BOSTON — Gov. Deval Patrick has sidestepped questions regarding whether he would implement a tax rollback if the voters mandate it in November — a stand that pits him in conflict with all three of his campaign rivals, who have emphasized they would abide by the referendum.
During a morning radio appearance last week, Patrick answered a question about the rollback by saying he wanted to persuade the electorate to oppose it.
"I think we work real hard to try to show them how calamitous a choice that would be," Patrick said in response to a question from WTKK host Jim Braude. The referendum before voters would cut the sales tax from its current 6.25 percent to 3 percent.
When Braude asked again, Patrick gave a nearly verbatim answer. Pressed a third time, Patrick said he thought governors and legislators had an obligation to honor the will of the voters.
But, he added, "I think it is also important as leaders, and as candidates, not to just encourage the voters to drive the truck off a cliff."
All of the gubernatorial candidates oppose Question 3, which critics say could cost the state up to $2.5 billion in tax revenues.
But a spokeswoman for Republican Charles Baker, Patrick's closest rival, said that, even though he does not support the referendum, Baker would implement the tax cut if it gains voter approval.
Baker wants to bring the sales tax rate back to 5 percent, its level prior to last year's round of tax hikes, including the 25 percent tax boost.
The Legislature's approval of the sales-tax hike has drawn fire from residents and business communities around the state, including locally from Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Bob Hastings.
He and others locally have noted that the sales-tax hike, combined with Gloucester city moves that have boosted the motel/inn tax and means tax through local options, have all sent a dangerous message to residents and visitors alike.
Gloucester's raising of the local hotel and inn occupancy tax from 4 to 6 percent has, combined with the state hotel taxes, boosted the overall tax on rooms in the city to more than 11 percent.
The ballot question to scale back the sales tax will appear across the state in November. Also on the ballot this year, Question 1 asks voters whether to restore the retail sales tax exemption for alcohol and alcoholic beverages, which was revoked last year as part of the tax package.
Independent Treasurer Timothy Cahill is "concerned" with the prospect of the lost revenue, his campaign spokeswoman said, but would follow through with the voters' mandate.
"We would honor the will of the voters and suggest that the governor do the same," the spokeswoman, Amy Birmingham, said in an e-mail.
Green-Rainbow candidate Jill Stein said she would package the sales tax cut with a larger restructuring of the tax code, designed to ease the burden for lower- and middle-income taxpayers while increasing it for the wealthiest.
"I think working families are paying far more than their fair share," Stein said in a telephone interview. "I would implement it. I would make it part of a larger package to make sure that working families don't get hit with rising property taxes and school fees and all the rest."
Stein said she would increase the income tax personal exemption and adjust the income tax rate, designed to provide lower-earning taxpayers with relief while targeting the top 1 percent of earners, pegging that bracket at $2 million annually or more.
On the "Jim and Margery Show," Patrick said he was wary of voter mistrust of Beacon Hill — which rejected the voters' approval of an income tax rollback in 2000, instead instituting a series of triggers ostensibly designed to take the rate down to 5 percent. The current rate is 5.3 percent.
But Patrick continued to sidestep whether he would support implementing the sales tax rollback, if the voters approve it.
"My job will be and continues to be to talk about responsible tax policy and that's not responsible," he said.
"Anybody has to respect the will of the voters," he added, "but the point is, if we're going to be responsible as leaders and as candidates, then we're going to have to tell the truth to voters.
"I keep meeting people who make the same two points — that they want their taxes cut but they don't want their services affected," Patrick said. "There is no way to do both."
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