FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

July 17, 2017

Governor Would Break Promise to Reduce Local Taxpayer Burden if pro-Union Bills Allowed to Become Law

Providence, RI – Despite year-long promises by the Speaker and the Governor to provide local tax relief, taxpayers will instead see a tax increase if Governor Raimondo does not veto two bills that were sent to her office last week by the General Assembly.

The Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity calls on the Governor to veto H5593 and H5601/S0896, which would provide exorbitant new benefits to municipal government workers at taxpayer expense. Without the much-hyped and overtly-promised pro-family automobile tax reform, now in limbo because of the sudden shut-down of the General Assembly’s 2017 legislative session, signing or allowing these two pro-labor pieces of legislation to become law would result in an even heavier net burden for local residents.

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“What a tragic irony it would be, and how typical for Rhode Island, if after all the hoopla, not only will local taxpayers NOT receive promised car-tax cuts this year, but instead they will suffer from tax increases to fund these gratuitous union giveaways,” said the Center’s CEO, Mike Stenhouse. “What once looked like a session where average Rhode Islanders might be granted some measure of much-needed tax relief, 2017 would yet again become a year for special-deals for special-interest insiders. It is clearly time to consider term-limits, so those lawmakers who have long ago been bought and paid for by big labor, can be returned to the citizenry.”

The legislation now on the Governor’s desk would give government worker unions a major collective-bargaining ‘evergreen’ negotiating advantage and would increase costly taxpayer funded of disability pension burdens by expanding eligibility to include illnesses and not just on-the-job injuries, respectively.

The RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity is the Ocean State’s leading voice against the wreckage caused by our state’s progressive agenda.

As the state’s leading research organization, advancing family and business friendly values… the mission of our Center is to make Rhode Island a better place to call home – to raise a family and to build a career.

While progressives value government-centric, taxpayer-funded dependency… our Center believes in the value of hard work and the free-enterprise system.

We understand that in order for more Rhode Island families to have a better quality of life, that more and better businesses are needed to create more and better jobs.

Your donation will help us fight the union-progressive movement and, instead, advocate for pro-family, pro-business policies and values.

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