What a miracle an election year is. House Speaker Robert DeLeo is suddenly on our side, suddenly posing as a hawk on tax increases. I’m surprised he hasn’t taken a temporary membership with Citizens for Limited Taxation. The speaker declared this week that the House budget, not due until spring, would contain no new taxes – he’s not going along with Gov. Deval Patrick‘s effort to impose the sales taxes on candy, soft drinks and smokeless tobacco. This, I guess, is supposed to make us think he is morphing into Scott Brown. Somehow, DeLeo forgot to mention the 25 percent increase in the sales tax that started last August, the new 6.25 percent tax on liquor and the “permission” for cities and towns to hit struggling residents with a local tax on meals and hotels. And, you notice he said nothing about next year’s budget, after the election is safely over.
Don’t look at what they say. Look at what they already did.
