Numbers don’t lie — however they do shine a harsh mild on how badly taxpayers have been taken to the cleaners.
Since its launch earlier this 12 months, the Division of Authorities Effectivity has uncovered a number of situations of unemployment fraud, Medicaid overpayments and wasteful spending.
The newest numbers on Boston’s Cost in Lieu of Tax Program present a swath of tax-exempt faculties and hospitals sidestepping their full PILOT funds. They tout their neighborhood advantages, however shortchange precise money going into metropolis coffers.
And a deep dive into salaries at public broadcasting’s sacred cows GBH, PBS and NPR reveals a feast of fat-cat salaries.
Funded by you.
At PBS, President & CEO Patricia Harrison nabbed $523,616 a 12 months, whereas CFO William Tayman Jr. eked by with $488,989. SVP Westwood Smithers Jr. was shut behind with $488,919.
At NPR, President & CEO John Lansing (who died in 2024) garnered $590,252 whereas Steven Inskeep and Michel Martin, each senior hosts, obtained $532,188 and $485,929, respectively.
The locals are cleansing up. GBH president & CEO Jonathan Abbott earns $847,277, whereas govt producer Raney Aronson nabs $540,928 and Jim Braude, govt editor and host, makes do with $506,183. (He says his pay has just lately been minimize.)
That’s a number of tote luggage, which loom massive within the fable of public TV and radio. These establishments are so onerous up, we’re instructed, that they’ve to carry countless membership drives to lift money.
Would they should maintain so many marathons of Andrea Bocelli and Dr. Daniel Amen in the event that they trimmed a few of these mega-salaries?
You gained’t hear any arguments from the taxpayers who fund this largesse.
That is the kind of conduct that wants resisting, the form of strikes on the American folks’s expense that spur protests. However you’ll by no means hear an outcry from the left.
Progressive pols decry company income and govt salaries, accuse firms of price-gouging and taking cash from the wallets of American households, however the place is the Capitol Hill outrage over establishments avoiding taxes and utilizing federal {dollars} to line the pockets of executives?
Crickets.
These are elite establishments, beloved by elites in energy. Very like academia, they’re all however untouchable. And after they do face penalties for his or her actions, say for slow-walking their response to antisemitism, they’re held up as heroes.
Boston householders who battle with tax hikes are dealt a slap within the face when massive hospitals and faculties skip out on $30.2 million owed to town.
Letting hospitals get away with this actually provides insult to harm for many who face massive hospital payments. Would touting a affected person’s “contributions to the neighborhood” get the invoice lowered? Don’t rely on it.
As a lot because the left is silent, or indignant, about taxpayer abuse by spendthrift pols, taxpayers aren’t down for the rely. The Coalition of the Fed Up staged their very own resistance motion on Nov. 5, 2024.
Leftist politicians who ignore taxpayers’ ache and proceed to treat them as ATMs for presidency packages ought to take heed. It’s one factor to shout slogans on Boston Widespread, it’s one other to make one’s voice heard within the voting sales space.
