By Mr. Patrick of Falmouth, petition (accompanied by proposal, House, No. 3059) of Matthew C. Patrick for a proposal for a legislative amendment to the Constitution instituting a tax on income for the support public schools.  Revenue.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

PETITION OF:

Matthew C. Patrick

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In the Year Two Thousand and Seven.

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Proposal for a legislative amendment to the Constitution.

          A majority of all the members elected to the Senate and House of Representatives, in joint session, hereby declares it to be expedient to alter the Constitution by the adoption of the following Article of Amendment, to the end that it may become a part of the Constitution [if similarly agreed to in a joint session of the next General Court and approved by the people at the state election next following]:

ARTICLE OF AMENDMENT.

Article XLIV of the amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth is hereby amended by adding the following paragraphs:-

A tax on income of 1 per cent is hereby imposed and the proceeds of such tax shall be exclusively appropriated for the support public schools, K through 16, of the Commonwealth.  To qualify to receive funding due to this amendment, the municipalities, through a vote of city council or town meeting, must reduce the portion of the property tax that is dedicated to education by an amount not less than twenty five percent and not more than fifty percent.  The Department of Revenue will certify the reduction and replace it with funding established by this amendment.  The Department will provide equal percentages for all municipalities when more than seventy five percent of the funding would be consumed by certified requests.  Unused funding in any year will be put into chapter 70 funding for education.  Not less than twenty five percent of the annual revenue due to this act will be provided to public higher education.