Healey’s $7.5 billion proposal would continue to fund state government for about another month if the next spending cycle begins without a final budget in place.
Taxes and Budget Issues
Posted inThe Codcast
Why a quasi-independent state agency needed a quick $240 million
John McDonough, Paul Hattis, and Matt Veno of the Group Insurance Commission discuss the GIC’s last-minute $240 million infusion from state coffers to cover claims for the rest of the 2025 fiscal year.
Posted inGovernment
Falling office building values still a concern for Boston’s budget, think tank says
The revenue picture now “looks worse than we expected,” according to the report’s author.
Posted inState Government
Senators get ‘enough yeses’ to add $43.5 million to budget
The Senate Ways and Means Committee proposed an underlying budget that started at $61.32 billion, as Democrats forge ahead with their spending appetite despite modest state tax revenues and federal funding uncertainty.
Posted inState Government
Spending push interrupted by executive branch hiring freeze
Gov. Maura Healey on Wednesday paused executive branch hiring due to what her office described as “widespread economic uncertainty at the national level and a tightening budget outlook.”
Posted inState Government
Senate budget panel recommends 6.3% annual spending increase
The draft budget bill, which will be up for debate in the Senate starting May 20, does not feature any tax increases.
Posted inState Government
Weekly roundup – budget bonanza
The House-approved annual budget bill reveals policy and political fault lines
Posted inState Government
MBTA zoning law targeted by GOP budget amendments
Even following a Supreme Judicial Court ruling in January against Milton that deemed the law constitutional and gave the attorney general’s office the ability to enforce it with legal action, unrest remains in other communities — many of which are using Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s contention that the law is an “unfunded mandate” to pursue further legal action.
Posted inOpinion
Transportation insecurity is holding Massachusetts residents back
When people can’t get where they need to go, barriers to basic needs like education, employment, and health care persist.
Posted inState Government
Opponents knock Healey’s youth mental health plan
With three state-funded youth mental health programs at risk of closing, lawmakers and providers ramped up their opposition this week to Gov. Healey’s proposed budget cuts.
Posted inState Government
Mass. scrambles to understand, react to fed funding freeze
The Trump administration’s move to pause trillions of dollars in federal spending triggered an avalanche of uncertainty, panic and outrage, including a lawsuit from Attorney General Andrea Campbell and several of her counterparts.
Posted inTransportation
Healey task force turns to existing tax to boost MBTA, transportation infrastructure
Healey administration officials are attempting to deploy millionaires tax revenue in a way that was first tested on a smaller scale last year.
Posted inEducation
The dividing line on millionaires tax money
One of the main backers of the 2022 ballot question says a split between education and transportation shouldn’t be locked in.
Posted inState Government
Political Notebook: Diverse tax talk at Gillette
“That’s not really a thing that comes up,” said defensiver linemn Keion White after the forum. “Personally, yeah, we pay an extra 4 percent. But Massachusetts does a good job of funding social programs, and we feel our money is going to a good cause.”
Posted inGovernment
Wu, business leaders getting closer on tax shift
The difference between the two current proposals from Wu and business leaders comes down to $21 for Boston residents’ tax bills, according to Wu. Residents in the average single family home would see a $21 increase under Wu’s proposal, while businesses would see a $319 decrease.
Posted inState Government
Struggling with dos and don’ts for millionaire tax
Despite the wide latitude afforded by the language, a budget-balancing maneuver by Gov. Maura Healey using millionaire tax money is drawing criticism on Beacon Hill and shaping up as the first real test of what exactly voters intended for the money.
Posted inState Government
House nixes Healey’s millionaire tax budget maneuver
Healey’s accounting maneuver aroused opposition from a group of activists who worried that it set a bad precedent.Â
Posted inOpinion
Mass. tax amnesty program is good, but it could be improved
There is a pending bill that if passed would update our state offer program making it accessible and more equitable.
Posted inEconomy
Mass. competitiveness affected by ‘tsunami of little things’
“It’s not one factor that’s going to be the silver bullet that makes Massachusetts competitive vis a vis other states. It’s really going to be multifaceted,” said Jane Steinmetz of EY Boston.
Posted inState Government
Groups urge rejection of Healey budget maneuver using millionaire tax funds
The challenge to Healey’s approach represents one of the first tests of how millionaire tax revenues are being spent, and whether the will of the voters is being honored.
Posted inBy The Numbers
State tax revenues lag slightly behind projections
The Department of Revenue said Thursday that it collected $4.518 billion in September — $331 million, or 7.9 percent more, than what was collected during September 2023, but $29 million, or 0.6 percent, below the monthly benchmark.
Posted inState Government
Proposals would boost cost of parking, package delivery, rideshares
One of the initiatives would raise fees on rideshares; the other two would impose a new sales tax on privately owned parking spaces and assess a new fee on all retail deliveries.