This just in from the State House News Service:
U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, who railed against tax increases as a state senator and made tax cuts a main theme of his run for U.S. Senate, declined Friday to say where he stands on Question 3, the statewide ballot initiative marked for a vote Tuesday that would lower the state sales tax to 3 percent from 6.25 percent.
During a press availability in South Boston with Republican candidate for treasurer Rep. Karyn Polito, Brown refused three times to say whether he supports the question. He said he had voted by absentee ballot.
“I already voted, but I’ll let the candidates that are running comment on those questions,” Brown said.
Brown’s office had previously declined to respond to requests for comment on the senator’s views on Question 3.
Polito supports the question, saying it’s the only way to force a lower sales tax – she prefers the 5 percent rate in place before the tax was raised to 6.25 percent in the summer of 2009.
Republican candidate for governor Charles Baker opposes Question 3, saying it cuts taxes too deeply but that he will try to work with the Legislature towards a 5 percent sales tax, if he’s elected on Tuesday.
Noah R. Bombard is the new media editor for The Eagle-Tribune in North Andover. He is a former award-winning newspaper and magazine editor who has been covering news in Massachusetts since 1997.