Question One Wins Easily In Big Victory for White

Massachusetts residents gave a resounding yes to property tax classification yesterday, voting more than two to one to approve Question One.

The amendment to the state constitution gained considerable statewide support, but it was the industrialized eastern section of Massachusetts that supplied the margin of victory. Boston voters approved the measure by 132,121 to 12,000, and Everett residents voted for Question One by the awesome margin of 13,130 to 671.

"We won it in Boston by the widest margin in any election in the history of this city," said a triumphant Mayor Kevin H. White when he claimed victory for his forces at 10:05 p.m. in Sheraton Boston Hotel.

White risked his political prestige on the success of the measure as well as more than $900,000 of Boston's coffers.

"I'm a Bostonian tonight and I couldn't be prouder of this city. The results show the people of this city trusted us when we told them the truth," he said to more than 500 vocal supporters in the grand ballroom of the hotel.

Question One reached the Massachusetts ballot because of the State Supreme Court's 1974 decision in the Subdury case, which called for property tax assessment at 100 percent of its market value. The victory of Question One means that property will be taxed at different rates for different uses: residential, commercial, industrial or open space.

Supporters of Question One claimed that business taxes would fall by $265 million and residential homeowners would pick up the tab if the amendment failed. A coalition of business groups spent about $300,000 in a media campaign to reject the proposal.

The passage of Question One places White in a strong position for reelection next November. "I think its going to help the mayor," Mark B. Helm '78, a speech-writer for White, said at the victory party yesterday. "He had a lot riding on it and it looks like he's won big on this one," he added.