S5 proposed to amend the Massachusetts Constitution to authorize an additional income tax of 4%—an 80% increase—on taxpayers who earn more than $1 million annually.
The Senate passed S5 on June 9, 2021, by a vote of 38 to 2. We have assigned pluses to the nays because the the income tax is an immoral, anti-constitutional act of government-imposed theft that takes from citizens the wages they have rightfully earned. It disparages the principles of both the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment, which were intended to safeguard “private property” and guarantee “equal protection of the laws” for all Americans.