Francis “Chip” Faulkner, a long-time advocate against raising taxes, died Friday of pancreatic cancer, according to Citizens for Limited Taxation. He was 73.
Faulkner, of Attleboro, had worked for Citizens for Limited Taxation since 1979, when he was hired along with anti-tax advocate Barbara Anderson to work on the ballot campaign to pass Proposition 2½. The ballot question, which passed in 1980, limits the amount by which cities and towns can raise property taxes each year.
Faulkner went on to hold multiple roles within the organization and its affiliated political action committee, including spokesman and associate director. He gathered signatures and helped run anti-tax campaigns, including a successful 2000 campaign that rolled back an increase to the state income tax rate, and the defeat of a 1994 proposal for a graduated income tax.
Faulkner held a master’s degree from St. John’s University and a bachelor’s degree from the College of the Holy Cross. He taught high school and junior high school in New York before joining Citizens for Limited Taxation.
“Chip Faulkner was a respected and outspoken taxpayers’ advocate with a sharp sense of humor,” Chip Ford, executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation, wrote in a press release announcing Faulkner’s death.
Faulkner is survived by his brother and sister-in-law, Donald and Linda Faulkner of Rochester. Anderson, his long-time partner, died in 2016.
Services will be held at the R. J. Ross Funeral Home in Wrentham. Details have not yet been announced.