Sep 30, 2022
Question 1 on the November Ballot Is “Good for All Businesses, Big and Small”
BOSTON – The campaign working to pass the Fair Share Amendment today announced the launch of its fourth television ad, part of an eight-figure TV ad campaign that is running through Election Day. The Fair Share Amendment, the proposed state tax on incomes above $1 million, would raise billions of dollars that are constitutionally dedicated to transportation and public education. It is Question 1 on the November statewide ballot.
Titled ‘Brewery,’ the new ad features Karsen Eckweiler, co-owner of Democracy Brewing in Boston, explaining how “Small businesses like ours have struggled during COVID. Question 1 is a great opportunity to make things better for everyone. It raises $2 billion that the constitution requires goes to public schools, colleges, and roads. That means more jobs and better opportunities. That’s good for all businesses, big and small.”
"Question 1 wouldn't make small businesses like ours pay a single penny more. But every business in Massachusetts will benefit when we have a more reliable transportation system to get our customers in the door and our employees to and from work," said Eckweiler. "We'll all benefit from better schools and colleges that prepare a well-educated workforce. And anyone who makes more than a million dollars in a single year can easily afford to pay a little more — just four cents on every dollar from their second million, and everything above it — to help build a stronger economy for all of us."
Yesterday, the Yes on 1 campaign announced the endorsement of more than 75 businesses across the state, including restaurants, bookstores, farms, barber shops, breweries, retailers, hotels, solar installers, banks, home repair contractors, and other businesses from across Massachusetts, in communities such as Adams, Amherst, Arlington, Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Everett, Fairhaven, Fall River, Grafton, Greenfield, Hyannis, Lexington, Malden, Montague, Newburyport, New Bedford, North Adams, Northampton, Pittsfield, Randolph, Shelburne, Somerville, South Hadley, Stoneham, and Worcester.
“Only people making over $1 million a year would pay,” the ad concludes. “If the richest one percent pay their fair share, small businesses like ours will see the benefits. I’m voting Yes on Question 1.”
The new ad can be viewed here. Previous ‘Yes on 1’ TV ads can be found here, here, and here.
Background on Question 1: the Fair Share Amendment
The Fair Share Amendment – Question 1 on the November ballot – will allow Massachusetts to improve our transportation and public education systems by making the very rich pay their fair share. Question 1 would create a 4 percent tax on the portion of a person’s annual income above $1 million and constitutionally dedicate the funds to be spent on transportation and public education. Only people who earn more than $1 million annually will be impacted; 99% of us won’t pay a penny more. And we’ll all benefit from better schools, roads, bridges, and public transportation.
Thousands of educators, workers, small business owners, parents, faith leaders, municipal officials, drivers and transit riders, and more than 350 organizations across the state are working together to pass Question 1. Our campaign has been endorsed by 80 labor unions, 63 community organizing groups, 15 faith-based groups, more than 75 businesses, and more than 100 other social service and not-for-profit organizations focused on housing, education, transportation, public health, and the environment. Learn more and get involved at FairShareMA.com.
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The Fair Share for Massachusetts campaign is led by Raise Up Massachusetts, a coalition of community organizations, faith-based groups, and labor unions committed to building an economy that invests in families, gives everyone the opportunity to succeed, and creates broadly shared prosperity. Since our coalition came together in 2013, we have nearly doubled wages for hundreds of thousands of working people by winning two increases in the state’s minimum wage, won best-in-the-nation earned sick time and paid family and medical leave benefits for workers and their families, and started to build an economy that works for all of us, not just those at the top.