Democrats on Beacon Hill really don’t like the idea of voters taking matters into their own hands when it comes to cutting taxes.

After months of legislative leaders slamming a would-be ballot question that would have cut the state income tax — and then making no effort to hide their glee when the Supreme Judicial Court booted it from the ballot on a technicality — a couple dozen Massachusetts state senators have now set their sights on a second tax-reform ballot question poised to go before voters.

A majority of senators are coalescing around a late-term push to repeal the law known as Chapter 62F, which would both wipe out the statutory artifact that four years ago forced Beacon Hill to return billions of dollars to taxpayers and also neuter a measure set to go before voters this fall.

Sen. Jason Lewis, a Winchester Democrat, filed an amendment to a wide-reaching economic development bill up for debate this week that would strip Chapter 62F from the state’s books, in the process inviting incendiary anger from groups that want government to control its spending habits.

Already, the amendment has drawn 19 other cosponsors. With Lewis, that represents half of the 40-member Senate. And Lewis told CommonWealth Beacon there are more senators who backed the idea but are not listed as official cosponsors — seemingly enough to ensure the measure has the votes needed to pass.

“We have more than a majority in support of the amendment,” Lewis, who is not running for reelection, said.

It’s not yet clear if Senate President Karen Spilka and her leadership team will get on board or will instead encourage members of their caucus to back down from what could become a contentious political fight over tax policy. The change would also need buy-in from the House, whose top Democrats have historically chafed at the tax cap law but have not recently expressed any interest in changing or eliminating it. Unless lawmakers are confident they can achieve a veto-proof majority, Gov. Maura Healey would need to support the maneuver as well.

But if the nascent idea does win Senate passage, it would open up another front in the Legislature’s public-relations battle against citizens and interest groups seizing lawmaking power for themselves through the ballot question process.

Jim Stergios, executive director of the Pioneer Institute and a chief proponent of the tax cap reform ballot question, called Lewis’s amendment “a creative level of contempt for the voters.”

More Context

• SJC blocks high-stakes income tax cut question from the November ballot (June 2026)
• Lawmakers offer mixed messages on income tax ballot question (April 2026)
• Tax relief bill alters refunds under tax cap law (September 2023)