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Post Office Box 1147
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Marblehead, Massachusetts 01945
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“Every Tax is a Pay Cut ... A Tax Cut is a Pay Raise”
48 years as “The Voice of Massachusetts Taxpayers”
— and
their Institutional Memory — |
|
CLT UPDATE
Sunday, February 27, 2022
Baker's Tax Relief
Looking Good — Maybe
— Maybe Something Else?
Jump directly
to CLT's Commentary on the News
|
Most Relevant News
Excerpts
(Full news reports follow Commentary)
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Gov.
Charlie Baker pitched his nearly $700 million tax
relief package Tuesday as a way to keep more money
in the pockets of parents, low-income workers and
seniors, prompting some lawmakers to probe into what
populations would benefit and to what degree.
The
assortment of tax breaks that Baker rolled out
alongside the $48.5 billion fiscal 2023 budget he
filed last month features changes to how the state
handles estate and short-term capital gains taxes,
and would increase tax credits for seniors and child
care as well as the deduction for rent payments. It
would also raise the income level at which
Massachusetts residents are required to file taxes.
"Not only
can we afford this tax proposal, we believe it's
time to give Massachusetts families back some of the
tax revenue that they created through their hard
work," Baker told the Revenue Committee.
Baker and
his budget chief, Administration and Finance
Secretary Michael Heffernan, appeared before the
panel in a newly reopened-to-the-public State House,
speaking in-person to seven committee members while
other lawmakers and speakers joined via video call
to discuss the bill (H 4381)....
Lawmakers
will be making election-year choices on how to
handle the lame-duck governor's proposal. Some who
testified during the hearing indicated Baker's bill
could serve as a starting point for the committee to
assemble its own tax policy legislation....
Baker,
after the hearing, said he took the committee's
questioning as a "really positive sign that we'll be
doing something for tax policy for the people of
Massachusetts this session." ...
Committee
member Sen. Walter Timilty and ranking House
Republican Rep. Michael Soter offered warm reviews
of the bill. Timilty, a Milton Democrat, called
Baker's plan "a surgical strike in trying to make us
more competitive."
Soter, of
Bellingham, said he was "truly excited" about the
proposal.
"We are
flooded with cash, and I always say the government
is not in the business of showing profits," he said.
"We are in the business of being stewards of the
taxpayers' dollars, and when we have this much flush
of cash, we need to give it back to those people
that kept this economy going for two years."
The group
Citizens for Limited Taxation called for the
committee to endorse Baker's bill, saying, "The time
has arrived to revisit and update lagging tax
policies."
In written
testimony,
CLT executive director Chip Ford called an
increase to the renter's deduction "overdue," and
said Massachusetts has "the most onerous estate tax
in the nation, long outdated and much in need of
adjustment just to catch up with past value lost."
State
House News Service
Tuesday, February 22, 2022
Lawmakers May Rebalance Baker’s
Tax Relief Plans
Guv Takes "Really Positive Signs" Away From Public
Hearing
State
budget watchdogs largely support Gov. Charlie
Baker’s plan to give nearly $700 million in tax cuts
to mostly low- and middle-income earners, but
progressives warn the payback could backfire.
“The cost
of just about everything is going up, and these tax
breaks would help offset some of those costs for
families,” the governor said last month, arguing the
state is in a “very strong financial position.”
Baker is
looking to raise the income threshold for when
earnings become taxable, shielding the state’s
lowest earners from taxation. He also wants to
double tax credits for dependents and child care,
double the allowable maximum for the senior property
tax credit, increase the cap on deductions for rent
payments from $3,000 to $5,000, cut the tax rate on
short-term capital gains from 12% to 5%, and to
double the threshold at which the estate tax kicks
in to $2 million — and make only that excess value
taxable rather than the whole amount.
But Baker
will face an uphill battle with lawmakers who have
historically nixed his prior attempts at tax relief.
He’ll make his pitch to the Legislature at 1 p.m.
Tuesday during a hearing before the Joint Committee
on Revenue.
Watchdogs
largely agree now is the right time for the type of
tax relief the Republican governor is looking to
provide....
State tax
collections have far outpaced expectations since
shortly after the pandemic hit, forcing most of the
Bay State economy into lockdown. But after an
initial dip, monthly revenues began coming in well
over benchmarks, resulting in about $5 billion more
in revenues than were anticipated in the last fiscal
year that ended on June 30. That trend has continued
with the state currently running $794 million ahead
of benchmarks.
The
state’s economy was further buoyed by more than $100
billion in various federal. Lawmakers are still
sitting on about $2.3 billion in mostly unrestricted
federal coronavirus aid.
Greg
Sullivan, a former state inspector general who now
leads research at the right-leaning Pioneer
Institute said the proposal “is a package that makes
sense and is one that we can afford.
“The state
is awash in money right now,” he said.
Paul
Craney of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance agreed
saying, “One of the best ways to help taxpayers, is
to give back the money they earned. Any Governor or
elected official would be wise [to] boost tax
rebates, lower or eliminate taxes right now. In
order for Massachusetts to remain competitive in the
region and national, that is the only course of
action.”
But
Marie-Frances Rivera, president of the left-leaning
Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, said she
wants to lay out a “counter-narrative around
Massachusetts being flush with cash.”
“We feel
that overall, the governor’s budget proposal doesn’t
meet the needs that the pandemic helped to expose
but that have existed here in the commonwealth for
decades — around housing, education, et cetera,”
Rivera said.
The
Boston Herald
Wednesday, February 22, 2022
Charlie Baker’s $700M tax
relief plan for Massachusetts gains steam
Lawmakers
offered Gov. Charlie Baker a lukewarm reception for
his $700 million tax-slashing proposal despite his
appeals that it would make Massachusetts more
competitive and leave more cash in the hands of
needy parents, renters and seniors.
“Not only
can we afford this tax proposal, we believe it’s
time to give Massachusetts families back some of the
tax revenue that they created through their hard
work,” Baker said, testifying in person on the same
day the State House reopened to the public for the
first time since the pandemic hit.
Lawmakers
in the heavily Democratic state Legislature have
shot down the Republican governor’s previous tax
relief attempts. But Baker has expressed hope for a
different result this time with the state sitting on
billions in leftover federal coronavirus relief and
tax revenue collections continuing to come in over
benchmark.
But
lawmakers made it clear the governor is likely to
face an uphill battle once again on at least a
couple of his proposals.
While
there was little pushback on plans to double tax
credits for dependents and child care, double the
allowable maximum for the senior property tax credit
and increase the cap on rental payment deductions
from $3,000 to $5,000, Baker’s proposal to slash the
tax rate on short-term capital gains from 12% to 5%,
and to double the threshold at which the estate tax
kicks in to $2 million irked some.
The
Boston Herald
Wednesday, February 23, 2022
Massachusetts lawmakers push
back on Charlie Baker’s plan
to slash short-term capital gains taxes, double
estate tax threshold
State
Representative Chris Markey (D-Dartmouth) doesn’t
support giving driver’s licenses to illegal
immigrants.
He was one
of fewer than 10 Democrats in the Massachusetts
House of Representatives to vote against the
proposal (H 4461) on Wednesday, February 16.
So why did
he oppose it?
“Someone
who comes over the border illegally without the
proper documentation should not reap the benefits of
a privileged right that we have,” Markey said,
according to Boston Business Journal.
The New
Boston Post
Friday, February 18, 2022
Democrat Voices Opposition To
Driver’s Licenses For Illegal Immigrants
The
Registry of Motor Vehicles is mired in another
licensing controversy, but Senate President Karen
Spilka remains confident the agency can handle the
additional responsibilities that would come with
allowing undocumented immigrants to drive legally.
A
House-approved bill now awaiting action in the
Senate, which Spilka supports, would allow
immigrants without legal status in the United States
to acquire Massachusetts driver's licenses if they
submit other documents proving their identity, birth
date and residency in the Bay State.
Those
documentation requirements, Spilka said in a
televised interview that aired Sunday, should be
manageable for RMV workers despite the latest
headlines about the agency's work. Several news
outlets reported last week that the RMV's Brockton
Service Center issued licenses to 2,100 drivers who
had not taken road tests. Four RMV employees
responsible for the problem dating back to 2018 were
fired, according to reports....
Some
opponents have voiced concerns that the legislation
could lead to undocumented immigrants improperly
casting votes in elections. Spilka said she does not
believe those worries will come to pass.
"We have
for years and years allowed folks who are here
legally, immigrants who are here legally but not
citizens, we have allowed them to get green cards,"
she said. "They can get a driver's license if they
can get a green card, but they're not allowed to
vote. Only citizens are allowed to vote, and that
has never been an issue."
State
House News Service
Wednesday, February 22, 2022
Registry Can Handle Licensing
Bill Duties, Spilka Says
When a
governor leaves the Massachusetts State House for
the last time, he also leaves behind the powers he
was entrusted with.
That is
what the ceremony of the “Lone Walk” is all about.
Outgoing
Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, who is not seeking
re-election, will make that Lone Walk next January
when he gives up the office after serving for eight
years.
In State
House tradition, a governor, after his term has
expired, leaves the governor’s office at noon of his
last day. He walks unaccompanied down the marbled,
third floor Grand Staircase through Doric Hall and
out the front doors of the State House.
Those
front doors, by the way, are only opened on two
occasions, one when a governor leaves office, and
again when a head of state comes to the State
House....
While the
popular Baker has twice gotten himself elected, his
record getting others elected is dismal. He is all
coat, no coattails.
When Baker
assumed office in 2014, there were six Republicans
in the Democrat-dominated 40-member Senate. There
were 35 Republicans in the [160-member] Democrat-run
House.
Eight
years later, there are just three Republicans left
in the Senate, and only 29 in the House.
If Baker
could not improve the GOP’s standing at the State
House while he had full power, how will he be able
to increase the numbers when he has one foot out the
door?
Baker’s
political standing among many conservative
Republicans was seriously damaged when he called for
Donald Trump’s impeachment. He lost control of the
Republican State Committee, now headed by Trump
conservative Jim Lyons.
Lyons, at
war with Baker, is backing conservative Geoff Diehl,
also a Trump supporter. for governor. Trump has
endorsed Diehl and could come to Massachusetts and
campaign for him....
Now Baker,
in a local media interview, said he wants to elect
moderates — mainly Republicans like himself — to the
Legislature as well as to other offices. He said
[he] wanted to make sure there were “two teams on
the field.”
There are
still two teams at the State House, but they are no
longer Democrat and Republican teams. The
Republicans have no team.
The two
teams battling for power now are the progressive
Democrats and everybody else, which includes the
diminishing number of moderate Democrats and
Republicans. Conservatives at the State House are
extinct.
And the
progressives are winning. The progressive Democrats,
under woke Senate President Karen Spilka, have
overwhelming control of the Senate.
Upon the
departure of semi-woke House Speaker Ron Mariano,
they will soon (or already have) control the House.
And if a
progressive becomes governor, head for the exit.
Giving
drivers’ licenses to illegal immigrants is just the
beginning.
The
Boston Herald
Saturday, February 26, 2022
Don’t look for Baker to give GOP
candidates a leg up on his way out
By Peter Lucas
A higher
percentage of adults in Massachusetts identify as
liberal than in any other part of the country.
Research
conducted by Stacker found that Massachusetts has
the most self-identified liberals in America; 35
percent of Bay Staters call themselves liberal.
That’s an even higher percentage than Vermont, where
32 percent of residents consider themselves
liberal....
Massachusetts has a Democratic supermajority in its
state legislature and has not elected a Republican
to a U.S. House seat since 1994.
The New
Boston Post
Thursday, February 17, 2022
Massachusetts Is The
Country’s Most Liberal State, Research Says
Republicans are rolling the dice on Donald Trump and
his $124 million war chest in the midterm elections,
betting that the former president won’t drag down
the party with him.
Trump has
made it known he intends to be a kingmaker — like he
has in Massachusetts by endorsing gubernatorial
candidate Geoff Diehl — despite some GOP senatorial
candidates shunning him.
The media
elite continue to belittle Trump in an attempt to
torpedo his potential 2024 campaign, but that has
only bolstered him among his die-hard supporters.
Trump has
endorsed more than 100 candidates in the run-up to
this fall’s election, and in some states, Republican
candidates are falling over themselves to gain his
endorsement.
In
Massachusetts, Trump’s endorsement of Diehl, his
former state campaign chairman, assures that the
former president will be a factor in the governor’s
race — on both sides of the ballot.
Democrats
are already hammering Diehl for his close ties to
Trump, but the former state rep has only one
opponent in the primary, a little-known businessman
who admitted voting for Hillary Clinton in 2016.
But Trump
won just one-third of the vote in Massachusetts in
the 2020 election, a fact that is bound to hobble
Diehl if he wins the primary.
The
Boston Herald
Wednesday, February 22, 2022
Republicans rolling the dice
on Donald Trump in the midterm elections
Outside
the State House, dozens gathered on the front steps
in the cold, draped in the Ukrainian flag to show
their support for a country under siege by Russian
forces.
Inside the
building, Gov. Charlie Baker was balancing news of
the unfolding war in eastern Europe with the weather
forecasts for New England, predicting heavy morning
snow on Friday that would lead him to cancel
in-person work for state employees for the final day
of school vacation week.
When Baker
stepped before the cameras on Thursday night, he did
so to comment on both fronts....
While
demonstrations in front of the state capitol are
nothing new, for the first time in two years, anyone
looking to make their voices heard by the powers
that be could bring that message indoors directly to
their representatives in government - if they could
find them.
The State
House reopened on Tuesday to the public for the
first time since March 2020 under strict COVID-19
safety protocols, with visitors required to show
proof of vaccination or a recent negative test and
to wear masks inside at all times....
But had
anyone wanted to come inside and see the government
in action, they would have found Gov. Baker himself
seated before the Joint Committee on Revenue on
Tuesday trying to sell Democrats on a $700 million
package of tax cuts.
Baker has
proposed to increase tax breaks for renters, seniors
and families with children and to raise the income
level at which low-income residents must start
paying income tax. He is also looking to lower the
short-term capital gains tax from 12 percent to 5
percent, and to increase the estate tax trigger from
$1 million to $2 million.
It's those
last two, politically at least, that may prove to be
the toughest sell and come with the biggest price
tag.
Baker
insisted the state has the money to pay for his tax
reform package, and told lawmakers that thousands of
middle-income families get hit with capital gains
taxes, not just the wealthy. And if Sen. Julian
Cyr's ears were burning, it was because Baker used
the liberal Cape Cod Democrat as a talisman for his
estate tax plan. If Cyr supports it (which he does),
it must be more than just a tax break for the rich,
right?
Of course,
one need not be a homeowner or looking to buy in the
current market to know that it doesn't take much in
Massachusetts anymore to inch toward that
million-dollar range for property, which tends to be
a person's largest asset.
But still.
"What
people in my district are talking about is how Wall
Street is going through the roof and breaking
records. And yet our food bank lines are going
around the block, and so there's a real disconnect
in who benefits in the economy right now. And this
is the timing for making sure our wealthiest have a
bigger tax break?" asked Sen. Adam Hinds, the chair
of the committee who also happens to be running for
lieutenant governor....
Despite
the Lottery's steady growth trajectory, sales of
Lottery tickets were actually down in January
compared to last year after a major snowstorm, the
omicron surge and the lack of a mega-jackpot to
drive sales conspired to decrease sales and profits
by $84.3 million and $44.2 million, respectively.
Still, the
$3.59 billion in Lottery sales through the first
seven months of the fiscal year are up $122 million,
or 3.5 percent, over this time last year, and
profits of $696 million are up a smidge. That will
give whoever the next governor is a nice jumping-off
point for determining local aid levels in their
first budget.
State
House News Service
Friday, February 25, 2022
Weekly Roundup - The People’s
House, Not the People’s Republic
March's
dawn on Tuesday leaves just five months of formal
sessions remaining for lawmakers to get their
priority bills over the finish line and to Gov.
Charlie Baker's desk.
Much of
that time will involve a focus on pulling together
the fiscal 2023 budget, with hearings on Baker's
$45.8 billion spending plan (H.2) set to run through
at least mid-March before the House in April and
Senate in May craft and vote on their own budget
bills.
State
House News Service
Friday, February 25, 2022
Advances - Week of Feb. 27, 2022
Thursday,
March 3, 2022
FEBRUARY
REVENUES: Department of Revenue is due to report on
tax collections for February, which generally
produces less state revenue than any other month.
Neither individuals nor businesses are required to
make estimated payments in February and refunds
begin to reach "substantial levels" during the month
as the tax filing season begins, DOR said. DOR's
monthly benchmark for February is $1.508 billion.
Through
Feb. 15, DOR had collected $886 million, down $142
million or 13.8 percent compared to the same period
in February 2021. DOR said the month-to-date
decrease was "mostly due to decreases in withholding
and regular sales tax as well as an increase in
income tax refunds, partially offset by an increase
in corporate and business taxes."
January's
receipts surpassed expectations by $856 million or
27 percent and helped to put the state nearly $1.5
billion ahead of the end-of-fiscal-year target that
has already been upgraded by about $1.5 billion.
(Thursday)
State
House News Service
Friday, February 25, 2022
Advances - Week of Feb. 27, 2022 |
|
On Tuesday Gov. Baker
testified before The Joint Committee on Revenue in support
of his bill to provide some tax relief for many taxpayers. CLT
provided the committee with
our testimony in support of Baker's effort.
State
House News Service reported ("Lawmakers May Rebalance Baker’s
Tax Relief Plans—Guv Takes "Really Positive Signs" Away From Public
Hearing"):
Gov.
Charlie Baker pitched his nearly $700 million tax
relief package Tuesday as a way to keep more money
in the pockets of parents, low-income workers and
seniors, prompting some lawmakers to probe into what
populations would benefit and to what degree.
The
assortment of tax breaks that Baker rolled out
alongside the $48.5 billion fiscal 2023 budget he
filed last month features changes to how the state
handles estate and short-term capital gains taxes,
and would increase tax credits for seniors and child
care as well as the deduction for rent payments. It
would also raise the income level at which
Massachusetts residents are required to file taxes.
"Not only
can we afford this tax proposal, we believe it's
time to give Massachusetts families back some of the
tax revenue that they created through their hard
work," Baker told the Revenue Committee.
Baker and
his budget chief, Administration and Finance
Secretary Michael Heffernan, appeared before the
panel in a newly reopened-to-the-public State House,
speaking in-person to seven committee members while
other lawmakers and speakers joined via video call
to discuss the bill (H 4381)....
Lawmakers
will be making election-year choices on how to
handle the lame-duck governor's proposal. Some who
testified during the hearing indicated Baker's bill
could serve as a starting point for the committee to
assemble its own tax policy legislation....
Baker,
after the hearing, said he took the committee's
questioning as a "really positive sign that we'll be
doing something for tax policy for the people of
Massachusetts this session." ...
Committee
member Sen. Walter Timilty and ranking House
Republican Rep. Michael Soter offered warm reviews
of the bill. Timilty, a Milton Democrat, called
Baker's plan "a surgical strike in trying to make us
more competitive."
Soter, of
Bellingham, said he was "truly excited" about the
proposal.
"We are
flooded with cash, and I always say the government
is not in the business of showing profits," he said.
"We are in the business of being stewards of the
taxpayers' dollars, and when we have this much flush
of cash, we need to give it back to those people
that kept this economy going for two years."
The group
Citizens for Limited Taxation called for the
committee to endorse Baker's bill, saying, "The time
has arrived to revisit and update lagging tax
policies."
In written
testimony,
CLT executive director Chip Ford called an
increase to the renter's deduction "overdue," and
said Massachusetts has "the most onerous estate tax
in the nation, long outdated and much in need of
adjustment just to catch up with past value lost."
The usual
suspects lined up in
opposition, as expected when any proposal is
introduced to benefit beleaguered taxpayers who
alone fund all of government. On Wednesday The
Boston Herald noted ("Charlie Baker’s $700M tax
relief plan for Massachusetts gains steam"):
Marie-Frances Rivera,
president of the left-leaning Massachusetts
Budget and Policy Center, said she wants to lay
out a “counter-narrative around Massachusetts
being flush with cash.”
“We feel
that overall, the governor’s budget proposal doesn’t
meet the needs that the pandemic helped to expose
but that have existed here in the commonwealth for
decades — around housing, education, et cetera,”
Rivera said.
The
Herald also noted on Wednesday ("Massachusetts lawmakers push
back on Charlie Baker’s plan") there is
resistance to tax relief from some Democrats in the
Legislature — also to
be expected as the standard liberal kneejerk response.
While
there was little pushback on plans to double tax
credits for dependents and child care, double the
allowable maximum for the senior property tax credit
and increase the cap on rental payment deductions
from $3,000 to $5,000, Baker’s proposal to slash the
tax rate on short-term capital gains from 12% to 5%,
and to double the threshold at which the estate tax
kicks in to $2 million irked some.
In its
Weekly Roundup in Friday the
State
House News Service reported:
. . .
But had anyone wanted to come inside and see the government
in action, they would have found Gov. Baker himself seated
before the Joint Committee on Revenue on Tuesday trying to
sell Democrats on a $700 million package of tax cuts.
Baker has proposed to increase tax breaks for renters,
seniors and families with children and to raise the income
level at which low-income residents must start paying income
tax. He is also looking to lower the short-term capital
gains tax from 12 percent to 5 percent, and to increase the
estate tax trigger from $1 million to $2 million.
It's those last two, politically at least, that may prove to
be the toughest sell and come with the biggest price tag.
Baker insisted the state has the money to pay for his tax
reform package, and told lawmakers that thousands of
middle-income families get hit with capital gains taxes, not
just the wealthy. And if Sen. Julian Cyr's ears were
burning, it was because Baker used the liberal Cape Cod
Democrat as a talisman for his estate tax plan. If Cyr
supports it (which he does), it must be more than just a tax
break for the rich, right?
Of course, one need not be a homeowner or looking to buy in
the current market to know that it doesn't take much in
Massachusetts anymore to inch toward that million-dollar
range for property, which tends to be a person's largest
asset.
But still.
"What people in my district are talking about is how Wall
Street is going through the roof and breaking records. And
yet our food bank lines are going around the block, and so
there's a real disconnect in who benefits in the economy
right now. And this is the timing for making sure our
wealthiest have a bigger tax break?" asked Sen. Adam Hinds,
the chair of the committee who also happens to be running
for lieutenant governor.
From the News Service,
here's what Gov.
Baker's bill would provide:
• Cut the tax rate on short-term capital gains from its
current 12 percent to 5 percent, a change Baker said would
align it with the tax on other income and mirror the way
other states treat short-term capital gains.
• Double the threshold at which the estate tax kicks in to
$2 million. While the current tax applies to the full value
of estates over $1 million, Baker's proposal would tax only
the amount above $2 million.
• Raise the income level at which people are required to
file taxes. Currently, Massachusetts residents must file an
income tax return if they earn $8,000 as a single filer,
$14,400 as a head of household, or $16,400 as joint filers.
Baker's plan would raise the no-tax threshold to align with
the federal level, bringing it to $12,400 for single filers,
$18,650 for heads of households, and $24,800 for joint
filers.
• Double the maximum allowed senior circuit breaker tax
credit. The credit rises with inflation and the increase
this year would have raised it from $1,170 to $2,340.
• Increase the cap on the rent deduction from $3,000 to
$5,000. That deduction is limited to half of the rent paid
during a tax year.
• Double the dependent care tax credit to $480 for one
qualifying individual and $960 for two or more. Baker wrote
in a budget-filing message that for those claiming the
household dependent care credit, rates would also double to
$360 for one qualifying individual and $720 for two or more.
In its coverage of the
hearing the State House News Service reported:
Lawmakers will be making election-year choices on how to
handle the lame-duck governor's proposal. Some who testified
during the hearing indicated Baker's bill could serve as a
starting point for the committee to assemble its own tax
policy legislation.
I question just how much
election politics will factor into what tax relief if any is
eventually adopted, and what is rejected in this Democrat-dominated
Legislature. According to Boston Herald veteran reporter and
columnist Peter Lucas in his Saturday column ("Don’t look for Baker to give GOP
candidates a leg up on his way out"), there
is little if any
opposition to Democrat incumbents who never give up their seats
until they choose to move on to something better, or are defeated in a
primary by even more extreme leftist candidates:
. . .
When Baker assumed office in 2014, there were six
Republicans in the Democrat-dominated 40-member Senate.
There were 35 Republicans in the [160-member] Democrat-run
House.
Eight years later, there are just three Republicans left in
the Senate, and only 29 in the House....
There are
still two teams at the State House, but they are no
longer Democrat and Republican teams. The
Republicans have no team.
The two
teams battling for power now are the progressive
Democrats and everybody else, which includes the
diminishing number of moderate Democrats and
Republicans. Conservatives at the State House are
extinct.
And the
progressives are winning. The progressive Democrats,
under woke Senate President Karen Spilka, have
overwhelming control of the Senate.
Upon the
departure of semi-woke House Speaker Ron Mariano,
they will soon (or already have) control the House.
And if a
progressive becomes governor, head for the exit.
Giving
drivers’ licenses to illegal immigrants is just the
beginning.
None of this should be
surprising, considering that Massachusetts is ranked the most
liberal state in the nation (#1) in a
recent survey by Stacker. What is surprising is
that the Bay State has a higher percentage (35%) of self-identified
liberals than even #7 California (29%)! Massachusetts
also ranks last (#50) with the
fewest admitted conservatives (22%).
The New
Boston Post reported on February 17 ("Massachusetts Is The
Country’s Most Liberal State, Research Says"):
A higher
percentage of adults in Massachusetts identify as
liberal than in any other part of the country....
Massachusetts has a Democratic supermajority in its
state legislature and has not elected a Republican
to a U.S. House seat since 1994.
The New
Boston Post reported on February 18 ("Democrat Voices Opposition To
Driver’s Licenses For Illegal Immigrants"):
State
Representative Chris Markey (D-Dartmouth) doesn’t
support giving driver’s licenses to illegal
immigrants.
He was one
of fewer than 10 Democrats in the Massachusetts
House of Representatives to vote against the
proposal (H 4461) on Wednesday, February 16.
So why did
he oppose it?
“Someone
who comes over the border illegally without the
proper documentation should not reap the benefits of
a privileged right that we have,” Markey said,
according to Boston Business Journal.
But we are
assured by Senate President Karen Spilka that this
won't spill over to include voting. According
to a report by the State
House News Service on Wednesday ("Registry Can Handle Licensing
Bill Duties, Spilka Says"):
The
Registry of Motor Vehicles is mired in another
licensing controversy, but Senate President Karen
Spilka "remains confident" the agency can handle the
additional responsibilities that would come with
allowing undocumented immigrants to drive legally....
Those
documentation requirements, Spilka said in a
televised interview that aired Sunday, should be
manageable for RMV workers despite the latest
headlines about the agency's work. Several news
outlets reported last week that the RMV's Brockton
Service Center issued licenses to 2,100 drivers who
had not taken road tests. Four RMV employees
responsible for the problem dating back to 2018 were
fired, according to reports....
Some
opponents have voiced concerns that the legislation
could lead to undocumented immigrants improperly
casting votes in elections. Spilka said she does not
believe those worries will come to pass.
"We have
for years and years allowed folks who are here
legally, immigrants who are here legally but not
citizens, we have allowed them to get green cards,"
she said. "They can get a driver's license if they
can get a green card, but they're not allowed to
vote. Only citizens are allowed to vote, and that
has never been an issue."
On
Thursday the Department of Revenue will report the
latest monthly revenue collections, from February. The State
House News Service noted:
Department of Revenue is due to report on
tax collections for February, which generally
produces less state revenue than any other month.
Neither individuals nor businesses are required to
make estimated payments in February and refunds
begin to reach "substantial levels" during the month
as the tax filing season begins, DOR said. DOR's
monthly benchmark for February is $1.508 billion.
Through
Feb. 15, DOR had collected $886 million, down $142
million or 13.8 percent compared to the same period
in February 2021. DOR said the month-to-date
decrease was "mostly due to decreases in withholding
and regular sales tax as well as an increase in
income tax refunds, partially offset by an increase
in corporate and business taxes."
January's
receipts surpassed expectations by $856 million or
27 percent and helped to put the state nearly $1.5
billion ahead of the end-of-fiscal-year target that
has already been upgraded by about $1.5 billion.
(Thursday)
Take note of downplayed
revenue expectations prior to release. This has been de
rigueur for some two years and counting —
then everyone is surprised when the next unexpected bonanza of
revenue is announced. We shall see if anything changes this
time.
|
 |
 |
|
Chip Ford
Executive Director |
|
|
State House News
Service
Tuesday, February 22, 2022
Lawmakers May Rebalance Baker’s Tax Relief Plans
Guv Takes "Really Positive Signs" Away From Public Hearing
By Katie Lannan
Gov. Charlie Baker pitched his nearly $700 million tax
relief package Tuesday as a way to keep more money in the
pockets of parents, low-income workers and seniors,
prompting some lawmakers to probe into what populations
would benefit and to what degree.
The assortment of tax breaks that Baker rolled out alongside
the $48.5 billion fiscal 2023 budget he filed last month
features changes to how the state handles estate and
short-term capital gains taxes, and would increase tax
credits for seniors and child care as well as the deduction
for rent payments. It would also raise the income level at
which Massachusetts residents are required to file taxes.
"Not only can we afford this tax proposal, we believe it's
time to give Massachusetts families back some of the tax
revenue that they created through their hard work," Baker
told the Revenue Committee.
Baker and his budget chief, Administration and Finance
Secretary Michael Heffernan, appeared before the panel in a
newly reopened-to-the-public State House, speaking in-person
to seven committee members while other lawmakers and
speakers joined via video call to discuss the bill (H 4381).
Many of the committee's questions involved Baker's proposals
to raise the threshold at which the estate tax kicks in and
lower the tax rate on short-term capital gains, which
critics said would primarily benefit wealthier residents.
Sen. Adam Hinds, who chairs the Revenue Committee with Rep.
Mark Cusack, suggested he thought there was room to go
bigger on credits for dependent and child care -- saying the
bump Baker proposed "doesn't really strike me as significant
or relief" and that now "is not the time for incrementalism"
-- and said the timing of the proposed rate cut for
short-term capital gains was "jarring" after nearly two
years of the pandemic and its economic upheaval.
"What people in my district are talking about is how Wall
Street is going through the roof and breaking records," said
Hinds, a Pittsfield Democrat running for lieutenant
governor. "And yet our food bank lines are going around the
block, and so there's a real disconnect in who benefits in
the economy right now. And this is the timing for making
sure our wealthiest have a bigger tax break?"
Baker said the existing tax "acts like a penalty, making
Massachusetts particularly unfriendly to at least 60,000
middle income taxpayers who are hit with it each year who
are trying to make responsible investments to support
themselves and their family's future."
Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven pointed out that the changes to the
estate tax credit would only affect those with estates worth
over $1 million. Baker's estate tax proposal carries a price
tag of $231 million, which the Somerville Democrat
contrasted with the $77 million in additional relief for
renters.
Baker replied that adopting a new approach to the estate tax
could have broader impacts by encouraging people to stay in
Massachusetts.
"I personally believe it will net itself out eventually
because we are losing many people -- the older I get the
more of them I know personally -- who are making decisions
based on our estate tax, becoming permanent residents of
other states," the 65-year-old governor said. "We don't just
lose their income when they move, we lose all of it after
they move, forever, until they die."
Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President Eileen McAnneny
said changes to capital gains and estate taxes are of
particular interest to retirees.
"People in retirement certainly are thinking about where
they'll choose to retire, and cost structure absolutely
matters," she said.
Phineas Baxandall of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy
Center said almost two-thirds of Baker's proposed estate tax
break would go to the wealthiest two-fifths of estates
subject to the tax, those valued above about $2.25 million.
He said the two breaks "truly targeted" to low-income filers
-- raising the threshold at which people are required to pay
state income tax and increasing the senior circuit breaker
tax credit -- are a small fraction of the total package.
"If the committee is committed to revenue cuts, we believe
that these kinds of smaller cuts or other targeted changes
such as increasing or extending eligibility for the
commonwealth's earned income tax credit make a lot more
sense than these very large tax breaks that go
disproportionately to households that need them the least,"
Baxandall said.
Lawmakers will be making election-year choices on how to
handle the lame-duck governor's proposal. Some who testified
during the hearing indicated Baker's bill could serve as a
starting point for the committee to assemble its own tax
policy legislation.
Mike Festa of AARP Massachusetts floated incorporating a tax
credit to support unpaid family caregivers, and Charlotte
Bruce of Children's HealthWatch at Boston Medical Center and
the Healthy Families EITC Coalition suggested including
expansions of the earned income tax credit.
Baker, after the hearing, said he took the committee's
questioning as a "really positive sign that we'll be doing
something for tax policy for the people of Massachusetts
this session."
"The tax rate and policy changes, there's a lot in there,
and I would expect that going through a process like this
one, it will change," he said. "And I think the most
important thing for me is that, at the end of this, we've
done some things to modernize our tax code, we've done some
things to simplify our tax code, and we've given some tax
breaks to people who need them and deserve them and continue
to make ourselves more competitive, and that could be any
combination of a bunch of those elements."
Committee member Sen. Walter Timilty and ranking House
Republican Rep. Michael Soter offered warm reviews of the
bill. Timilty, a Milton Democrat, called Baker's plan "a
surgical strike in trying to make us more competitive."
Soter, of Bellingham, said he was "truly excited" about the
proposal.
"We are flooded with cash, and I always say the government
is not in the business of showing profits," he said. "We are
in the business of being stewards of the taxpayers' dollars,
and when we have this much flush of cash, we need to give it
back to those people that kept this economy going for two
years."
The group Citizens for Limited Taxation called for
the committee to endorse Baker's bill, saying, "The time has
arrived to revisit and update lagging tax policies."
In written
testimony, CLT executive director Chip Ford
called an increase to the renter's deduction "overdue," and
said Massachusetts has "the most onerous estate tax in the
nation, long outdated and much in need of adjustment just to
catch up with past value lost."
Baker's bill would:
• Cut the tax rate on short-term capital gains from its
current 12 percent to 5 percent, a change Baker said would
align it with the tax on other income and mirror the way
other states treat short-term capital gains.
• Double the threshold at which the estate tax kicks in to
$2 million. While the current tax applies to the full value
of estates over $1 million, Baker's proposal would tax only
the amount above $2 million.
• Raise the income level at which people are required to
file taxes. Currently, Massachusetts residents must file an
income tax return if they earn $8,000 as a single filer,
$14,400 as a head of household, or $16,400 as joint filers.
Baker's plan would raise the no-tax threshold to align with
the federal level, bringing it to $12,400 for single filers,
$18,650 for heads of households, and $24,800 for joint
filers.
• Double the maximum allowed senior circuit breaker tax
credit. The credit rises with inflation and the increase
this year would have raised it from $1,170 to $2,340.
• Increase the cap on the rent deduction from $3,000 to
$5,000. That deduction is limited to half of the rent paid
during a tax year.
• Double the dependent care tax credit to $480 for one
qualifying individual and $960 for two or more. Baker wrote
in a budget-filing message that for those claiming the
household dependent care credit, rates would also double to
$360 for one qualifying individual and $720 for two or more.
The Boston
Herald
Wednesday, February 22, 2022
Charlie Baker’s $700M tax relief plan for Massachusetts
gains steam
By Erin Tiernan
State budget watchdogs largely support Gov. Charlie Baker’s
plan to give nearly $700 million in tax cuts to mostly low-
and middle-income earners, but progressives warn the payback
could backfire.
“The cost of just about everything is going up, and these
tax breaks would help offset some of those costs for
families,” the governor said last month, arguing the state
is in a “very strong financial position.”
Baker is looking to raise the income threshold for when
earnings become taxable, shielding the state’s lowest
earners from taxation. He also wants to double tax credits
for dependents and child care, double the allowable maximum
for the senior property tax credit, increase the cap on
deductions for rent payments from $3,000 to $5,000, cut the
tax rate on short-term capital gains from 12% to 5%, and to
double the threshold at which the estate tax kicks in to $2
million — and make only that excess value taxable rather
than the whole amount.
But Baker will face an uphill battle with lawmakers who have
historically nixed his prior attempts at tax relief. He’ll
make his pitch to the Legislature at 1 p.m. Tuesday during a
hearing before the Joint Committee on Revenue.
Watchdogs largely agree now is the right time for the type
of tax relief the Republican governor is looking to provide.
Eileen McAnneny of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation is
backing the cuts she says “provide targeted tax relief to
people who were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic
— those who are on the lower end of the income spectrum.”
State tax collections have far outpaced expectations since
shortly after the pandemic hit, forcing most of the Bay
State economy into lockdown. But after an initial dip,
monthly revenues began coming in well over benchmarks,
resulting in about $5 billion more in revenues than were
anticipated in the last fiscal year that ended on June 30.
That trend has continued with the state currently running
$794 million ahead of benchmarks.
The state’s economy was further buoyed by more than $100
billion in various federal. Lawmakers are still sitting on
about $2.3 billion in mostly unrestricted federal
coronavirus aid.
Greg Sullivan, a former state inspector general who now
leads research at the right-leaning Pioneer Institute said
the proposal “is a package that makes sense and is one that
we can afford.
“The state is awash in money right now,” he said.
Paul Craney of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance agreed
saying, “One of the best ways to help taxpayers, is to give
back the money they earned. Any Governor or elected official
would be wise [to] boost tax rebates, lower or eliminate
taxes right now. In order for Massachusetts to remain
competitive in the region and national, that is the only
course of action.”
But Marie-Frances Rivera, president of the left-leaning
Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, said she wants to
lay out a “counter-narrative around Massachusetts being
flush with cash.”
“We feel that overall, the governor’s budget proposal
doesn’t meet the needs that the pandemic helped to expose
but that have existed here in the commonwealth for decades —
around housing, education, et cetera,” Rivera said.
The Boston
Herald
Wednesday, February 23, 2022
Massachusetts lawmakers push back on Charlie Baker’s plan
to slash short-term capital gains taxes, double estate tax
threshold
By Erin Tiernan
Lawmakers offered Gov. Charlie Baker a lukewarm reception
for his $700 million tax-slashing proposal despite his
appeals that it would make Massachusetts more competitive
and leave more cash in the hands of needy parents, renters
and seniors.
“Not only can we afford this tax proposal, we believe it’s
time to give Massachusetts families back some of the tax
revenue that they created through their hard work,” Baker
said, testifying in person on the same day the State House
reopened to the public for the first time since the pandemic
hit.
Lawmakers in the heavily Democratic state Legislature have
shot down the Republican governor’s previous tax relief
attempts. But Baker has expressed hope for a different
result this time with the state sitting on billions in
leftover federal coronavirus relief and tax revenue
collections continuing to come in over benchmark.
But lawmakers made it clear the governor is likely to face
an uphill battle once again on at least a couple of his
proposals.
While there was little pushback on plans to double tax
credits for dependents and child care, double the allowable
maximum for the senior property tax credit and increase the
cap on rental payment deductions from $3,000 to $5,000,
Baker’s proposal to slash the tax rate on short-term capital
gains from 12% to 5%, and to double the threshold at which
the estate tax kicks in to $2 million irked some.
State Sen. Adam Hinds, D-Pittsfield, questioned the “timing”
of the capital gains tax cut he says would deliver $117
million “largely” for Massachusetts’ wealthiest families at
a time when “Wall Street is breaking records and food bank
lines are going around the block.”
Hinds, who is a candidate for lieutenant governor, later in
a statement on Twitter added, “It’s true, we’re focused on
overcoming disparate impacts that vulnerable communities
face & ensuring an inclusive economic recovery. Last I
checked, folks paying the most in capital gains were not the
ones who needed a massive tax break. That widens
inequality.”
State Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven, D-Somerville, said changes to
the estate tax credit would only affect estates worth over
$1 million — which state officials estimate includes about
one in every 10 single-family homeowners. Baker’s estate tax
proposal carries a price tag of $231 million, which
Uyterhoeven contrasted noted pales in comparison to the $77
million pitched in relief for renters.
Baker said the measures are “not partisan ideas,” noting
that Democratic lawmakers have also filed bills with similar
proposals to increase the threshold for the estate tax,
rental deduction and senior tax credit.
Baker argued the Bay State is “losing many people” because
of the estate tax, which doesn’t exist in 33 states.
Massachusetts, which taxes the entire value of estates
valued at $1 million or more, is tied with Oregon for the
lowest threshold. Baker’s plan would double that and tax
only the value in excess of $2 million.
“I personally believe it will net itself out eventually
because we are losing many people,” Baker said of the estate
tax. “The older I get the more of them I know personally.”
The New Boston
Post
Friday, February 18, 2022
Democrat Voices Opposition To Driver’s Licenses For Illegal
Immigrants
State Representative Chris Markey (D-Dartmouth) doesn’t
support giving driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.
He was one of fewer than 10 Democrats in the Massachusetts
House of Representatives to vote against the proposal (H
4461) on Wednesday, February 16.
So why did he oppose it?
“Someone who comes over the border illegally without the
proper documentation should not reap the benefits of a
privileged right that we have,” Markey said, according to
Boston Business Journal.
Even though members of both parties voted against the bill,
75 percent of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
supported the bill. The margin is more than two to one, so
Governor Charlie Baker won’t be able to sustain a veto of
the bill.
State House News
Service
Wednesday, February 22, 2022
Registry Can Handle Licensing Bill Duties, Spilka Says
By Chris Lisinski
The Registry of Motor Vehicles is mired in another licensing
controversy, but Senate President Karen Spilka remains
confident the agency can handle the additional
responsibilities that would come with allowing undocumented
immigrants to drive legally.
A House-approved bill now awaiting action in the Senate,
which Spilka supports, would allow immigrants without legal
status in the United States to acquire Massachusetts
driver's licenses if they submit other documents proving
their identity, birth date and residency in the Bay State.
Those documentation requirements, Spilka said in a televised
interview that aired Sunday, should be manageable for RMV
workers despite the latest headlines about the agency's
work. Several news outlets reported last week that the RMV's
Brockton Service Center issued licenses to 2,100 drivers who
had not taken road tests. Four RMV employees responsible for
the problem dating back to 2018 were fired, according to
reports.
"We've had issues with the Registry before, and I hope this
maybe puts some parameters on the Registry," Spilka replied
when WBZ host Jon Keller asked if the latest headlines gave
her pause about the immigrant licensing bill. "There's no
evidence there was any fault of those who went to get their
licenses. I don't think that should be an issue."
Spilka and her top deputies have not offered a timeline for
debating the licensing bill (H 4461), but she has been on
record in support for several years and in her WBZ interview
touted the measure as "good for public safety."
Some opponents have voiced concerns that the legislation
could lead to undocumented immigrants improperly casting
votes in elections. Spilka said she does not believe those
worries will come to pass.
"We have for years and years allowed folks who are here
legally, immigrants who are here legally but not citizens,
we have allowed them to get green cards," she said. "They
can get a driver's license if they can get a green card, but
they're not allowed to vote. Only citizens are allowed to
vote, and that has never been an issue."
The Boston
Herald
Saturday, February 26, 2022
Don’t look for Baker to give GOP candidates a leg up on his
way out
By Peter Lucas
When a governor leaves the Massachusetts State House for the
last time, he also leaves behind the powers he was entrusted
with.
That is what the ceremony of the “Lone Walk” is all about.
Outgoing Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, who is not seeking
re-election, will make that Lone Walk next January when he
gives up the office after serving for eight years.
In State House tradition, a governor, after his term has
expired, leaves the governor’s office at noon of his last
day. He walks unaccompanied down the marbled, third floor
Grand Staircase through Doric Hall and out the front doors
of the State House.
Those front doors, by the way, are only opened on two
occasions, one when a governor leaves office, and again when
a head of state comes to the State House.
The governor, upon leaving, then walks outside, down the
front stone steps to Beacon Street where he is usually
greeted by supporters and average citizens.
The Lone Walk ceremony is designed to show that the governor
is no longer the all-powerful head of state, but once again
a common citizen, like the rest of us. The power he once
held is now in the hands of the new governor.
Once you’re out, you’re out
But before that — and particularly in Baker’s case — a
governor not seeking re-election quickly becomes a lame
duck, which is what Baker now is. Month by month his
relevancy diminishes.
Powers now shifts away from the Republican governor and
heads into the hands of the Legislature — particularly in
the hands of House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President
Karen Spilka — where it will remain until the next governor
takes office and finds out what the job is all about.
So, it is with some bemusement that veteran State House
regulators noted that Baker — who faced a possible defeat in
a Republican primary — said he intends to stay active
politically, raise money and help like-minded, moderate
Republicans as well as Democrats get elected.
While the popular Baker has twice gotten himself elected,
his record getting others elected is dismal. He is all coat,
no coattails.
When Baker assumed office in 2014, there were six
Republicans in the Democrat-dominated 40-member Senate.
There were 35 Republicans in the [160-member] Democrat-run
House.
Eight years later, there are just three Republicans left in
the Senate, and only 29 in the House.
If Baker could not improve the GOP’s standing at the State
House while he had full power, how will he be able to
increase the numbers when he has one foot out the door?
Baker’s political standing among many conservative
Republicans was seriously damaged when he called for Donald
Trump’s impeachment. He lost control of the Republican State
Committee, now headed by Trump conservative Jim Lyons.
Lyons, at war with Baker, is backing conservative Geoff
Diehl, also a Trump supporter. for governor. Trump has
endorsed Diehl and could come to Massachusetts and campaign
for him.
Given the tilt of the GOP to the right in Massachusetts,
there was the looming possibility that Diehl could have
beaten Baker in a primary, which is why Baker withdrew.
Moderate Republican businessman Chris Doughty of Wrentham is
also running for governor in the primary.
The irony here is that Baker, who is quite popular with
Democrats and independents, would have won a third term—
even if Democrat Attorney General Maura Healey ran — were he
able to survive a Republican primary. But it was not in the
cards.
Now Baker, in a local media interview, said he wants to
elect moderates — mainly Republicans like himself — to the
Legislature as well as to other offices. He said [he] wanted
to make sure there were “two teams on the field.”
There are still two teams at the State House, but they are
no longer Democrat and Republican teams. The Republicans
have no team.
The two teams battling for power now are the progressive
Democrats and everybody else, which includes the diminishing
number of moderate Democrats and Republicans. Conservatives
at the State House are extinct.
And the progressives are winning. The progressive Democrats,
under woke Senate President Karen Spilka, have overwhelming
control of the Senate.
Upon the departure of semi-woke House Speaker Ron Mariano,
they will soon (or already have) control the House.
And if a progressive becomes governor, head for the exit.
Giving drivers’ licenses to illegal immigrants is just the
beginning.
— Peter Lucas is a veteran
Massachusetts political reporter and columnist.
The New Boston
Post
Thursday, February 17, 2022
Massachusetts Is The Country’s Most Liberal State, Research
Says
A higher percentage of adults in Massachusetts identify as
liberal than in any other part of the country.
Research conducted by Stacker found that Massachusetts has
the most self-identified liberals in America; 35 percent of
Bay Staters call themselves liberal. That’s an even higher
percentage than Vermont, where 32 percent of residents
consider themselves liberal.
So which state considers itself the least liberal?
Mississippi. There, only 12 percent of residents identify as
liberal.
The poll did not say which states had the most and fewest
people who identify as conservative.
Massachusetts has a Democratic supermajority in its state
legislature and has not elected a Republican to a U.S. House
seat since 1994.
The Boston
Herald
Wednesday, February 22, 2022
Republicans rolling the dice on Donald Trump in the midterm
elections
By Joe Battenfeld
Republicans are rolling the dice on Donald Trump and his
$124 million war chest in the midterm elections, betting
that the former president won’t drag down the party with
him.
Trump has made it known he intends to be a kingmaker — like
he has in Massachusetts by endorsing gubernatorial candidate
Geoff Diehl — despite some GOP senatorial candidates
shunning him.
The media elite continue to belittle Trump in an attempt to
torpedo his potential 2024 campaign, but that has only
bolstered him among his die-hard supporters.
Trump has endorsed more than 100 candidates in the run-up to
this fall’s election, and in some states, Republican
candidates are falling over themselves to gain his
endorsement.
In Massachusetts, Trump’s endorsement of Diehl, his former
state campaign chairman, assures that the former president
will be a factor in the governor’s race — on both sides of
the ballot.
Democrats are already hammering Diehl for his close ties to
Trump, but the former state rep has only one opponent in the
primary, a little-known businessman who admitted voting for
Hillary Clinton in 2016.
But Trump won just one-third of the vote in Massachusetts in
the 2020 election, a fact that is bound to hobble Diehl if
he wins the primary.
In numerous other states, Trump has also injected himself
into U.S. Senate races and is vowing to defeat candidates
who oppose him.
Nationally, Trump’s fundraising committees, including his
Save America PAC, raised $7.2 million in January alone,
showing how much influence he still has in the party as the
top money maker.
Trump continues to top polls in the 2024 presidential race
and has unwavering support from most Republicans. His
fundraising numbers are unprecedented for a former
president.
And his committees’ average donation in January was just
$32, demonstrating that grassroots Republicans are solidly
behind him.
But relying on Trump to carry the torch brings big risks for
the GOP, which is counting on an election sweep to take back
the Senate and House from Democrats in 2022.
With multiple criminal investigations swirling around Trump,
as well as the blowback from the Jan. 6 Capitol
insurrection, the former president remains a divisive figure
among many voters, including independents who will play a
huge role in the midterm elections.
And even some Republicans like Senate Minority Leader Mitch
McConnell are engaging in a behind-the-scenes effort to
thwart Trump in the midterms, encouraging anti-Trump GOP
candidates to run to prevent Trump from a complete takeover
of the party.
It’s a futile battle McConnell is going to lose.
State House News
Service
Friday, February 25, 2022
Weekly Roundup - The People’s House, Not the People’s
Republic
Recap and analysis of the week in state government
By Matt Murphy
Outside the State House, dozens gathered on the front steps
in the cold, draped in the Ukrainian flag to show their
support for a country under siege by Russian forces.
Inside the building, Gov. Charlie Baker was balancing news
of the unfolding war in eastern Europe with the weather
forecasts for New England, predicting heavy morning snow on
Friday that would lead him to cancel in-person work for
state employees for the final day of school vacation week.
When Baker stepped before the cameras on Thursday night, he
did so to comment on both fronts.
"History is littered with tyrants and despots who choose
similar evil paths of destruction and each time, thankfully,
there are powerful forces unwilling to stand by and do
nothing," Baker said. "There is no question that America,
NATO and every nation that purports to value their
sovereignty and the safety of their people must respond to
this evil act, and they are and they will."
While demonstrations in front of the state capitol are
nothing new, for the first time in two years, anyone looking
to make their voices heard by the powers that be could bring
that message indoors directly to their representatives in
government - if they could find them.
The State House reopened on Tuesday to the public for the
first time since March 2020 under strict COVID-19 safety
protocols, with visitors required to show proof of
vaccination or a recent negative test and to wear masks
inside at all times.
Some travelers, and a few lobbyists, took advantage of the
historic building once again welcoming sightseers to its
marble halls. For all the animosity directed at legislative
leaders for keeping the doors locked for so long, and the
hand-wringing by those same leaders over when the right time
might be to reopen, the building was about as quiet as it's
been every other week since COVID-19 arrived.
Surely, school vacation had a lot to do with that.
But had anyone wanted to come inside and see the government
in action, they would have found Gov. Baker himself seated
before the Joint Committee on Revenue on Tuesday trying to
sell Democrats on a $700 million package of tax cuts.
Baker has proposed to increase tax breaks for renters,
seniors and families with children and to raise the income
level at which low-income residents must start paying income
tax. He is also looking to lower the short-term capital
gains tax from 12 percent to 5 percent, and to increase the
estate tax trigger from $1 million to $2 million.
It's those last two, politically at least, that may prove to
be the toughest sell and come with the biggest price tag.
Baker insisted the state has the money to pay for his tax
reform package, and told lawmakers that thousands of
middle-income families get hit with capital gains taxes, not
just the wealthy. And if Sen. Julian Cyr's ears were
burning, it was because Baker used the liberal Cape Cod
Democrat as a talisman for his estate tax plan. If Cyr
supports it (which he does), it must be more than just a tax
break for the rich, right?
Of course, one need not be a homeowner or looking to buy in
the current market to know that it doesn't take much in
Massachusetts anymore to inch toward that million-dollar
range for property, which tends to be a person's largest
asset.
But still.
"What people in my district are talking about is how Wall
Street is going through the roof and breaking records. And
yet our food bank lines are going around the block, and so
there's a real disconnect in who benefits in the economy
right now. And this is the timing for making sure our
wealthiest have a bigger tax break?" asked Sen. Adam Hinds,
the chair of the committee who also happens to be running
for lieutenant governor.
While candidates seeking the governor's office bickered this
week about how they would parcel out local aid, the Great
Resignation continued in state government. This week's
announced departures didn't come from the Legislature,
though.
Early Education and Care Commissioner Samantha
Aigner-Treworgy said she would be stepping down on March 8
after just more than two years on the job, and a challenging
two years at that.
Aigner-Treworgy (or Commissioner Sam, as the governor still
calls her) was challenged by having to lead an
already-underfunded and understaffed sector, critical to
working parents, through a global health pandemic serving
clients that still aren't eligible to be vaccinated. It
wouldn't be surprising if she was just burnt out.
But her announcement was followed by a report that Inspector
General Glen Cunha was investigating the commissioner over
her role in the awarding of an agency contract. Cunha's
office did not respond to a request for comment or more
detail, and Baker said the administration was cooperating,
but that the investigation had nothing to do with her
decision to leave the department.
Lottery Director Mike Sweeney hasn't had it quite as bad
over his seven years, but Sweeney said Friday he would be
leaving for a private sector job at a moment when the
Lottery is on pace to set records in fiscal 2022 for sales
and possibly for profits, which now exceed $1 billion
annually.
Despite the Lottery's steady growth trajectory, sales of
Lottery tickets were actually down in January compared to
last year after a major snowstorm, the omicron surge and the
lack of a mega-jackpot to drive sales conspired to decrease
sales and profits by $84.3 million and $44.2 million,
respectively.
Still, the $3.59 billion in Lottery sales through the first
seven months of the fiscal year are up $122 million, or 3.5
percent, over this time last year, and profits of $696
million are up a smidge. That will give whoever the next
governor is a nice jumping-off point for determining local
aid levels in their first budget.
Tax rates aren't the only thing the Baker team is looking to
drive down before the governor leaves office.
The Department of Environmental Protection, after a review
applying new research methodologies, is looking to reduce
the baseline carbon emission estimates for the year 1990,
which would make it an even greater challenge for the state
moving forward to meet its legal emission reduction
requirements.
The state uses 1990 emission levels as the benchmark against
which all reductions are measured. By lowering those levels,
the state would essentially be saying it needs to remove an
additional 13,049 cars from the road or the carbon emitted
from 10,899 Massachusetts homes by 2050.
One thing that could help is if more people start to use
public transit, and MTBA General Manager Steve Poftak said
beginning March 21, the long-awaited Green Line extension to
Union Square in Somerville will be ready for passengers.
The timeline for the Medford branch of the Green Line
expansion is a little muddier, but some never thought the
state would get this far.
The MBTA also reported the pilot program eliminating fare on
the route 28 bus has succeeded so far in elevating
ridership, but the $500,000 experiment only helped about
one-third of riders save money, because the rest of those
using the bus were already buying passes to access other
parts of the transit system.
Time will tell how this impacts the two-year, $8 million
fare-free pilot started by Mayor Michelle Wu on the 23, 28,
and 29 buses.
STORY OF THE WEEK: State House reopens during a dull week on
the Hill as war breaks out in Ukraine.
State House News
Service
Friday, February 25, 2022
Advances - Week of Feb. 27, 2022
March's dawn on Tuesday leaves just five months of formal
sessions remaining for lawmakers to get their priority bills
over the finish line and to Gov. Charlie Baker's desk.
Much of that time will involve a focus on pulling together
the fiscal 2023 budget, with hearings on Baker's $45.8
billion spending plan (H.2) set to run through at least
mid-March before the House in April and Senate in May craft
and vote on their own budget bills.
Aside from figuring out how to fund a year's worth of
government operations, several major tasks remain before the
Legislature. With the spring municipal election season
looming, House and Senate versions of voting reform packages
(H.4367 / S.2554), which differ on whether to permit
same-day registration, remain in a conference committee for
negotiations. Spring also means construction season for the
local officials waiting for the annual Chapter 90 road and
bridge repair bill (H.4358) to make its way through the
legislative process. The wait continues for Baker to file a
transportation bond bill, and administration officials this
month described the timeline for that as in the "coming
weeks."
When the House earlier this month teed up its bill to rework
governance structures for the Holyoke and Chelsea soldiers'
homes, Senate Karen Spilka said her branch looked forward to
receiving that legislation and would "be taking it up
subsequently."
The soldiers' home bill (H.4441) is now before the Senate
Ways and Means Committee, typically the last stop before a
floor vote, while the House Ways and Means Committee has
custody of Senate-passed bills on drug pricing (S.2695) and
behavioral health access (S.2584). One priority bill for
Speaker Ron Mariano dealing with offshore wind is also in
House Ways and Means, while the fate of another imposing new
checks on certain hospital expansions (H.4262) is in the
Senate's hands after a November House vote. The ball will
also be in the Senate's court on a bill the House passed
last week (H.4470) to open up access to driver's licenses
for immigrants without legal status in the country. Senate
leaders have suggested they'll take up a child care bill
this spring, and Mariano has said the House this session
plans to tackle legislation addressing the sharing of
sexually explicit images.
With their plates full of budgetary and non-budget matters
alike, the Ways and Means Committees return from their
school vacation week hiatus and jump back into budget
hearings Tuesday, delving into proposed spending in the
broad buckets of economic development, housing and labor.
Schools will return from their February break Monday with a
statewide mask policy no longer in effect. While districts
can opt to leave their own requirements in place and federal
rules still call for masking on school buses, it'll mark the
first time since the school year began last fall that some
students and teachers are able to go unmasked in class.
Aligning with a general downward trend in COVID-19 metrics,
the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education weekly
reports have been featuring declining case numbers, and next
Thursday's report is likely to be closely watched for any
potential impacts from the masking changes.
Masks and proof of vaccination remain required for entry
into the State House, which will be open to the public for
the first full workweek since March 2020 after a fairly
quiet three days this week. Newly reopened, the building was
again closed to the public on Friday due to winter weather.
In a message to senators and staff Thursday, Spilka said she
hopes positive public health data will bring more
opportunities for in-person gatherings and collaboration.
"In the meantime, we must continue to be cautious for the
health and safety of everyone, and maintain our hybrid
model," she wrote. "It is my hope that, given how successful
hybrid work has been for the Senate, it will continue to be
an option moving forward."
The State House is becoming increasingly unique in requiring
vaccines as a condition of entry, with Boston abruptly
dropping a similar policy for many businesses last Friday.
The capital city's mask mandate remains in effect, though
Mayor Michelle Wu said Wednesday that said Dr. Bisola
Ojikutu, Boston's public health commissioner, and the city
Board of Health are scheduling a meeting and will discuss
"where we are in terms of Boston's readiness to move toward
lifting certain protections" and to "set a framework for how
we live with this pandemic going forward."
As of Friday, when the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention rolled out new metrics for county risk levels,
all of Massachusetts falls in either the "low" or "medium"
level, and the CDC only advises universal masking in "high"
risk areas.
Suffolk County -- along with Nantucket, Worcester, Franklin,
Hampshire and Berkshire counties -- is in the medium-risk
category, where it's recommended people at high risk of
severe illness from COVID-19 talk to their doctors about
whether they should mask up or take other precautions. |
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this
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interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes
only. For more information go to:
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