Martha Coakley continues to rip Brown for tax "rhetoric."

Just hours after he released his first television ad touting his tax cut credentials, Scott Brown again came under attack from his Democratic opponent Martha Coakley in what has now become a series of "Rhetoric vs. Reality" emails from the Coakley campaign.

The release asserts that Brown's consistent statements throughout the campaign that he has never voted to increase taxes during his public career does not hold up.  According to Camp Coakley, Brown's "record in the State Legislature does not match his rhetoric on the campaign trail, as he voted to increase costs for Massachusetts families and businesses by implementing hundreds of millions of dollars in additional fees. He also voted for what an anti-tax advocacy group called a “gas tax increase.”

The release notes that while serving as a State Representative, Brown voted for a 2004 budget that contained hundreds of millions of dollars in fee hikes.

Camp Coakley says:

"Media estimates placed the total number of fee hikes placed on Massachusetts families and businesses that were contained in that budget ranging from $390 million to $700 million a year. The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation linked the fees to tax increases at the time, saying 'It's been disingenuous to say there's no new taxes, in the sense that there's very little connection to the fee increases and the cost of services that the fees are supposed to represent.'

That same 2004 budget that Brown voted for included what the Citizens For Limited Taxation Condemned As '2.5 Cent Per Gallon Gas Tax Increase.' The House budget eliminated a special fund once reserved for combating the environmental threat of leaking underground fuel storage tanks while retaining the 2.5 cent a gallon levy on fuel sales that had once been earmarked solely to fund it. The effect, anti-tax activists said, was to transform a user fee into a tax. Citizens for Limited Taxation condemned it as a '2.5 cent per gallon gas tax increase disguised as an environmental ‘assessment'' and the American Automobile Association labeled it a 'backdoor tax.'

From the Coakley release:

Scott Brown Rhetoric

“I’ve taken over 6,000 votes, never voted for a tax increase, signed the (Citizens For Limited Taxation) pledge 12 years ago.” (WGBH, Greater Boston with Emily Rooney, 12/7/09)

“I did it (signed the Citizens for Limited Taxation pledge) 12 years ago when I ran for the state senate. And I haven’t voted for a tax increase while being in elective office.” (NECN, Broadside, 12/10/09)

Scott Brown Reality


Brown voted to increase fees on Massachusetts residents by $390 - $700 million a year and voted in favor of what the Citizens for Limited Taxation condemned at the time as a “2.5 cent per gallon tax increase.”