The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance made the following statement today in response to the U.S. Labor Department releasing data showing that inflation reached a four decade high in the month of November.

The Labor Department said on Friday that the consumer-price index, which measures what consumers pay for goods and services, rose 6.8% in November from the same month a year ago. That was the fastest pace since 1982. It was also the sixth straight month in which inflation topped 5%.

As inflation continues to soar, so do tax hikes for taxpayers and pay raises for state lawmakers. In January, Massachusetts lawmakers are scheduled to receive an automatic pay raise which is tied to the rate of inflation. As the rate of inflation reaches a 40 year high, lawmaker should be eligible for a big automatic pay bump in the coming weeks. Additionally, Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka are proposing a 2022 ballot question, in hopes that the voters will be naïve enough to allow them to alter the state constitution to empower lawmakers to raise the state income tax rate on whoever they want.

“As the rate of inflation continues to climb, it hurts the middle class and working poor, but it enriches Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka. They will cheerfully tell their supporters in the Massachusetts legislature that their paychecks are set to receive a big automatic pay bump. What’s worse, these same enriched legislative leaders will then move to pretend our state is poor and try to fool enough Massachusetts voters to convince them to vote for their latest ballot question tax increase gimmick, which will remove our state constitutional protections of equal taxation and allow lawmakers to raise the income tax on whoever they want,” stated Paul Diego Craney, spokesperson for Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance. 

“The public often wonders why their paychecks don’t get any bigger while politicians get rich when they get elected to government. It’s really simple. Politicians propose gimmicks to raise taxes, which take more out of ordinary people’s paychecks and politicians give themselves automatic pay raises when everyone else is suffering,” concluded Craney.