Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, Inc. v. Secretary of Administration

(dissenting, with whom Hennessey, C.J., joins). My views remain unchanged on the subject of the relationship between the requirement of art. 44 of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth that an income tax be levied at a uniform rate on income derived from the same class of property and the Legislature’s right under art. 44 to grant “reasonable exemptions” from income taxation. In Opinions of the Justices, 386 Mass. 1223 (1982), I concluded that a taxation bill not meaningfully different from the statute now before us (G. L. c. 62, § 3 [b], as appearing in St. 1985, c. 593, §…