Share Your Story!

The effect on public opinion when you tell about your own experiences with the Retroactive Tax should not be underestimated.

The consensus among all the lobbyists, news reporters, lawyers, and politicians we talk with is that the negative impact on your life and that of your family will be the key factor in how legislators respond to the Governor’s amendment to the Retroactive Tax Bill.

Here’s why: A growing number of newspapers, including the Globe, Herald, MetroWest Daily News, Worcester Telegram & Gazette, and Lawrence Eagle Tribune and its allied publications on the North Shore and Western Mass have taken a clear position in favor of passing the Governor’s amendment.

But the legislators whose votes will determine the outcome of the issue still don’t have a clear idea of the financial turmoil and emotional pain you are experiencing now that you have received your Retroactive Tax bill.

If you really want to make a difference, both on your own behalf and that of the family and loved ones you have worked for all your life, it’s time to reach out and make your voice heard. Here’s how:

If you feel confident about talking directly to the media, call the newspapers you regularly read and the radio and television stations you listen to and watch. Your right to free speech is protected under the Constitution and no one can do anything to stop you from expressing your opinion.

Letters to the editor can make a real difference, too. Remember to include your full name and phone number at the bottom of letters, even if you request that your name be withheld for reasons of privacy. Papers need to be able to check your story for reasons of veracity, but almost always will protect your privacy in personal matters.

I’ll post a roster of newsroom and producers’ phone numbers in a day or two, but don’t be afraid to call or write on your own, right now. Some people are saying that this whole unfortunate matter can be constructively resolved in the next few weeks and perhaps soon after the turn of the year if those affected speak out right now.

Call and write your legislators, too. Elsewhere on this blog there’s a link to help your find your legislators’ names and contact information. Or call your town or city clerk and tell them your street address. They’ll be able to tell you the names of your representative and senator.

If you need help in telling your story, or just want to talk about where and how to send it, drop an email to petewrites@aol.com. You’ll receive prompt, courteous attention in complete confidence from Peter Golden, who handles our media relations.

Also, when you share your story directly with us, we can bring it to the attention of legislators other than your own. I’ve been told that stories like yours, because they are authentic and come straight from the heart, are a vital element in the campaign to achieve a compromise on the Retroactive Tax issue.

Based on what I’ve heard so far, there are three or four shared scenarios that many of us are experiencing. Each is no less compelling than the other, but when told through your voice becomes even more so, because in your relating it, the story assumes a human dimension that is unique unto itself.

Please allow me to relate some of the “horror stories” I am encountering in the hope they will encourage you to share yours, as well. Remember, these are real people whose pain is no less genuine than yours or mine. They should not be subjected to the abuse they are experiencing, and neither should you.

Here are a few:

• Hundreds of elderly people in a new retirement community in Peabody sold their homes or other substantial assets in 2002 in order to pay the entry fee for their new community. On one entryway alone our contact tells us Retroactive Tax bills range from $8000 to $28000! Think about what that’s doing to those people, the hundreds more living in the complex, and the thousands of elderly people across Massachusetts who must be experiencing similar anxiety and worry as they struggle to come to terms with this brutally unfair burden. Now think about your own situation and the importance of joining the struggle by making your voice heard.

• I’ve also heard about people who sold stock in 2002 to finance college tuitions for their children. Imagine, you work all your adult years to ensure the future of your child and the Legislature wants to tax you twice for an act of loving kindness.

• I’m be re-taxed myself for having the temerity to succeed in business after taking enormous risks with my partners and colleagues. How many of you sold a business in 2002 after years or even decades of hard work and struggle?

• But the story that still lingers longest in my mind is one we read in a letter to the editor prior to its submission to a South Shore paper. In an e-mail from an agonized son describing the travails of his elderly mother, we heard of a woman who is confined to a nursing home after having sold her primary residence and is faced with bankruptcy when she is old and infirm.

I think its high time the public and by association the members of the Massachusetts House and Senate heard the havoc their Retroactive Capital Gains Tax is causing in the lives of honest, tax-paying citizens like you.

Call people, email them, write notes and letters, and get in touch with Peter Golden at petewrites@aol.com; now’s the time to spread the word, now’s the time to act on your own behalf!