The Nation - News from Dec. 19, 1985

Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, eliminating a political ghost that has dogged him for 10 years, approved a $331-million tax cut, the biggest in Massachusetts history. Dukakis said the state’s robust economy and projections of a $400-million budget surplus made it possible to phase out a 7.5% surcharge on the state income tax over two years, beginning with the 1986 tax year. Dukakis had approved the tax in 1975.