[1] Voters were asked whether or not they approved of the proposed measure which, if it had passed, would have ended the 5.3% income tax in Massachusetts on wages, interest, dividends and capital gains.

[4][5] According to campaign finance reports, as of November 1, 2008 the Committee for Small Government had raised approximately $385,000 since creation and had $14,131.72 cash left.

Stephen Moore of the Wall Street Journal stated: "The forces of the tax-and-spend status quo will descend on this initiative like British troops after the original Boston tea party, but somebody has to make an effort to stop the relentless growth of government."

Steve Forbes of Forbes magazine stated: "This is an attack on political establishments there and throughout the U.S. that routinely put their own interests above those of their constituents: lavish government pensions with payouts that would bankrupt private companies; resistance to genuine reform in Medicaid spending, which has become the biggest item on virtually every state's budget; ever more pork-barrel spending; and ever more obsequiousness to rapacious special interests.

According to campaign finance reports, as of October 15, 2008 the Coalition for Our Communities, the organization opposing this tax cut, had raised over $5 million—99.8% from teachers' and other government sector unions.

Coalition for Our Communities, an organization created by the Massachusetts AFL-CIO that reportedly had $1.34 million with which to mount an effort to defeat the measure.

[21][22] The Massachusetts Teachers Association, whose mailing address is the same as the "Committee for our Communities", admitted in December 2007 that it had made phone calls to people who had signed the petition to place the income tax repeal on the ballot, inquiring about whether their signatures were valid.