In the Cambridge area, Question 2 has dominated political debates about this fall’s ballot measures. But Massachusetts voters will also decide two other initiatives on Nov. 5—one on the fate of the income tax and another on the future of the state’s Clean Elections law.

Question 1

Question 1, which calls for the repeal of the state’s personal income tax, is the centerpiece of Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Carla Howell’s campaign. She calls it the “Small Government Act.”

“We don’t need an income tax and we need much lower property taxes,” she said at the Oct. 9 gubernatorial debateå.

The question has come under widespread criticism and polls predict it will fail by more than a 2-to-1 margin.

Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business lobby, says the measure would destroy the workings of state government.

“This is far and away the most sweeping and potentially disruptive ballot initiative ever to come before Massachusetts voters,” he says.

Howell, who calls Question 1 a “bold first step towards small government,” says that repealing the state income tax will create 300,000 to 500,000 new jobs in Massachusetts by pumping money into local consumers’ pockets.

She also says the act would give back an average of $3,000 to each taxpayer.

And she insists the state will still have plenty of money to do business, even after removing $9 billion in revenue from the $23 billion budget.

But Question 1 has come under fire from Democratic gubernatorial candidate Shannon P. O’Brien, Republican W. Mitt Romney and Green Party candidate Jill E. Stein ’73, who say that the bill will mean cuts in vital social programs.

“You can’t just eviscerate state government and expect that you’re not going to hurt lots of people,” O’Brien said at the debate.

Howell doesn’t deny that state programs will have to go. She says reducing the size of the government—in part by cutting all state funding for public education—will actually improve the services. Programs such as education work better at the local level, she says.

But Romney joins O’Brien and most policy experts in saying this approach just won’t work.

“I don’t see how you have no income tax and still be able to afford our schools and our care for elderly,” he said at the debate.