Dahlberg Campaigns in Concord

After working on health policy for Massachusetts Governor Mitt Rommny, State Senate Candidate Eric Dahlberg thinks he has the right answer to bring to governing Massachusetts : Less of it.

During a 'meet and greet' with constituents at a West Concord Dunkin Donuts  the current Chelmsford selectman suggested that Massachusetts' high taxation and regulatory environment has driven workers and businesses elsewhere-like Texas and North Carolina where the environment is more favorable to doing business.

He said that when the state was in charge of picking and choosing which sectors to let into the economy through tax breaks (like the film or the green industries) that that only complicated things.

He also said the high sales tax was driving too many Massachusetts consumers to New Hampshire on the weekends to buy big ticket items like flat screen TV's where one could save as much as $60 on taxes paid for a $1,000 TV.

Dahlberg says that back in 1998 the voters directed the Massachusetts state legislature to lower the income tax back from 5.95 percent to 5 percent. The legislature never followed through on that vote.

He said the state income tax was lowered downward to 5.3 percent since then but that it had been halted there which he thinks is not enough.

"So, as far as I am concerned the people's directive still stands," he said, suggesting that the tax should be lowered to the 5 percent as originally ordered.

"I just say lower taxes for everybody, and let the free market decide the winners and the losers," said Dahlberg, who said that services provided by the state had to change and become more efficient.

He said that if the state made "tiny adjustments" on the way it spends money on health-care (which takes up half the state budget), "we could save hundreds of millions of dollars, so lets do it. Tweak those programs and make them more efficient," he said.

Dahlberg said health-care costs were driving physicians to other states after they had completed their training in Massachusetts because the costs were less to do business there and the initial take home pay was higher.