There is no worse feeling than filing your taxes and seeing how much of your income has gone to the state. Thousands of dollars you could have used for myriad other purposes disappear into the state coffers, never to be seen again.

That money is supposed to do things like fix roads and bridges. But, there are only so many huge potholes you can hit before you start to wonder if it’s really worth it. The state government knows this, and is preparing to battle a referendum that would eliminate Massachusetts’ income tax.

(more…)

Harvard University has a lot of money, which is good for Harvard. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, on the other hand, does not have much dough kicking around these days. While the state holds together its infrastructure with silly putty and prayer, Harvard is sitting on a huge tax-free nest egg and is slowly expanding its empire campus into Allston.

Having already tapped smokers to help float its budget, Beacon Hill is now hinting that it wants rich schools like Harvard to pitch in a little.

(more…)

As renters, we’ve felt pretty comfortable as the foreclosure crisis has spread. We continue to write our check to the landlord every month, then watch news reports about families losing their homes with a mix of shock and relief.

Those poor people. Better them than us, though.

At least, that’s what we thought. A new report shows that New England’s renters have been affected by the mortgage crisis as much (if not more so) than single-family homeowners.

(more…)

In the halcyon days when I first got my driver’s license, gas cost less than $1 a gallon. A week’s worth of commuting to school, Dunkin’ Donuts, and my part-time job could be financed by a single evening of babysitting. It was a great time to be a teenager in the suburbs.

But even back when a gallon of bottled water cost more than the same amount of fuel, I was happy to not have to pay to fill the hulking trucks and SUVs that some of my classmates drove. So I can’t feel too bad for people who bought huge vehicles and now can’t afford to keep them running.

(more…)

We have fond memories of our first summer jobs. Back before we had rent or credit card debt, we could spend the money we earned herding elementary school kids on CD’s and gas that cost 99 cents a gallon. Those were the days.

So we were sad to read that Boston’s teenagers may not get the opportunity to earn some cash this summer. The agency in charge of the program that gets kids off the streets and into entry-level jobs at some of the city’s biggest companies says it only has enough money to fund 500 jobs for an estimated 4,000 kids who want them.

But rest easy, kids. We’ve got a solution.

(more…)

Yesterday, we expressed skepticism about Gov. Deval Patrick’s plan to borrow $3.8 billion to repair 411 bridges around the state. We thought House Speaker Sal DiMasi sounded hesitant to embrace the big loan during a recession, and we braced for another fight between the two. But it was all sunshine and cuddles between the Speaker and the Governor during yesterday’s formal announcement of the bridge plan.

That doesn’t mean the path ahead will be entirely smooth for Patrick, however. State Treasurer Tim Cahill says Beacon Hill can’t afford champagne bridges on the state’s beer budget.

(more…)

Ok, someone has to explain this to me. I spent part of the morning talking with friends who cover the State House, and they’re as confused as I am: How, exactly, will Gov. Deval Patrick justify spending $3.8 billion to fix some 411 bridges in the Commonwealth?

Oh, you haven’t heard? Well settle in, friends. The governor, god bless him, wants to repair our deteriorating bridges — a plan he’s announcing today during a speech at MIT. And anyone who regularly travels over the Longfellow probably won’t argue. But good intentions don’t always make for good government, especially when Massachusetts is running a $1 billion-plus deficit.

Put another way, when you look in your wallet and realize you’re not only flat broke, but that you also owe a lot of people a lot of money, how do you talk yourself into a spending spree? The answer is simple, of course: you find new lenders.

(more…)

You may have heard this already, but Massachusetts is hurting for money. Now that we won’t have casinos anytime soon, the Legislature is left to scramble for ways to balance the budget because if it doesn’t, cities and towns won’t get the aid they need to keep services running.

Cities and towns will be delighted to hear that the Massachusetts State Lottery is on its way to a record-setting year, since much of their aid comes from revenues. But it may spell more trouble than relief.

(more…)

We know we have an inner child, largely because we still get a chuckle out of sophomoric jokes. But the Globe shocked us today with the news that we also have an “inner Yankee.” We love an L.L. Bean Boat and Tote as much as anyone, but an austere lifestyle isn’t in our nature.

Perhaps the most inner-Yankeeless entity in these troubled economic times is the MBTA. Despite General Manager Dan Grabauskas’ assertion that the agency is “broke,” the agency’s board is expected to approve $3.75 billion in capital improvements.

(more…)

The fallout from the subprime mortgage collapse has hit Boston hard. Entire neighborhoods have been abandoned by homeowners who fell behind on their payments, and the economic impact of questionable loans is spreading beyond the real estate market. Now the Turnpike Authority is in trouble with a variable-rate loan, and it can’t walk away from the 138-mile roadway it’s responsible for.

(more…)