The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance issued the following statement in response to Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka’s rebate proposal:

“This is a poorly thought-out gimmick being done right before the election simply to score points with voters, plain and simple. Meaningful relief should be broad based and focused on lowering taxes on the people they most effect. Picking winners and losers through arbitrary brackets, as well as penalizing married couples more likely to have families depending on them, is a poor way for our out of touch legislature to show solidarity with the privations their ill-conceived economic policies are currently forcing Massachusetts families to contend with. The Speaker and the Senate President need to go back to the drawing board, but if this is the best plan they can come up with it should be rejected,” said Paul D. Craney, spokesman for the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.