Boston beggars its neighbors’ children
The City of Boston wants more money from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
In a report released on April 21 the city argues that it should get more state aid because:
1) Its share of the state’s population (9.5%, according to the report) exceeds its share “net state aid” (8.4%).
2) Its share of the state’s economy exceeds its share of the population.
What the report doesn’t mention is that the city’s K-12 population is a mere (5.7% of the state’s K-12 population). One would think that students require a lot more government spending than do,say, 20-34 year olds:
In 2006-2008, approximately 30% of Boston’s population was 20-34 years old – the second highest percentage of that age group within the twenty-five largest U.S. cities– whereas the 20-34 age group made up less than 19% of the population in the remainder of the state.
Perhaps the city should demand that a larger share of Social Security disbursements be directed to the city’s key demographic group.
The economic case for Boston getting more state aid isn’t so strong either. As the report points out in an unfortunate moment of self-pity, a big chunk of the city’s economy is made up of tax privileged non-profit organizations. In other words, Boston’s economic fortunes are built on direct and indirect tax subsidies and therefore the city wants even more tax subsidies in the form of additional state aid.
It would be interesting to learn if Boston’s mayor Thomas M. Menino really wants “net state aid” to be distributed based on population share. I can’t say I would be against such a distribution system but I imagine that most of the mayor’s fellow democrats – especially his fellow Democratic mayors – would be rather upset if the Commonwealth adopted such a distribution formula.
(Via Universal Hub)
