As the House prepares to debate new funding sources for transportation, Massachusetts Republicans find themselves in an awkward situation. They generally oppose raising taxes, particularly the gas tax, but the party’s top elected official, Gov. Charlie Baker, is leading the charge for an 11-state transportation climate initiative that would place a price on the carbon […]
Taxes and Budget Issues
Posted inUncategorized
Overall state workforce increased slightly in FY19
THE SIZE OF THE STATE’S workforce is increasing, but it’s still below the level it was at prior to the election of Gov. Charlie Baker. According to a financial report issued by the state comptroller on Tuesday, the state’s number of full-time equivalent employees rose to 86,120 in fiscal 2019, up less than 1 percent […]
Posted inPolitics
Liberty Mutual, Verizon pushed tax change
LIBERTY MUTUAL AND VERIZON were two of the companies lobbying for a controversial corporate tax relief provision that appears to have nearly derailed a closeout budget bill late this year. The provision was pushed by Gov. Charlie Baker and the House, and opposed by the Senate. The Senate position ultimately prevailed and the closeout budget […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Lawmakers finally pass close-out budget
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE HOUSE AND SENATE LEADERS broke a weeks-long impasse over a more than $1 billion surplus spending bill on Wednesday night, cutting a deal that dropped a controversial corporate tax change that would have financially benefited Massachusetts businesses and set aside $32 million for repairs on the MBTA, which is less than […]
Posted inPolitics
House challenges comptroller’s ultimatum authority
STATE LAWMAKERS BLEW past Wednesday’s deadline for passing a closeout budget bill, and then a top House lawyer challenged the comptroller’s authority to even impose such an ultimatum. It was an eleventh hour twist in a saga that has imbued the usually humdrum process of closing the books on a fiscal year with suspense, turmoil, […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
What’s behind the legislative budget stalemate
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE LEGISLATIVE LEADERS have been mum about what is keeping them from agreeing on a bill to close the books on the fiscal year that ended almost six months ago, but Beacon Hill think tanks have weighed in on both sides of a tax provision thought to be at the center of […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Budget impasse could sweep away House, Senate funds
IF THEY FAIL to reach a compromise before Wednesday afternoon, leaders of the House and Senate will lose out on tens of millions of dollars in budgetary allowances that have quietly accumulated for their chambers over the years. That could add some urgency to negotiations that have already entered their final hours. At loggerheads over […]
Posted inUncategorized
Comptroller, Baker diverge on budget needs
STATE COMPTROLLER ANDREW MAYLOR on Wednesday identified only six budget accounts from the last fiscal year where shortfalls exist, interpreting a legislative request for a barebones fiscal 2019 closeout bill far more narrowly than the Baker administration. With the House and Senate at odds on a budget closeout bill for a fiscal year that ended […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Film tax credit sunset looms
THE CHAIR OF THE SENATE WAYS AND MEANS Committee sounds as if he is in no hurry to eliminate the sunset provision contained in the state’s film tax credit law. The tax credit, launched in 2006 and scheduled to sunset on December 31, 2022, has been the focus of a number of attempts to eliminate […]
Posted inThe Download
Biz officials: New transportation funds needed
The derailment on the Red Line in June may have been a turning point. After Gov. Charlie Baker visited the crash site, he decided it was time to accelerate repairs on the MBTA and greenlight more shutdowns of the system to speed up projects. The derailment also galvanized the debate over new transportation revenues – […]