http://www.bostonknows.com Boston Knows en-us Oct 11, 2008 - 03:10 pm Oct 11, 2008 - 03:10 pm http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Boston Knows RSS Feed editor@example.com webmaster@example.com http://www.bostonknows.com/pages/index.php?item=1153&group=109 Last week the U.S. Census Bureau released estimates showing changes in the ethnic makeup of each state's population since the 2000 census. Overall the population of Massachusetts has grown by 1.6%. The white population has decline slightly, while black, Latino and Asian populations have grown rapidly. May 06, 2008 - 08:05 am http://www.bostonknows.com http://www.bostonknows.com/pages/index.php?item=1063&group=109 Want to see how your tax dollars are spent in Boston? The Herald built an online database of how much each and every city employee makes. This data was made available under the state's Public Record's law. The Mayor made $175,000 last year. 108 employees made more than the Mayor. 1,948 make over $100,000 a year! Working for the government does pay after all! Apr 18, 2008 - 07:04 am http://www.bostonknows.com http://www.bostonknows.com/pages/index.php?item=1045&group=109 Of course the business community wants to see the Massachusetts corporate tax rate lowered from 9.5%, the fourth highest in the country. Deval Patrick is proposing a decrease to 8.3% by 2012, while House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi is pushing for 7% over 3 years. A study recently released by Suffolk University makes a case to reduce the tax rate to 5.3%. I think all the politicians are in agreement that the business tax code needs an overhaul to make Massachusetts more attractive to businesses, but finding the right balance in the current economic environment is tricky given the state's $1 billion budget deficit . The tax breaks given to the movie studios has certainly sparked a boom in film and television production, but is actually costing the state money. Maybe the tax policy can focus on temporary tax breaks for certain types of industries Massachusetts wants to attract, like Patrick's Life Sciences Initiative for biotech and pharmaceutical industries. Some argue that the latest political shenanigans to alter the tax code will actually leave corporations paying more in taxes. Go figure! How poor would American be if our corporations were run by politicians?! Apr 16, 2008 - 07:04 am http://www.bostonknows.com