“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.”
Taxes and Budget Issues
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.
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.
Posted inState Government
Healey signs state budget, goes light on vetoes
The governor signed nearly all of the budget the Legislature sent her 10 days ago, approving all but three of the 261 policy proposals lawmakers padded it with.
Posted inPolitics
With session nearing end, Wu’s property tax shift bill on the move
The proposal cleared the Legislature’s Committee on Revenue a week after lawmakers raised questions about it at a hearing.
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 […]
