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THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 2021 Page 5 COVID-19 cases on a dramatic decline Only four newly confirmed cases reported in Saugus over the past 10 days, according to information provided by town officials By Mark E. Vogler T here have been only nine newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported in Saugus during the last 20 days – just four new cases over the past 10 days. As of yesterday, Town Manager Scott C. Crabtree said the number of confirmed cases had increased to 4,208 with the number of confirmed deaths remaining at 73 – with no new deaths reported for more than a month. During last week’s Board of Health meeting (June 7), town public health nurse Teresa Riley-Singh had reported the al weeks. During the month of May, number of confirmed cases at 4,204 – which included just five newly confirmed cases reported in a previous 10-day period. On May 28, the town had reported a total of 4,199 confirmed cases. Meanwhile, the total number of deaths linked to COVID-19 has remained at 73 for severthere were only 65 confirmed cases reported, according to Riley-Singh. That is a substantial decline from the 304 cases reported for April, according to the briefing the Board of Health received this week. Riley-Singh noted that only about two to three percent of the confirmed COVID-19 cases last month involved people who were 65 and older, 31 percent for the age bracket of 35 to 65 and 37 percent for the age bracket of 31 to 35. “Vaccination really works,” Riley-Singh told the Board of Health. The town is definitely trending downward, and the nurse credits the prevalence of people receiving vaccinations as a key contributor. Wong opposes graduated income tax amendment to the state Constitution S tate Representative Donald Wong recently opposed a proposed Constitutional amendment that would implement a graduated tax on incomes of more than $1 million. Meeting in a joint Constitutional Convention on June 9, 2021, the House and Senate approved the Fair Share Amendment, which is more commonly known as the “Millionaires Tax,” by a vote of 15941. The proposal – initially approved by the House and Senate on a vote of 147-48 at the June 12, 2019, Constitutional Convention – will now go before voters on the November 2022 state election ballot. While personal income in Massachusetts is currently taxed at a uniform rate of five percent, the proposed amendment would assess an additional four percent surtax on income in excess of $1 million, beginning in 2023, if the measure is approved by Massachusetts’s voters next year. Language contained in the amendment requires the $1 million income level to be adjusted annually to reflect any increases in the cost of living using the same method that applies to federal income tax brackets. Wong questioned the need to raise taxes at a time when tax revenues are coming in well over projections and the state is receiving a significant influx of federal aid, most notably $5.3 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). May 2021 state tax revenues totaled $4.002 billion, which is $2.264 billion (or 130.3 percent) more than collections from May of 2020 and $2.109 billion (or 111.4 percent) more than was projected to be collected last month. Proponents claim the surtax will generate $2 billion annually to provide funding for education and transportation, which will be subject to appropriation by the Legislature. Wong questioned the accuracy of that figure and said he also has concerns about whether the money will actually be used to increase funding in these two key policy areas. Wong pointed to a study released on June 8 by the Beacon Hill Institute projecting that slightly more than $1.2 billion in revenue will be generated by the surtax in its first year and only $1.5 billion by 2027. The study warns that passage of the surtax will drive high-income households to other states and will result in a loss of jobs, investment and disposable income. The Beacon Hill Institute study also accuses advocates of attempting to “perpetrate a fraud on voters” by claiming “the revenue derived from the surtax will fund education and transportation.” The report argues that the proposal lacks sufficient safeguards because “there is nothing in the amendment … that prevents legislators from diverting some of the [funding] already applied to education and transportation to other purposes and thus undermining the intent of the amendment.” Members of the House Republican Caucus previously recognized this problem and offered an amendment during the 2019 Constitutional Convention requiring that any revenues generated by the surtax be used “in addition to and not in lieu of funds” that are already being appropriated for education and transportation, but it failed on a vote of 40-156. Wong noted that the process governing proposed changes to the Constitution allows for amendments only at the initial voting stage, and not on the second vote required during a subsequent legislative session to advance the question to the ballot. A report released by the Pioneer Institute on April 1 warned, “Despite its purported goal of taxing only the uber-rich, the graduated income tax would fail to protect people of more modest means from over taxation on one-time windfalls” – including those who sell a home or business. Wong expressed concerns about the Legislature’s ability to rescind the surtax if it does not work out as planned, since any repeal effort could not appear on the state ballot until November of 2026 at the earliest. He also noted that the amendment calls for the new revenues to be used “for quality public education and affordable public colleges and universities,” but does not define a “quality” or “affordable” education, potentially leaving the state vulnerable to costly future litigation. A similar “Millionaires Tax” proposal was filed as a citizens’ petition and approved by the Legislature in both the 2015-2016 and 20172018 legislative sessions, but it did not advance to the ballot after the Supreme Judicial Court ruled it violated the Massachusetts Constitution by seeking to combine two unrelated topics on the same ballot question. The latest proposal originated in the Legislature and is not subject to the same restrictions as a Gerry D’Ambrosio Attorney-at-Law Is Your Estate in Order? Do you have an update Will, Health Care Proxy or Power of Attorney? If Not, Please Call for a Free Consultation. 14 Proctor Avenue, Revere (781) 284-5657 A.B.C. 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