For Immediate Release
June 6, 2022
Contact: Fair Share for MA: Andrew Farnitano, 925-917-1354, [email protected]
NOFA/Mass: Christy Bassett, 978-575-4084, [email protected]
Northeast Organic Farming Association, Massachusetts Chapter, Endorses Fair Share Amendment to Invest in Transportation and Public Education
Organization Representing Hundreds of Farmers Joins Growing Coalition Supporting Tax on Million-Dollar Earners on November Ballot
Northampton, Mass. – The Northeast Organic Farming Association, Massachusetts Chapter (NOFA/Mass) has endorsed the Fair Share Amendment, the proposed state tax on incomes above $1 million which would raise billions of dollars to invest in transportation and public education.
“As organic growers, we know that investing in our soil with regenerative practices is the best way to keep it healthy for future generations. The Fair Share Amendment follows the same principle: investing in our schools, colleges, roads, and transit will strengthen Massachusetts’ economy and make it work for everyone,” said NOFA/Mass Executive Director Jocelyn Langer. “NOFA/Mass farmers understand what’s important about the Fair Share Amendment: only people who earn more than $1 million in a single year will pay more, and we’ll all benefit from better roads and schools, and a stronger economy.”
Established in 1982, the Northeast Organic Farming Association, Massachusetts Chapter (NOFA/Mass) is a membership-funded non-profit organization made up of more than 1000 farmers, gardeners, homesteaders, and food systems activists who promote organic agriculture to expand the production and availability of nutritious food from living soil for the health of individuals, communities and the planet.
“As Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. said, taxes are what we pay for a civilized society. As a farmer, the taxes I pay benefit me, and every other farmer, directly — through better roads to bring my customers to me, through food safety programs to keep unsafe food from our markets, through cleaner water and air that helps my crops grow. They also benefit me, and every other farmer, indirectly — taxes improve the health and education of our fellow citizens, provide better care for infants and the elderly, and provide people the opportunity to thrive in their work and their communities and their homes,” said NOFA/Mass Board Treasurer Richard Robinson. “Massachusetts currently has a regressive tax system tax, in which the rich pay less of their income in taxes than those who are less well off. That’s wrong, and it is not good for our society. The Fair Share Amendment takes a small step to right that wrong, and I am for it, as I hope every farmer, and every citizen, would be.”
NOFA/Mass joins more than 200 organizations and thousands of activists across the state who are working together to win the Fair Share Amendment on the ballot. After years of grassroots advocacy, the state Legislature voted in June 2021 to place the Fair Share Amendment on the November 2022 statewide ballot, where it is now set to be decided on by the voters.
Background on the Fair Share Amendment
The Fair Share Amendment on the November ballot will allow Massachusetts to improve our transportation and public education systems by making the very rich pay their fair share. The ballot question would create a 4 percent tax on the portion of a person’s annual income above $1 million and dedicate the funds raised to transportation and public education. Only people who earn more than $1 million annually will be impacted; 99% of us won’t pay a penny more. And we’ll all benefit from better schools, roads, bridges, and public transportation. Learn more at FairShareMA.com.
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The Fair Share for Massachusetts campaign is led by Raise Up Massachusetts, a coalition of community organizations, faith-based groups, and labor unions committed to building an economy that invests in families, gives everyone the opportunity to succeed, and creates broadly shared prosperity. Since our coalition came together in 2013, we have nearly doubled wages for hundreds of thousands of working people by winning two increases in the state’s minimum wage, won best-in-the-nation earned sick time and paid family and medical leave benefits for workers and their families, and started to build an economy that works for all of us, not just those at the top.