So, we are entering what I consider very, very dangerous territory here in Massachusetts. And this is a president that's really never been seen before. Today, I want to talk to you about four different things. I'm going to break this down like this. Number one is going to be Healy's Municipal Empowerment Act. This is a brand new bill that could potentially triple your car taxes. It could hike up your meals taxes and also jack up hotel taxes. all under the guise of the word empowering. And it's supposed to empower local communities. Spoiler alert. I'll give you a spoiler alert. You are not the one that is getting empowered. Number two, this is the big one for me. For the first time in over 40 years, we have a governor and a Boston mayor publicly attacking Proposition 2 and a half, which is the one law that's kept your property taxes from going completely off the rails. If we didn't have this to begin with, our taxes would be 35 to 40% higher than of what New Jersey is today. And they are the highest tax state in the country. Michelle Woo even called this a relic and that it's handcuffing cities. and Healey seems to be backing her up on this. This is a concern for me. Number three is actually how these two are working together to circumvent Prop 2 and a half without actually repealing it or without actually saying it in person. Basically, by circumventing voter protections so towns could squeeze you without needing override votes. And number four, why is this all happening? Why is it all happening now? Because while your towns are begging for money to fix roads, keep the lights on, keep teachers paid, and schools open, public services operational, Beacon Hill refuses, absolutely refuses to look in the mirror. Instead, they want to disenfranchise their citizens even further. So, today, this is what we're going to be talking about. And this is a warning. And it's a warning for whether or not you'll be able to afford to live here or move here. That's the way it is. So, I'll break it down like this. We'll start back in January of 2025. This is when Governor Mara Healey was and I guess is pushing for this municipal empowerment act. Now, the empowerment portion is for local communities. I would say it's a clever title, but while you want to empower local government, it comes at the expense of disempowerment of the taxpayers. Here's a really good example of this bill. This bill basically lets towns optionally triple your motor vehicle excise tax. It's already high, okay? Especially if you have a new vehicle. So, currently we're at $25 or 2.5% per thousand of your car's value. It'll go up to $75 or 7 12% per 1,000. This is a new 5% search charge. So, look at it this way. $40,000 new vehicle at full value. that'll jump from $1,000 to 3,000. If it's $50,000 at full value, it'll go from $1,250 to 3,750. Now, believe me, I understand that this does depreciate over time. I understand this, but this is still a massive hit, a massive hit for working families. But it's not stopping there because the act also hikes local meals tax to 7 12%. This is something that businesses will have to pay and then we'll try to potentially offset it onto the people that are eating their food. Okay? And even lodging that went up to 12.7% up from 11.7%. That's outside of Boston. Boston is going from 12.45 to 13.2. Now they are claiming that all of this is optional and under local control. So this got me thinking why now? Why now? I think it's because Beacon Hill will not cut its own waste. They will not freeze hiring and they won't even audit their own legislature, which I would think help. It would help immensely. Okay, that would help immensely. And 72, we know this 72% of us voted for this back in 2024. And now instead, they are attempting to shift the burden on to you, onto us, which ties directly to a bigger danger. And this is the main reason I wanted to make this video. I am very concerned for Prop 2 and a half because it seems like they are trying to circumvent that with these new bills and new laws that they're trying to work into the municipalities. And if you don't believe me, here is the first clip. I'll play you a clip. Here is the first clip, the first inception of this idea from Michelle Woo back in September of 2025. you know, Prop 2 and a half is a very significant sort of constraint across every city's planning. The fact that our primary source of revenues can only go up 2.5% every year when that is far lower than inflation, even on average of the 43 years that that law has been in place, inflation has been on average 25% higher every year above 2 and 12% growth. >> Now, here's something to consider. Has this, at least to this extent, ever been talked about or framed this way? And the answer is absolutely not. Because for over four decades, Massachusetts governors or Boston mayors, they have never publicly talked about repealing or fundamentally reforming Prop 2 and a half. At least to my knowledge. I couldn't find any information on this. You had Dukakus. He didn't. Well, didn't. Romney didn't. Patrick didn't. Baker didn't. Flynn didn't, Manino didn't, and finally Walsh didn't either. Now they're working on tweaking overrides or exclusions. That that has happened. That has happened in the past. But they never pushed to scrap the cap itself in its entirety. This is until now. And what's worse is that Healey is backing Woo on this by using the Empowerment Act as a means to an end. And if you don't believe me, here is one more clip I'll play for you that Healey had to recently say, I think as of yesterday or the day before, >> dumping two and a half local option sales. Do you support either of them? >> You know, I think those are for municipalities to decide and I respect the will. I respect the will of the voters on that. So, I know it's something that's being discussed at the local level now and at the state level. Um, I'll review anything that comes my way. >> So, here's what's happening. They want to boost alternative taxes so towns don't need as many Prop 2 and a half overrides. Now, I've talked about this before and my opinion is the same. The government needs to look inward and not outward. They need to figure out how to support the towns that are supporting them. These towns are not getting enough local aid and it's because the state doesn't want to prioritize its own citizens. That's to put it simply. But it's this collaboration that I'm concerned with. Okay? It's a collaboration between Woo and the collaboration between Healey. And that collaboration has made an attempt to sidestep the law without without an outright appeal. All because they refuse to look inward at their egregious state spending. Think about it like this. While your town begs begs for overrides to fund the basics, okay? State employment ballooned from 126,500 employees in January of 23 to 134,500 in November of 25. That's 8,000 new hires in 30 months. And remember, there's average salary is about $95,000. That's effectively over $750 million added yearly to the payroll. Massachusetts gets about 40 billion back in taxes, but they only send back 26% in local aid, which is below the national average of 31%. We ranked 39th for this, by the way. I covered this in a previous video. I'll leave the link up here. Actually, our unrestricted aid since 2002 has dropped 25% when you adjust for inflation. So now we have billions going to Mass Health, upwards of what is it like over $8 billion in the state fund alone, which by the way is the second highest per capita among blue states, which is more than all of the local aid combined. In the private sector, we are bleeding jobs. 35,000 jobs lost in education from 23 to 25. And of course, there's more, but you get the point. I don't want to rattle off every single one here, okay? This is dangerous because it normalizes dodging voter protections like Prop 2 and a half without any levels of accountability. Beacon Hill keeps $1.40 for every single dollar they send home. We have a stonewalled audit. How long has it been? How long is it going to be really? And our government just keeps on growing. And then they ask for you, the taxpayer, to pay more, to pay more for your car, to pay more for your meals, and to pay more for lodging. This is why that audit is so important. It's also why they don't want the audit. I think that it would be much easily or easier to digest for the local public where our money is going if the audit went through. And if there's an opportunity to cut the waste and to cut the abuse, if it still wasn't enough, then we could have a conversation. We could have a conversation about taxes, right? To bridge the gap. Okay? But start inward, not outward. The way it stands right now, I could see this type of reality. If this bill is passed where municipalities get to take advantage of these tax hikes on top of still needing or wanting an override, that would be absolutely out of control. Imagine that. They pass this and they still need the overrides. That's a problem. Now, I'll leave you with this. I understand we want our teachers paid. I understand we want our local services running. There's no doubt about it. We have young kids in school, too. But when your state is wasting millions, if not billions of dollars that could go back into the communities that built this state in the first place, you have to sit there and you have to ask yourself, what the hell is really going on? Really, what the hell is going on? Why can't the state step in and help the 53 plus municipalities that are looking for overrides? They won't do it. Everybody is arguing and the state won't do it. I think the overrides are a band-aid to a bigger problem and I think that this is a problem that the government can solve. This is a progressive state. This is a progressive government. Do something outside of the box. Be progressive and do what is necessary for the municipalities that help build this state in the first place. How about that idea? Why is this so hard to solve? It would be different if it was one municipality or one city, whatever it may be, but it's not. And the scale keeps on going up and up and up and up. How many towns and municipalities or cities are going to need overrides in the next 5 years? Is it going to go from 53 to 153? Do you see what I'm saying? And I understand that repealing Prop 2 and a half would eliminate all of these problems, but that's not that's not for the greater good. Okay? We need to cut the waste. We need to cut the fraud. We need to cut the abuse that is happening with our taxpayer money. And that starts at the state house. Okay? That doesn't start in our local communities and local towns. I mean, really, they need again to look inward, not outward. Don't burden the taxpayers even further. That's all I got to say about this, guys. I'll see you on the next one. Bye-bye.