ATHOL — Why should people in North Quabbin and other parts of western Massachusetts vote against Question 1, which proposes an additional 4 percent tax on income over $1 million? Dan Cence, spokesperson for the Coalition to Stop the Tax Hike Amendment, tells the Athol Daily News there are any number of reasons.

“Let’s start with the Mass Farm Bureau,” he said. “Farmers across Massachusetts have found themselves in a position, with advances in technology, they can yield a greater crop on less land than they had to in the past. Therefore, they find themselves with a great deal of surplus land, and many of them have had it passed down for generations. Some of them are looking to sell that surplus land.

“We all know the property values in Massachusetts and where those stand, and for a lot of those families that is going to be their nest egg for generations to come. So, they’re looking to sell it, and they’re not looking to pay 80 percent more tax on that one time in their life when this tax may affect them.”

Even though the proposed constitutional amendment would impose the new tax only on income over the first million dollars earned, Cence said many small businessowners would be affected, even if they may not be millionaires.

“It’s going to have a huge impact on small businesses,” he contends. “Many small businesses in Massachusetts are set up as LLCs (limited liability corporations) or 1120-S’s. So, it gives the individual owners a corporate veil. So, when they do their taxes, all of the money comes down to the bottom line of that individual.

“It doesn’t take very much for an ice cream shop in Athol to have a million dollars in revenue. Then they have to decide how they’re going to reinvest that money; are they going to hire more people? are they going to buy more technology? what are they going to do with it? Now, with this tax — 80 percent more — at a time when we have a huge surplus in Massachusetts, at a time when small businesses are digging themselves out from the effects of COVID, it could have a crippling effect on small businesses.”

While supporters of Question 1 say revenues raised by the new tax are targeted to education and transportation, Cence said there is no guarantee more money will actually be invested in those areas.

“Let’s be clear,” he said, “the revenues raised by this will go to transportation and education, but it will not increase the spending one cent. The revenues set aside for education and transportation can be allocated at the Legislature’s discretion, anywhere they’d like.

“There’s a very important phrase in the ballot question. It says, ‘subject to appropriation.’ If we go back to the time of John Adams writing our constitution here in Massachusetts, they were very clear that the Legislature has the role of allocating and appropriating funds — no one else.”

Backers of the ballot question say the opposition is being funded by wealthy Bay State residents like Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Boston Celtics co-owner Rob Hale, and New Balance Owner Jim Davis, among others; wealthy individuals, they say, who merely want to protect their billions at the expense of municipalities and everyday taxpayers. Cence, however, said opposition is widespread.

“Our coalition is made up of over a thousand organizations across Massachusetts representing over 20,000 people. The Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council, the Mass Farm Bureau, the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, the Business Roundtable — all of these groups representing myriad businesses and individuals across Massachusetts — that’s who our coalition is.”

The North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce, headquartered in Leominster, is also listed as a member of the Coalition to Stop the Tax Hike.

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com