013.

"If they try to trick the voters and taxpayers again, we will unmask them," Lyons concluded. "And I will be fighting them every step of the way."

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