STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE WITH THE STATE’S FINANCES in disarray and the COVID-19 pandemic making it extremely difficult to predict the next 12 months, Gov. Charlie Baker on Friday filed a $5.25 billion interim spending bill that would keep government running beyond June 30 through July. The new fiscal year is set to begin in less than […]
Taxes and Budget Issues
Posted inUncategorized
No rush in pursuing $1b in federal funds
WITH THE STATE’S BUDGET situation very uncertain, one would think lawmakers would jump at the chance to land $1 billion in federal emergency funds. But that hasn’t been the case. Gov. Charlie Baker filed a $1 billion supplemental budget request with the Legislature on May 12, and there’s been no action on it yet. Baker, […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Lawmakers considering novel budget approaches
IN A TYPICAL YEAR, it takes six months of back and forth for the House, Senate and administration to agree on a state budget. This year, could they cut a deal behind closed doors? With two weeks left before the end of the fiscal year, no budget is in sight. And instead of the usual […]
Posted inOpinion
Corporations need to pay their fair share
ALTHOUGH MASSACHUSETTS has entered the first phase of the Gov. Charlie Baker’s controversial reopening plan, the health and economic toll of COVID-19 is far from over. When it comes to state revenues, the picture is bleak — just when our communities need help the most, state revenues from sales, income, and corporate excise taxes are […]
Posted inOpinion
Economists debate need to raise taxes
The following is a letter sent May 26 by 91 economists to Gov. Charlie Baker, House Speaker Robert DeLeo, and Senate President Karen Spilka, followed by a response from David Tuerck, president of the Beacon Hill Institute and professor of economics at Suffolk University. MASSACHUSETTS IS FACING enormous health and economic challenges fighting the COVID-19 […]
Posted inUncategorized
Tax foundation: Mass. fiscal situation worsening
THE MASSACHUSETTS TAXPAYERS FOUNDATION released a report on Monday indicating the state’s financial condition is worsening in part because the COVID-19 pandemic is lasting longer than expected, a second wave of the virus seems likely, and additional federal aid is uncertain. The foundation just a month ago estimated tax revenues in fiscal 2021 would fall […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
April tax collections off $2.3b
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE TAX COLLECTIONS tumbled in April by more than $2.3 billion compared to last April, another sign of the damage inflicted on the economy and the state’s finances by forced business shutdowns aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19. Revenue Commissioner Geoffrey Snyder late Tuesday announced that collections last month totaled […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Biz group: Delay ed and pension funding
State House News Service DELAYING THE IMPLEMENTATION of a new school funding law and reducing a planned boost in state pension system contributions are among the ideas a business-based budget watchdog group is floating to help the state deal with budget stresses. “It seems highly likely that the fiscal 2021 budget will be most difficult […]
Posted inUncategorized
State economists grapple with ‘unprecedented times’
THE STATE ECONOMY will tank and unemployment will rise. But how bad will it get and how long will the recession last? Top Massachusetts economists, testifying at a legislative budget hearing Tuesday, gave stark estimates of the financial pain that will be felt in the state, but all stressed the uncertainty of their predictions. State […]
Posted inUncategorized
State budget writers are starting over
MASSACHUSETTS BUDGET-WRITERS started the process of crafting the Fiscal 2021 budget in December with a hearing with economic experts about the state’s anticipated revenues. Four months later they’re starting over with those same experts invited back to testify at a second revenue hearing next week. “This is the start of a new process in putting […]