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Re-ping for Fri. (hmm, I think I was re-pinging people
to LAST WEEK’s thread (Oct 1-5) by mistake for awhile!

Howie’s column for today

Deval’s casino-driven tax relief: bunco

by Howie Carr/ Boston Herald 10/12/07
So now Gov. Deval Patrick, Mr. Hope and Opportunity, is promising Massachusetts property tax relief - if we just OK a few casinos.

Open up the state for Deval’s pals to make billions, and in return, my friend, if you live in Fall River, you may - key word, may - collect $177.

Only that $177 is not real folding money. It’s an income-tax credit. And only if you can pass the means test. For Deval’s next trick, he will sell you an apple for an orchard.

This shell game du jour is included in the new casino bill, which was finally filed yesterday, after months of front-page trial balloons in the newspapers. A lot of rabbits rusted at the dogtracks-hoping-to-become-casinos while the hacks were drafting this boondoggle legislation.

As for this latest “property-tax relief,” it reminds me of those letters that come in the mail and on the front of the envelope it says, “Open Immediately - Check for $5,000 Enclosed!”

Then you notice that, oddly enough, your five grand wasn’t mailed first-class, it was sent bulk rate, or as they now call it, “precancelled.” Then another red flag - you observe that it’s addressed either to you “Or Current Occupant.” But since you’ve wasted this much time, you rip open the letter and extract the check, only it’s not really a check, because it says “Non-Negotiable” on it. It can only be “cashed” at Honest Deval’s Used Cars.

Q. What’s the difference between TJX’s miserly $15 offer to its ripped-off credit card holders, and Deval’s so-called property tax relief?

TJX gives you $15 more than Deval.

Deval’s favorite newspaper calls his latest grift a “windfall.” I call ... the bunco squad. He promised everyone in the state property-tax relief. This is a tax cut very, very few people will ever see.

Like the tent revivalist that he is, Deval says don’t wait for pie in the sky by and by when you die. Get yours now, with ice cream on top!

You can trust Deval, he’s not like the others.

The problem with most “tax credits” is that they’re designed either to reward certain groups, or merely to sound good while being accessible to almost no one. See, “rich” people never are eligible. Sounds OK, until you realize that you, and almost everyone you know, are “rich” under their definitions.

Deval’s credits would only go to homeowners who pay more than 2.5 percent of their income in property taxes. Of course this would never lead to massive fraud, now would it? Don’t we already have enough people working under the table, and not just illegal aliens either?

I mean, consider how honestly these “targeted” tax-relief programs have been run in the past. Earned-income tax credits, anyone? Just last week, we learned about the huge fraud problem in the Pike’s E-Z Pass program. If you live in certain neighborhoods in Boston, you pay 40 cents rather than $3 to drive through the harbor tunnels.

Suddenly, everyone driving in the tunnels claimed to be from East Boston. What a surprise.

Getting back to Deval, the moonbats who will be swooning over their governor’s very generous “tax relief” are the same people who oppose cutting the state income tax from 5.3 percent to 5 percent, because the reduction “only” amounts to $150 a year if you’re making $50,000.

But in the days ahead we’ll hear how wonderful Deval is to offer to spring for $177 - that extra $27 makes all the difference, apparently. I’m sure Deval’s largesse will mean a lot to all the property owners in Fall River who are being foreclosed upon by what used to be Ameriquest, where Deval sat on the board - but I digress.

I think it may be time for a new T-shirt: Deval’s pals got the casinos, and all I got was this lousy T-shirt - and a $177 tax credit.