The proposal cleared the Legislature’s Committee on Revenue a week after lawmakers raised questions about it at a hearing.
Taxes and Budget Issues
Posted inState Government
Budget deal includes free community college and bus rides plus online lottery
Many of the biggest eye-catchers in the deal would commit significant funds toward reducing or eliminating costs Massachusetts residents face, including another year of free school meals, tuition-free community college, no-charge rides on the state’s 15 regional transit authorities, and making permanent a pandemic-era Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) grant program that launched with federal dollars.
Posted inState Government
Budget, gun control bills near finish line
Lawmakers would need to ship the final budget to Healey by Sunday to guarantee their ability to push through any spending or policy ideas over the governor’s objection.
Posted inGovernment
Wu tells lawmakers potential residential tax spike ‘keeps me up at night’
City Hall is seeking to keep that 60-40 balance and mitigate an increase next year in homeowner tax bills that could come as valuations for commercial property fall, driven by the downtown still seeing less foot traffic, on top of office vacancies and some continuing to work from home in Covid pandemic’s aftermath.
Posted inPolitics
Political Notebook: ‘Tool kit’ transportation revenues | Cold shoulder for Wu tax plan | Healey ethics disclosure
Hayes Morrison, the undersecretary of transportation, gave an update on the transportation revenue task force’s progress at this week’s MassDOT board meeting that made it sound as if it started pretty much from scratch using a very touchy-feely approach.
Posted inState Government
Millionaire surtax revenues far exceed expectations
Massachusetts has collected about $1.8 billion from a voter-approved surtax on the state’s highest earners through the first nine months of the fiscal year, the Department of Revenue said Monday in a quarterly report.
Posted inGovernment
Moody’s, with caveat, says Boston in ‘healthy’ fiscal position
The Moody’s analysis affirms the triple-A bond rating for the city, the top credit rating available. But Moody’s also warned the effects of remote work are starting to hit some office property types.
Posted inState Government
Senate readies for budget ‘dance’ with familiar clashes between chambers
While waving off the question of new tax streams for another time, Senate leadership is touting its proposed budget as first and foremost an “education budget” that takes a meaningful swing at the underlying barriers to full participation in the workforce and educational attainment.
Posted inGovernment
Boston’s taxing war of words
To head off a spike in residential taxes, the Wu administration wants to raise the tax rate on commercial property. But the city already taxes commercial owners at a much higher rate than residential taxpayers – the highest level allowed by law – so it needs approval from the Legislature to raise that rate further.
Posted inState Government
April tax collections surpass target by $1b
Collections of $6.324 billion last month exceeded the Healey administration’s monthly benchmark of $5.291 billion by $1.034 billion, or 19.5 percent. But officials said much of that overage came in the form of capital gains tax revenue and income surtax revenue, money that is to be set aside for specifically mandated purposes.
Posted inState Government
Political Notebook: Healey’s no-new-taxes talk | Rollins pay adjustment | Who is Jeanne Louise?
Asked by reporters afterwards about a timeframe for the no-taxes talk, Gov. Healey said, “That’s how I see it now and for the foreseeable future. Yeah, no taxes. I’ve been focused on trying to lower taxes.”
Posted inImmigration
Big 3 confer with congressional delegation on migrants
THE BIG 3 on Beacon Hill met via Zoom on Thursday morning with the state’s representatives in Congress, enlisting their help in seeking federal dollars and regulatory changes to help […]
Posted inOpinion
Tax relief makes Mass. more affordable
LAST WEEK, the Legislature passed the Commonwealth’s largest tax relief bill in a generation – and today Gov. Maura Healey will sign the bill into law. The culmination of more than […]
Posted inState Government, State House News Service
Healey greenlighting state tax breaks
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. MAURA HEALEY’S office on Tuesday announced the governor will sign into law a wide-ranging tax relief package lawmakers sent her last week, punctuating more than […]
Posted inState Government
Tax relief bill alters refunds under tax cap law
THE TAX RELIEF BILL released by legislative leaders on Tuesday significantly changes a law approved by voters in 1986, requiring that excess tax collections be returned in equal amounts to […]
Posted inState Government
Legislative leaders roll out ‘generational’ tax package
LEGISLATIVE LEADERS unveiled a tax relief package on Tuesday that includes every provision of the House and Senate proposals but fits within the budget number for this year by paring […]
Posted inHousing, State Government
Reckoning looms over ‘home equity theft’
IN LATE MAY, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of 94-year-old Geraldine Tyler, a Minnesota woman who did not get the surplus back after her condo was foreclosed on […]
Posted inState Government
Healey seeks $250m more for emergency shelter program
THE HEALEY ADMINISTRATION said it needs another $250 million to keep the emergency shelter program afloat and will probably need additional funds if the number of migrants coming into the […]
Posted inState Government
Revved-up tax growth comes to an end
AFTER TWO YEARS of revved-up tax revenue growth that helped fund a massive tax cut, a new report indicates the state’s ledger shifted into neutral during the fiscal year that […]
Posted inState Government, State House News Service
Budget filed, headed for a vote
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE LEGISLATIVE NEGOTIATORS filed a compromise $56.2 billion annual state budget Sunday night, packing major education, transportation, and health care policy measures and spending into an overdue […]
Posted inState Government, State House News Service
Still no budget, but it’s coming
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE TOP HOUSE AND SENATE Democrats negotiating the fiscal 2024 state budget, which is now four weeks overdue, announced Friday afternoon they had “reached an agreement in […]
Posted inOpinion
Some thoughts on where we need to be competitive
WHAT MAKES Massachusetts “competitive?” Some people assert that we have to cut taxes on the wealthy and corporations to stop them from leaving for other states. Public conversation about competitiveness […]
Posted inState Government, State House News Service
Senate tax bill’s financial hit bigger than suggested
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE COMPETING House and Senate tax relief proposals might not be quite as far apart, at least in terms of total financial impact, as the public […]
Posted inOpinion
I’m calling a technical foul on Grant Williams
YOU WON’T CATCH the team of tax and policy analysts at MassBudget drawing up out-of-bounds plays or a new defense for the Celtics. You can imagine our surprise then to […]