Lenox, a tourism mecca in western Massachusetts, has seen a record-setting rebound in visitors in the wake of COVID. According to a recent story in the Berkshire Eagle, Lenox’s lodging tax revenue fell to $1.7 million during fiscal 2021 at the height of the pandemic, but then more than doubled to a record-setting $3.8 million […]
Taxes and Budget Issues
Posted inEconomy
Lodging tax revenue skyrockets, except in bigger cities
LENOX, A TOURISM mecca in western Massachusetts, has seen a record-setting rebound in visitors in the wake of COVID. According to a recent story in the Berkshire Eagle, Lenox’s lodging tax revenue fell to $1.7 million during fiscal 2021 at the height of the pandemic, but then more than doubled to a record-setting $3.8 million […]
Posted inOpinion
Old laws, like Prop 2 1/2, need to adapt to times
I’VE BEEN STRUGGLING to find the right metaphor for our current economic situation. After the great recession of 2007-2009, my go-to was a staircase: the recession had knocked us down a flight of stairs and it took us a decade to climb back up. But that won’t do today. If COVID knocked us down the […]
Posted inOpinion
Question 1 has negative unintended consequences
I’LL NEVER FORGET my experience as a first-time homeowner of an almost 200-year-old New England charmer. In our late 20s, and open to learning all that we could in order to be good stewards of a historic home, my husband and I were advised to have someone take a look at reinforcing an old floor […]
Posted inState Government
$3b in tax cap checks to start going out Tuesday
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE FIRST CHECKS and direct deposits from a nearly $3 billion pot of excess tax revenue will head back to taxpayers starting on Tuesday when the calendar flips to November, the Baker administration announced Friday. A spokesperson for the Executive Office of Administration and Finance said money will head out the […]
Posted inState Government
House, Senate leaders report little progress on economic development legislation
THE LEADERS of the House and Senate met for the first time in three months with Gov. Charlie Baker on Monday to discuss a handful of issues left over from the legislative session, but it appears little progress was made in finding a way forward. The three leaders emerged from their meeting in the governor’s […]
Posted inState Government
Handful of progressives push change in tax cap
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A GROUP OF PROGRESSIVE Democrats will push to set a $6,500 limit on the maximum tax credit high-income earners in Massachusetts can receive under a tax cap law known as Chapter 62F, taking aim at the policy less than a month before the Baker administration expects to begin shipping out nearly […]
Posted inState Government
Report calls big chunk of tax cap funds ‘illusory’
THE STATE is preparing to pay out $1.4 billion in “illusory” funds under the tax cap law, giving wealthy taxpayers a huge windfall, according to a report from the left-leaning Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center. Officials at the center say they are not accusing state officials of doing anything wrong or making a math error. […]
Posted inOpinion
Don’t be an outlier, reform the estate tax
SOMETIMES TAX policy is hard and sometimes it is not. Voting to modernize the Massachusetts estate tax as part of the Legislature’s economic development bill is an easy decision – it costs little and protects the middle class, while preventing a flight of wealthy taxpayers from the Commonwealth. Regarding the estate tax, Massachusetts is not […]
Posted inState Government
House budget chief uncertain about economic development bill
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE HOUSE BUDGET chief wants to “get something done in the shortest period of time possible” to revive an economic development bill, but he will not commit to keeping already-approved tax relief measures in the final legislation as the state prepares to return billions of dollars to taxpayers via another route. […]