Tsongas supports Taxing the “Rich”
FITCHBURG -- U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas was in Fitchburg on Monday to meet with local business executives in a new area she would gain if re-elected in November.
Mayor Lisa Wong and state Rep. Stephen DiNatale were present at the meeting, held at cybersecurity firm mZeal. Also at the meeting were representatives of about a dozen manufacturing firms, including David Garrison, CFO of Micron Integrated Technologies in Fitchburg; Alfred Cotton, Jr., director of corporate communications for Nypro Plastics of Clinton; and Tom Gramaglia, vice president of strategy and business development for iRobot of Bedford. Fitchburg is currently part of Massachusetts' First District, represented by U.S. Rep. John Olver, who is not seeking re-election.
The group talked Monday about ways the federal government can aid Massachusetts businesses and communities. Tsongas said municipalities in the state require a support system, and she sees one of her tasks as helping communities advance their vision of themselves.
"I don't think a member of Congress can create that vision," Tsongas said. Garrison from Micron said his firm has a problem finding potential manufacturing employees who understand basic math and science. "Scientific literacy is not there," he said.
Garrison said he believes there is a cultural stigma that manufacturing work is repetitive, a view he said is false, and that stigma discourages people who are scientifically literate from seeking manufacturing work. Tsongas said the general public underestimates how much manufacturing still takes place in Massachusetts, and as a result, too many students fail to enroll in vocational
classes that would make them better suited for manufacturing.
"We have this feeling that we're not making anything, but we actually are," Tsongas said. DiNatale received a chorus of agreements when he asked the business leaders if they have
trouble making decisions to expand their operation because of a lack of predictability and reliability in federal policy. When the business leaders complained that China is using its taxpayers' money to subsidize its exports, Tsongas said she has voted against most free-trade agreements that have come her way. She said subsidies and tariffs are policy choices that will allow American companies to develop industries like solar panels instead of letting the Chinese control that industry. Wong said Massachusetts needs to figure out what industries it has a comparative advantage in so companies can focus on those industries and not ones where other regions will have a natural advantage.
Tsongas stressed that for the time being, the area is still served by Olver and she still has to beat whoever wins the Republican nomination for the seat. After the meeting, she told representatives from the Sentinel & Enterprise that there is a big debate over the proper role of the federal government, and she believes it is to actively help society move in the direction it envisions. She also took positions in favor of raising taxes on the rich, passing a jobs bill, combating sexual assault in the military, and maintaining postal deliveries on Saturdays.
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"The top 10 percent income earners pay about 70 percent of federal income taxes," says Will McBride of the Tax Foundation. "The bottom 50 percent of tax filers pay almost no federal income tax. They pay about 3 percent of federal income taxes." And for many of the people who pay no taxes, the government also allows tax credits, which end up providing refunds.
"Close to a hundred billion in checks sent out by the IRS (go) to folks who have no tax liability," McBride said. "So the IRS is becoming a spending agency."
Arthur Brooks, head of the American Enterprise Institute, put it this way: "Half of the people who don’t pay anything in federal income taxes -- about half of them pay less than zero."
But Brooks says the system is tilted even more toward those in the middle class and below because they also get services from the federal government. As a result the per capita value of government spending exceeds what those individuals pay in federal taxes.
"Right now about 70 percent of Americans take more out of the tax system than they put into it, according to the Tax Foundation," Brooks said."That's something that should really alarm a lot of Americans."
Welcome
Representative Tsongas is NOT one of us!
Most of us that live in the 37 cities and towns that comprise the 3rd Congressional District would love to be in the stratosphere that is the life style of our Representative”.
In the 2010 Election on a Lowell Sun debate, Ms. Tsongas insinuated that she "was a regular person” and attempted to paint her challenger as an elitist. She also indicated her personal involvement in saving money for us taxpayers. She mentioned not taking a raise and voting for a freeze on a congressional pay raise as well as cutting staff expenses by 75 thousand dollars. Her statement seemed not to be in line with the facts.
Between Jan 1st and 30 July 2010, a six month period, Ms. Tsongas had spent $498.897 for her staff, this projects out to $997,794 for the year! In 2009 her staff expenses were $960,829, In 2008 the expense was $898,711. This does not indicate a reduction but rather a slow increase in the cost to operate her office.
She failed to mention that she voted for the congressional pay raise (H413 on June 19, 2009) before she voted against the automatic pay adjustment in 2010.
On a personal front Ms Tsongas’s income is $174.000 for a congressional salary. Based on Financial Disclosure reports a public record, her net worth is listed as between $1,845,054 and $7,999.999 which ranks her 66th RICHEST in the House of Representatives. Her assets includes her three properties, a small Condo at 52 Lawrence Drive Unit 411M, in Lowell, rarely used other than an election cycle, valued at $119.600. Her primary residence, at 26 Auburn St., Charlestown Ma. Purchased in 2003 for $760,000 with an accessed value of $602,300. And finally her property at 455 Shore Rd. Chatham Ma; valued at $2,440,800.This is the individual who supports Occupy Wall Street and is in fact a FAT CAT!
We personally hope Ms. Tsongas makes and spends whatever she desires, that is the America as it was and should be, not the America she and her fellow elitist elected officials want to make it for us and exclude themselves.
