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Post Office Box 1147
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Marblehead, Massachusetts 01945
▪ (781) 639-9709
“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 — |
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CLT UPDATE
Sunday, April 17, 2022
House $50B Budget
Rejects All Tax Relief
Jump directly
to CLT's Commentary on the News
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Most Relevant News
Excerpts
(Full news reports follow Commentary)
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Some
states, including neighbors Connecticut and New
York, have temporarily pulled back on their state
gas taxes to give consumers relief from sky-high
prices during a period of historically high rates of
inflation. But on Beacon Hill, Democrats have
rejected the idea of a gas tax suspension with many
pointing to the potential effects it could have on
the state's bond rating since gas tax revenues are
used essentially as collateral to secure more
favorable interest rates.
During her
Monday night appearance on WBZ NewsRadio's Nightside
with Dan Rea, Senate President Karen Spilka was
asked about a gas tax suspension and said that "it
appears as if the rating agencies were not looking
fondly on us doing that." ...
Spilka
then pointed to rebates for electric vehicles
included in the Senate's upcoming climate bill as
alternative relief for drivers....
House
Speaker Ronald Mariano has also used the state's
bond rating as a justification for leaving the
state's 24-cent-per-gallon tax in place.
State
House News Service
Tuesday, April 12, 2022
Gas Tax Suspension “Unlikely”
to Impact Bond Rating, S&P Says
In
Connecticut, Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont and the
Democrat-controlled legislature responded to the
sharp runup in fuel prices by passing a law
suspending the state’s 25-cent excise tax on
gasoline and eliminating bus fares statewide for a
three-month period running from April 1 to June 30.
For good measure, the Connecticut legislation tossed
in a one-week sales tax holiday on clothing and
footwear under $100.
Similar
measures have been approved in Maryland, Georgia,
and New York. Many other states, including
California, are considering proposals that would
offer some relief to residents.
In
Massachusetts, calls on Beacon Hill for doing
something similar have been dismissed as gimmicky
and fiscally irresponsible. James Aloisi, the former
secretary of transportation, said the push for
suspending the gas tax is nothing more than a
political stunt.
But now a
Wall Street bond rating firm is suggesting the
fiscal impact of a temporary gas tax suspension may
not be that bad. On Tuesday, S&P Global Ratings said
temporary state gas tax suspensions are unlikely to
lead to rating changes on highway user tax-supported
debt.
“To the
extent that a temporary gas tax cut was made
permanent, or debt service coverage was lowered to
levels below an additional bonds test, further
review could be warranted," S&P said. "A greater
risk is the potential long-term threat of reduced
gas consumption from electric vehicles."
The S&P
analysis is very different from what Massachusetts
political leaders have been saying.
CommonWealth Magazine
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Bond rating firm not alarmed
by gas tax suspensions
Tuesday's
pronouncement from a major credit rating agency that
temporary suspensions of state gas taxes "are
unlikely to lead to rating changes" did not sway
House Speaker Ron Mariano, who has been aligned with
Senate President Karen Spilka in opposing the idea
out of concern for the state's bond rating.
"I think
the quote that was issued by the bond rating agency
was 'we don't think it would have an impact on bond
ratings,'" the speaker said, emphasizing that the
agency did not make a definitive statement. "Now if
they're making the bond ratings and they don't think
they know what's going to happen, that doesn't give
me any degree of certainty that it would not have an
effect on our bond rating." ...
Some
states, including neighbors Connecticut and New
York, have temporarily pulled back on their state
gas taxes to give consumers relief from sky-high
prices during a period of historically high
inflation. But Beacon Hill Democrats have rejected
the idea of a gas tax suspension and pointed to the
potential effects it could have on the state's bond
rating since gas tax revenues are used essentially
as collateral to secure more favorable interest
rates.
State
House News Service
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Mariano Unconvinced
by Bond Rating Agency’s Gas Tax Outlook
Acknowledging that surplus tax collections and
federal aid have kept Massachusetts afloat through
the darkest days of the pandemic, House leadership
on Wednesday unveiled a nearly $50 billion budget
for fiscal year 2023 that Speaker Ron Mariano said
will reinvest in the state's lower- and middle-class
residents and gird the post-COVID economy for "tough
times" in the future.
The House
Ways and Means Committee's budget recommendation,
which totals $49.629 billion and is expected to be
debated the week of April 25, would increase
spending by $2.015 billion, or 4.23 percent over the
current year's budget, and proposes to spend $1.398
billion, or 2.9 percent, more than Gov. Charlie
Baker recommended in his January budget filing....
"We are on
our way towards filling some of the holes that were
created during the pandemic with a $49.6 billion
spending package that we think addresses a lot of
the needs, and it's based on state tax collections
that have been very strong [and] a lot of help from
the federal government," Mariano said Wednesday....
[Ways and
Means Chairman Aaron] Michlewitz said the budget his
committee released "presents the commonwealth with a
unique opportunity to invest in the middle class and
start to tackle some of the challenges that a post-COVID
economy has created."
Massachusetts generated a surplus of more than $5
billion last fiscal year and is already running at
least $1.5 billion ahead of expectations for this
fiscal year. On top of tax revenue, the state still
has more than $2 billion of American Rescue Plan Act
money to put to use in the coming years and a record
amount of money socked away in the stabilization
fund.
The
state's strong revenue performance has led to a
chorus calling for tax relief for residents who are
also dealing with higher prices across the board,
but Mariano and Michlewitz made clear Wednesday that
they think the money will do more good if the
Legislature spends it in a targeted way rather than
putting it back into taxpayers' pockets.
"With
growing revenue returns from the state, a record
$5.76 billion expected dollars in our rainy day fund
by the end of this fiscal year, this
once-in-a-generation opportunity allows us to build
for a better future, one that is more resilient,
more equitable, and more rewarding for all of us in
the commonwealth," Michlewitz said.
Mariano
had announced Monday that the House budget would not
include any of Baker's proposed $700 million worth
of tax breaks. Asked Wednesday why the House decided
to leave those out, the speaker said, "Well, we felt
they weren't necessary at the time."
State
House News Service
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
House Plan Boosts Fiscal
2023 Budget to $49.6 Billion
Mariano: Baker Tax Breaks Not "Necessary At The
Time"
As
taxpayers swallow soaring gas and grocery bills,
fiscal watchdogs are furious lawmakers want to spend
$20 million so prisoners and their families can make
free phone calls.
It’s all
part of the $49.6 billion budget plan that cuts out
tax breaks Gov. Charlie Baker has pushed while
inflation roars like wildfire and tax revenues pour
in. Yet, the Democratic-controlled state Legislature
isn’t budging on gas tax relief or other breaks.
“It shows
their disdain and contempt for the taxpayers,” said
Chip Ford, Citizens for Limited Taxation
executive director. “All this surplus piling up and
they still refuse to give any of it back? Why?”
Baker
tweeted earlier this month that Massachusetts
collected more than $400 million in tax revenue than
expected, adding “with numbers like that, along with
prices rising across the board, it’s clear that
hardworking families, seniors and low-income
residents deserve a break.”
That’s not
the case.
Speaker
Ron Mariano said lawmakers want to invest in
programs “underpinning our middle and lower class
workforce,” Politico reported.
The
speaker’s office explained to the Herald Friday the
proposed Communications Access Trust Fund would be
seeded with $20 million to “remove barriers to
communication services for incarcerated persons and
their loved ones” who pay $14.5 million a year on
prison phone calls....
Bristol
Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, a Republican, said inmates
pay for phone calls because it’s “a privilege” they
surrendered when they committed a crime. “People who
do the responsible things end up becoming the
victims,” he added.
The
Boston Herald
Saturday, April 16, 2022
Fury over $20M to pay for prisoner
phone calls in Massachusetts
While proposed tax cuts on gas and statewide are
thwarted
House
lawmakers unveiled a nearly $50 billion budget
Wednesday that increases state spending by 4% over
last year, ignores all of Gov. Charlie Baker’s tax
cut proposals, and sends another $785 million to the
rainy day fund.
“We are on
our way towards filling some of the holes that were
created during the pandemic with a $49.6 billion
spending package that we think addresses a lot of
the needs and it’s based on state tax collections
that have been very strong,” House Speaker Ron
Mariano said Wednesday.
The House
Ways and Means Committee proposes spending $1.4
billion more than Baker’s January budget proposal.
The price tag is more than $2 billion over what the
state spent last fiscal year....
Baker had
proposed further tax relief for renters, adoption of
federal standards for no-tax status for low-income
residents, an adjustment of the “low income circuit
breaker” on property tax relief for older residents,
and a proposal to lower the estate and short-term
capital gains taxes.
The
Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a nonpartisan
watchdog group, had endorsed the tax plan, saying
the state’s continued growth depended on it and that
the rainy day fund, due to record tax revenues, had
already reached a historic high of $4.6 billion.
In
explaining why the state would add another almost
$800 million to the state’s rainy day fund, Mariano
said that the current fiscal climate may turn
suddenly and that the Commonwealth needs to be
prepared....
March tax
revenues were up by nearly 14% over last year,
according to the Department of Revenue. That
department reports year-to-date revenues are up by
nearly 15%.
The
Boston Herald
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
House raises Baker’s budget
bid by $1.4 billion, passes on tax relief
On
Wednesday, the House Ways and Means Committee rolled
out its version of the state budget that takes
effect July 1, which calls for spending more than
$49.6 billion. The House plan boosts expenditures
over the previous budget by more than $2 billion,
buoyed by federal relief funds and state surplus
money.
But
noticeably absent from the plan was a $700 million
buffet of proposed tax cuts that were part of
Baker’s preliminary budget, which he filed in
January.
Baker’s
budget proposal — which was about $1.4 billion less
than the House plan — called for adjusting state
income tax laws and boosting rent deductions to
provide relief for low-income residents, expanding
tax credits for housing and child care, and a major
overhaul of the state’s estate or “death” tax.
House
Speaker Ron Mariano, D-Quincy, told reporters at a
briefing on Wednesday that House budget writers felt
the governor’s tax cuts “weren’t necessary” in the
spending bill. He said House leaders instead wanted
to focus on expanding child care options, criminal
justice reforms and other key issues.
The Salem
News
Thursday, April 14, 2022
House Democrats
reject Baker's tax cuts
Massachusetts Democrats in the House of
Representatives — particularly those in leadership
and on the Ways and Means Committee — are out to
lunch.
On
Wednesday the House Ways and Means Committee rolled
out its version of the state budget. And it stinks.
Those who
sit on the committee — such as Gloucester Rep. Ann
Margaret Ferrante who is the committee’s vice chair
— should be ashamed of themselves.
This
country is in the midst of the highest inflation in
60 years. The Boston area has among the highest
rents in the nation.
Yet the
Speaker of the House, Ron Mariano of Quincy, told
reporters at a briefing on Wednesday that House
budget writers didn’t include tax cuts because they
“weren’t necessary.”
What world
does this guy live in? As reported by Statehouse
scribe Christian Wade, Mariano also doesn’t think a
temporary suspension of the gas tax would be
worthwhile. Tell that to moms and dads who have to
commute and/or drive their kids to baseball and
softball practice all week long. The cost of
gasoline is sitting at around $4 a gallon. Any
reduction in that price would be helpful.
More to
the point, any kind of tax cut — such as those
proposed by Gov. Charlie Baker in his budget
released in January — would also be helpful to folks
paying higher rents and more at the grocery store
for every day items such as milk, bread, chicken and
vegetables, to name just a few.
Instead of
cutting taxes, Mariano and his band of tone-deaf
pols like Ferrante and other local reps on the
committee want to spend $20 million to give free
phones to inmates in the state’s prisons....
In times
of bounty — the state’s rainy day reserve fund would
set a record at $6.55 billion under the House budget
— perhaps it would be better to give a much-needed
break to the very people who pay the salaries of the
Legislature and every other state worker: the
taxpayers of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
It’s so
easy for state elected officials to get co-opted by
the culture at the Statehouse. It’s much easier for
them to agree with leadership, even though in their
hearts they may disagree. Nobody wants to have an
office in the basement of Beacon Hill — which is
what happens when you challenge your leaders. It’s
easier to go along to get along.
Ferrante
has certainly found that out, sitting as vice chair
of the Ways and Means Committee alongside Michlewitz
and Mariano. It’s easier to get money for your
district if you play ball. But there’s something
called “integrity” — a word rarely uttered in the
halls of the Statehouse, for it’s too dangerous. You
disagree with the wrong people, and you’re out. But
someone has to call out these misguided policies
that seem to be sensible on the surface but which
penalize millions of residents of the state in the
process.
The House
should scale back its spending plan and give money
back to the folks who need it — people struggling to
pay rent, fill their gas tanks and put food on the
table.
A Salem
News Editorial
Friday, April 15, 2022
House budget plan is off the
mark
March was
a good month for the state's three gambling centers
and the state's coffers. Plainridge Park Casino, MGM
Springfield and Encore Boston Harbor cumulatively
generated more than $102 million in gaming revenue,
about $28.6 million of which will be due to the
state....
Encore's
March gaming revenue translates into $16.2 million
in state taxes and fees, MGM's take will result in
just more than $6 million for the state and
Plainridge's revenue will yield about $6.34 million
for the state. In all, the state is due roughly
$28.6 million in March gaming revenues and fees.
Since
Plainridge opened in June 2015, Massachusetts has
collected nearly $1.05 billion from casino-style
gambling.
State
House News Service
Friday, April 15, 2022
Encore Record Haul Headlines
Strong March for Gaming Revenue |
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary |
|
Mark down this date, April
of 2022. This is the date in history when the Massachusetts
Legislature — at least the House, so
far — became completely unmoored,
unhinged, utterly unrestrained. This is when the Legislature
— at least the House, so far
— went rogue and dropped all pretenses
of representative government accountable to anyone.
The Beacon Hill
Democrat-Socialist cabal no longer bothers to even pretend to govern
as public servants, as representatives of those who elected them.
That cabal now impudently rules over its subjects without so much as
a passing thought of consent of the governed, never mind a shred of
empathy for them.
Members of the ruling
cabal cavalierly lie, steal, and are regularly reelected by the
naive and uneducable as they trample their subjects beneath their
feet. Has the Battered Wife or Stockholm syndromes become so
embraced by a vast swath of the commonwealth's subjects that they
gratefully welcome their oppression? Today it would appear
that most have accepted and crave the pain and indignity. The
question is, how much more of this ignoble abuse will they absorb
for how much longer?
We shall see if this
changes in November. If it doesn't, then welcome to the new
Massachusetts paradigm, its subjects ruled by an oligarchy of the
self-anointed.
The State House News
Service reported on Wednesday ("Mariano
Unconvinced by Bond Rating Agency’s Gas Tax Outlook"):
"I think the quote
that was issued by the bond rating agency was 'we don't think it
would have an impact on bond ratings,'" the speaker said,
emphasizing that the agency did not make a definitive statement.
"Now if they're making the bond ratings and they don't think
they know what's going to happen, that doesn't give me any
degree of certainty that it would not have an effect on our bond
rating."
If the "degree of
uncertainty" leaned in the opposite direction, instead supporting
House Speaker Ron Mariano's confirmation bias, that would provide
him the absolute certainty he'd hammer taxpayers with.
That's how it works in the Legislature. If it supports your
plan it is irrefutable; if it doesn't it's cast off as dubious.
In the Boston Herald's
Saturday report ("Fury over $20M to pay for prisoner phone calls in Massachusetts;
While proposed tax cuts on gas and statewide are thwarted"), I
was quoted as saying:
“It shows their
disdain and contempt for the taxpayers,” said Chip Ford,
Citizens for Limited Taxation executive director. “All
this surplus piling up and they still refuse to give any of it
back? Why?”
That was not an open
question I left for reporter Joe Dwinell. "Why?" I'd asked
— which I followed with "Because they
can." Then I explained CLT's longtime mantra: "'MINE,'
More Is Never Enough and never will be. They have it now so
it's theirs."
Speaker Mariano wants to "invest
in programs." We who follow Beacon Hill double-speak know
precisely what that means. He has windfall billions of
over-taxation extracted under false pretense and by god he's going
to spend it any way he wants. He perceives those billions as
his to dole out however he sees fit. As always, the
Legislature has a plethora of spending “priorities.”
In the same report:
Bristol Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, a Republican, said inmates pay for
phone calls because it’s “a privilege” they surrendered when they
committed a crime. “People who do the responsible things end up
becoming the victims,” he added.
When I read “People who do
the responsible things end up becoming the victims,” I thought how
that applies to honest taxpayers every day, with or without free
phone calls for inmates.
When even this Legislature
can't find ways to spend taxpayers' over-payment fast enough they
dump what remains into the "rainy day" stabilization fund until they
can. This $49.6 billion House budget proposal would increase
spending by more than 4 percent over the current budget. It
would spend $1.4 billion more than Gov. Baker’s January budget
proposal. The cost is more than $2 billion more than what the
state spent last fiscal year.
According to various news
reports:
Massachusetts took in a
revenue surplus of more than $5 billion last fiscal year and is
already running at least $1.5 billion ahead of expectations for this
fiscal year. March tax revenues were up by nearly 14% over
last year, according to the Department of Revenue. The
DOR reported year-to-date revenues are up by nearly 15%.
On top of tax revenue, the state still has more than $2 billion of
American Rescue Plan Act money to put to use in the coming years and
a record amount of money stashed away in the "rainy day" stabilization fund.
With the growing revenue
surplus, a record $5.76 billion will be in the state's rainy day
fund by the end of this fiscal year (June 30). This House
budget proposal would increase that by at least $785.7 million in
fiscal year 2023, bringing the estimated balance to $6.55 billion by
the end of the following June.
Already there is more in
the state's "rainy day" fund than ever before but the House wants to
add another $785.7 million. How much is enough? That's a
rhetorical question to which we have the answer:
"MINE" — More Is
Never
Enough and never will be.
The Salem News (and
Eagle-Tribune Publishing Company; The Eagle-Tribune, Newburyport
Daily News, and Gloucester Times) on Friday published the most
caustically critical editorial on this naked theft by the House that I can recall, if
ever there was one more so ("House
budget plan is off the mark"), holding nothing back.
Here's an excerpt:
Massachusetts Democrats in
the House of Representatives — particularly
those in leadership and on the Ways and Means
Committee — are out to lunch.
On Wednesday the House Ways
and Means Committee rolled out its version of
the state budget. And it stinks.
Those who sit on the
committee — such as Gloucester Rep. Ann Margaret
Ferrante who is the committee’s vice chair —
should be ashamed of themselves.
This country is in the
midst of the highest inflation in 60 years. The
Boston area has among the highest rents in the
nation.
Yet the Speaker of the
House, Ron Mariano of Quincy, told reporters at
a briefing on Wednesday that House budget
writers didn’t include tax cuts because they
“weren’t necessary.”
What world does this guy
live in? As reported by Statehouse scribe
Christian Wade, Mariano also doesn’t think a
temporary suspension of the gas tax would be
worthwhile. Tell that to moms and dads who have
to commute and/or drive their kids to baseball
and softball practice all week long. The cost of
gasoline is sitting at around $4 a gallon. Any
reduction in that price would be helpful.
More to the point, any kind
of tax cut — such as those proposed by Gov.
Charlie Baker in his budget released in January
— would also be helpful to folks paying higher
rents and more at the grocery store for every
day items such as milk, bread, chicken and
vegetables, to name just a few.
Instead of cutting taxes,
Mariano and his band of tone-deaf pols like
Ferrante and other local reps on the committee
want to spend $20 million to give free phones to
inmates in the state’s prisons....
In times of bounty — the
state’s rainy day reserve fund would set a
record at $6.55 billion under the House budget —
perhaps it would be better to give a much-needed
break to the very people who pay the salaries of
the Legislature and every other state worker:
the taxpayers of the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts.
It’s so easy for state
elected officials to get co-opted by the culture
at the Statehouse. It’s much easier for them to
agree with leadership, even though in their
hearts they may disagree. Nobody wants to have
an office in the basement of Beacon Hill — which
is what happens when you challenge your leaders.
It’s easier to go along to get along.
Ferrante has certainly
found that out, sitting as vice chair of the
Ways and Means Committee alongside Michlewitz
and Mariano. It’s easier to get money for your
district if you play ball. But there’s something
called “integrity” — a word rarely uttered in
the halls of the Statehouse, for it’s too
dangerous. You disagree with the wrong people,
and you’re out. But someone has to call out
these misguided policies that seem to be
sensible on the surface but which penalize
millions of residents of the state in the
process.
The House should scale back
its spending plan and give money back to the
folks who need it — people struggling to pay
rent, fill their gas tanks and put food on the
table.
I've often stated that
just when you think things on Beacon Hill can't get any worse "The
Best Legislature Money Can Buy"
always manages to come up with a way to make things even worse than
imaginable. It is the one thing the Massachusetts Legislature
excels at achieving. If this audacious theft somehow succeeds
it is a crossing of the Rubicon.
While I am always
concerned, even worried about the direction Massachusetts is going,
if this taking can be accomplished my concern and worry will shift
to a new emotion — fear. If Speaker Mariano,
Senate President Karen Spilka, and their legion of legislative
sycophants can so contemptuously reject any tax relief whatsoever,
especially at this time of an inflation assault on their
constituents and in the face of so astoundingly much revenue surplus
— what can they not do against
the will of the governed?
Update on the ongoing assaults on
Proposition 2½
S.1804 - An Act authorizing a local affordable housing
surcharge (Sen. Brownsberger)
S.1899 - An Act relative to regional transportation ballot
initiatives (Sen. Lesser)
H.3039 - An Act establishing a local option gas tax (Reps.
Pignatelli, Vitolo)
H.3086 - An Act relative to regional ballot initiatives
(Reps. Vargas, Madaro)
All
four are now in their respective
House and
Senate Ways and Means Committees for consideration, the last
stop before going for a vote of the full chamber of their respective
branches if so recommended by the committees. (I think the
name of those committees must reflect "any way by whatever means" so
stand ready to act!)
|
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Chip Ford
Executive Director |
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State House News
Service
Tuesday, April 12, 2022
Gas Tax Suspension “Unlikely” to Impact Bond Rating, S&P
Says
By Colin A. Young
One of the leading credit rating agencies on Tuesday threw
cold water on Bay State Democrats' argument that a temporary
suspension of the state's gas tax could lead to a bond
rating downgrade and higher borrowing costs for the
commonwealth.
Some states, including neighbors Connecticut and New York,
have temporarily pulled back on their state gas taxes to
give consumers relief from sky-high prices during a period
of historically high rates of inflation. But on Beacon Hill,
Democrats have rejected the idea of a gas tax suspension
with many pointing to the potential effects it could have on
the state's bond rating since gas tax revenues are used
essentially as collateral to secure more favorable interest
rates.
During her Monday night appearance on WBZ NewsRadio's
Nightside with Dan Rea, Senate President Karen Spilka was
asked about a gas tax suspension and said that "it appears
as if the rating agencies were not looking fondly on us
doing that."
"If we substitute other money, then it's not as reliable and
dependable because we could take other money and move it
around. And the bond rating could suffer, thereby causing
the state to end up paying tens of millions of more money in
borrowing," Spilka said in response to a question from a
caller named Frank in Lawrence. Spilka then pointed to
rebates for electric vehicles included in the Senate's
upcoming climate bill as alternative relief for drivers.
But on Tuesday, S&P Global Ratings declared that "temporary
state gas tax suspensions, implemented recently by a few
U.S. states, and under discussion by others, are unlikely to
lead to rating changes on highway user tax-supported debt."
The firm added that it does not "expect state gas tax
suspensions will have a significant impact on general
obligation (GO) bond ratings" but said that it "could
potentially take a rating action" if future state gas tax
suspensions result in significant declines in debt service
coverage.
"We believe a temporary tax change on one component of
pledged highway user tax revenue is unlikely to have a
long-term impact. To the extent that a temporary gas tax cut
was made permanent, or debt service coverage was lowered to
levels below an additional bonds test, further review could
be warranted," S&P said. "A greater risk is the potential
long-term threat of reduced gas consumption from electric
vehicles."
House Speaker Ronald Mariano has also used the state's bond
rating as a justification for leaving the state's
24-cent-per-gallon tax in place.
"If you look at what it will do to our bond rating and what
it will do to the price of us borrowing money to finance the
road and bridge projects that this money is committed to, we
find ourselves in a very, very precarious situation,"
Mariano said last month.
CommonWealth
Magazine
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Bond rating firm not alarmed by gas tax suspensions
By Bruce Mohl – CommonWealth editor
In Connecticut, Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont and the
Democrat-controlled legislature responded to the sharp runup
in fuel prices by passing a law suspending the state’s
25-cent excise tax on gasoline and eliminating bus fares
statewide for a three-month period running from April 1 to
June 30. For good measure, the Connecticut legislation
tossed in a one-week sales tax holiday on clothing and
footwear under $100.
Similar measures have been approved in Maryland, Georgia,
and New York. Many other states, including California, are
considering proposals that would offer some relief to
residents.
In Massachusetts, calls on Beacon Hill for doing something
similar have been dismissed as gimmicky and fiscally
irresponsible. James Aloisi, the former secretary of
transportation, said the push for suspending the gas tax is
nothing more than a political stunt.
But now a Wall Street bond rating firm is suggesting the
fiscal impact of a temporary gas tax suspension may not be
that bad. On Tuesday, S&P Global Ratings said temporary
state gas tax suspensions are unlikely to lead to rating
changes on highway user tax-supported debt.
“To the extent that a temporary gas tax cut was made
permanent, or debt service coverage was lowered to levels
below an additional bonds test, further review could be
warranted," S&P said. "A greater risk is the potential
long-term threat of reduced gas consumption from electric
vehicles."
The S&P analysis is very different from what Massachusetts
political leaders have been saying.
“I think eliminating the gas tax in the long run would
probably cost the Commonwealth a lot more money than they
would save,” said House Speaker Ron Mariano. “When you look
at what it will do to our bond rating and what it will do to
the price of us borrowing money to finance the road and
bridge projects that this money is committed to, we find
ourselves in a very, very precarious situation.”
Senate President Karen Spilka warned a suspension of the gas
tax would “most likely have a detrimental effect on our bond
ratings” and suggested the better response would be to
purchase an electric vehicle and avoid gas stations
altogether.
“I’ve spoken to some people who own total electric vehicles,
and they are not paying as close attention as you and I
might be to the price of gas,” Spilka said.
Gov. Charlie Baker, after initially signaling he might be
open to eliminating the state gas tax temporarily, shifted
gears and instead continued pushing for a package of tax
cuts he included in his budget proposal for fiscal 2023. The
House, at least so far, has rejected the governor’s approach
as well. The House Ways and Means Committee will release its
state budget proposal Wednesday.
State House News
Service
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Mariano Unconvinced by Bond Rating Agency’s Gas Tax Outlook
By Colin A. Young
Tuesday's pronouncement from a major credit rating agency
that temporary suspensions of state gas taxes "are unlikely
to lead to rating changes" did not sway House Speaker Ron
Mariano, who has been aligned with Senate President Karen
Spilka in opposing the idea out of concern for the state's
bond rating.
"I think the quote that was issued by the bond rating agency
was 'we don't think it would have an impact on bond
ratings,'" the speaker said, emphasizing that the agency did
not make a definitive statement. "Now if they're making the
bond ratings and they don't think they know what's going to
happen, that doesn't give me any degree of certainty that it
would not have an effect on our bond rating."
On Tuesday, S&P Global Ratings declared that "temporary
state gas tax suspensions, implemented recently by a few
U.S. states, and under discussion by others, are unlikely to
lead to rating changes on highway user tax-supported debt."
The firm added that it does not "expect state gas tax
suspensions will have a significant impact on general
obligation (GO) bond ratings" but said that it "could
potentially take a rating action" if future state gas tax
suspensions result in significant declines in debt service
coverage.
"I thought it was a very bizarre statement for a bond rating
agency to make. Either it will affect the bond rating or it
won't," the speaker said, adding that he does not think
there would be long-term benefits to a gas tax suspension.
He said he thinks "there are other ways to address some of
these issues."
Some states, including neighbors Connecticut and New York,
have temporarily pulled back on their state gas taxes to
give consumers relief from sky-high prices during a period
of historically high inflation. But Beacon Hill Democrats
have rejected the idea of a gas tax suspension and pointed
to the potential effects it could have on the state's bond
rating since gas tax revenues are used essentially as
collateral to secure more favorable interest rates.
State House News
Service
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
House Plan Boosts Fiscal 2023 Budget to $49.6 Billion
Mariano: Baker Tax Breaks Not "Necessary At The Time"
By Colin A. Young
Acknowledging that surplus tax collections and federal aid
have kept Massachusetts afloat through the darkest days of
the pandemic, House leadership on Wednesday unveiled a
nearly $50 billion budget for fiscal year 2023 that Speaker
Ron Mariano said will reinvest in the state's lower- and
middle-class residents and gird the post-COVID economy for
"tough times" in the future.
The House Ways and Means Committee's budget recommendation,
which totals $49.629 billion and is expected to be debated
the week of April 25, would increase spending by $2.015
billion, or 4.23 percent over the current year's budget, and
proposes to spend $1.398 billion, or 2.9 percent, more than
Gov. Charlie Baker recommended in his January budget filing.
In addition to the early education and workforce development
initiatives that Mariano and Ways and Means Chairman Aaron
Michlewitz rolled out Monday, the House budget would also
boost local aid, fully fund the next year of the 2019 school
finance reform law known as the Student Opportunity Act,
eliminate communication costs for incarcerated people and
their families, provide free school lunches for another
year, and push the state's stabilization fund to an
estimated balance of $6.55 billion by the end of next June.
"We are on our way towards filling some of the holes that
were created during the pandemic with a $49.6 billion
spending package that we think addresses a lot of the needs,
and it's based on state tax collections that have been very
strong [and] a lot of help from the federal government,"
Mariano said Wednesday.
The budget includes $6 billion for Chapter 70 education aid
(an increase of $485 million over the current budget),
increases the minimum per-student aid amount from $30 to $60
(Mass. Municipal Association had requested $100),
accelerates by one year the charter school reimbursement
process, and increases higher education scholarship funding
by more than $25 million.
There is also $853 million for housing initiatives,
including $150 million for the rental voucher program (an
increase of $20 million over Baker's budget plan), $140
million for the Residential Assistance for Families in
Transition program ($60 million more than the governor
proposed), and $100 million for homeless shelters.
The budget would fully fund the Transitional Aid to Families
with Dependent Children program at $343 million and the
Emergency Aid to the Elderly, Disabled and Children program
at $137 million. Caseloads for those programs have persisted
above pre-pandemic levels, with EAEDC at a record high.
The University of Massachusetts system would get $653
million under the House budget with another $326 million
allotted to state universities and $337 million for
community colleges. The House is proposing $156 million in
scholarship funding, which would represent an increase of
more than $25 million over the current year.
UMass President Marty Meehan said the House budget plan
"makes critical investments in our 75,000 UMass students by
funding increases in financial aid and support for
behavioral health services while also investing in our
workforce and partnering with the university to confront
historic inflation."
The $638.4 million for workforce development baked into the
House budget includes $230 million for Chapter 257 rates for
health and human service workers, $60 million for adult
education, more than $28 million for youth-at-risk summer
jobs, more than $20 million for career technical institutes,
and $15 million for the state's one-stop career centers.
Environmental services are funded at $349.7 million in the
House budget plan, a slight increase of $7.8 million over
what Baker proposed in January. Department of Conservation
and Recreation state parks would see $78.7 million ($5.2
million more than Baker's proposal) while $72.8 million
would be directed towards environmental protection efforts,
including for implementation of the 2021 climate roadmap
law.
"This budget shows commitment to environmental agencies, and
we are grateful to Chair Michlewitz and the House for
continuing to provide critical funding for the understaffed
agencies, particularly the newly created environmental
justice line item," Environmental League of Massachusetts
Action Fund Executive Director Casey Bowers said.
On the policy front, the House budget would require that the
Department of Correction, county sheriffs and the Department
of Youth Services provide phone calls free of charge for
incarcerated people and their family members on the other
end of the line. Incarcerated people and their families
currently spend $14.4 million per year on phone calls,
Michlewitz said. Connecticut is the only state to already
have such a free-calls policy, he said.
At a cost of $110 million, the House budget also proposes to
provide universal school meals for all school children
across Massachusetts for at least the next year as a federal
program doing the same is due to expire in the coming
months.
Largely mirroring a proposal in Baker's budget plan, the
House proposes to increase the current assessment on
in-state acute and non-acute hospitals from a total of $428
million to $880 million and to put that money back into the
health care system to help community hospitals. The
Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation said the existing
assessment "expires in October and, without further
legislative action, would revert to $165 million in fees
dedicated to the Health Safety Net Trust Fund."
Reinvest or Relief?
Michlewitz said the budget his committee released "presents
the commonwealth with a unique opportunity to invest in the
middle class and start to tackle some of the challenges that
a post-COVID economy has created."
Massachusetts generated a surplus of more than $5 billion
last fiscal year and is already running at least $1.5
billion ahead of expectations for this fiscal year. On top
of tax revenue, the state still has more than $2 billion of
American Rescue Plan Act money to put to use in the coming
years and a record amount of money socked away in the
stabilization fund.
The state's strong revenue performance has led to a chorus
calling for tax relief for residents who are also dealing
with higher prices across the board, but Mariano and
Michlewitz made clear Wednesday that they think the money
will do more good if the Legislature spends it in a targeted
way rather than putting it back into taxpayers' pockets.
"With growing revenue returns from the state, a record $5.76
billion expected dollars in our rainy day fund by the end of
this fiscal year, this once-in-a-generation opportunity
allows us to build for a better future, one that is more
resilient, more equitable, and more rewarding for all of us
in the commonwealth," Michlewitz said.
Mariano had announced Monday that the House budget would not
include any of Baker's proposed $700 million worth of tax
breaks. Asked Wednesday why the House decided to leave those
out, the speaker said, "Well, we felt they weren't necessary
at the time."
The House's decision not to pursue tax relief in its budget
was criticized Wednesday by Republican candidate for
governor Chris Doughty and Republican candidate for
lieutenant governor Kate Campanale, a former state
representative.
"While I understand the need to 'reinvest' in programs, the
legislature seems to be forgetting that the taxpayers might
need to reinvest in their household budgets to get through
these tough financial times," Doughty said.
The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance echoed Doughty's statement
and said the "best thing the House could do is give money
back to the taxpayers so middle class families and working
people can decide how to best spend their money."
"The House leadership is essentially saying they know how to
spend our money better than we the taxpayers do," MassFiscal
spokesman Paul Craney said.
Mariano pointed to the House's funding for early education
and child care as the kind of investment that will have an
outsized impact on the state's workforce and economy.
"There are many things that we can spend our money on and we
chose to do that because I think these programs in the early
childhood and day care support systems are the underpinning
of our middle and lower class workforce," Mariano said. He
added, "And I really feel, and thank goodness the chairman
agrees, that strengthening these underpinnings is the most
important thing we can do right now."
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities supported the
position that Mariano and Michlewitz are taking with the
fiscal year 2023 budget, arguing that "enacting costly and
permanent tax cuts based on temporary budget surpluses would
be a mistake" and that state lawmakers "should instead
prioritize efforts to support people and communities hit
hardest by the pandemic and its economic fallout."
"Massachusetts has a choice: to improve families' economic
well-being and make progress on racial and gender equity by
protecting -- and enhancing -- its ability to raise adequate
and fair revenues and to use those resources for initiatives
that help more people share in the state's prosperity, or to
compromise the state's future through misguided tax cuts for
the wealthy," CBPP Senior Policy Analyst Samantha Waxman
wrote in a report released Tuesday. "The first choice would
enable the state's leaders to prioritize those hit hardest
by the pandemic, while also bolstering the state's long-term
ability to provide good schools, health care, and other
services."
Inflation and Other Cautionary Signs
While the House budget proposal would increase spending by
more than 4 percent over the current budget, Mariano pointed
out that inflation "shrinks the rate of expansion" since
every line item would need an increase to maintain its
spending power. On Tuesday, federal officials announced that
inflation hit 8.5 percent in March, the fastest 12-month
rate of growth in prices since 1981.
"That was one of the running discussions that we had
throughout the last couple of months," Michlewitz, who helms
the budget-writing Ways and Means Committee, told reporters
Wednesday. "You see a lot of increases in this budget, but
there are certainly a lot of rising costs for many of these
accounts and many of these agencies. And so while you're
going to see a larger number in a lot of them, it definitely
takes a chunk out of what we're trying to accomplish and
it's certainly something that we have to continue to be
mindful of as we go forward."
The House budget also looks to bolster the state's
stabilization fund, the savings account that serves as a
reserve in case of an economic downturn, with a deposit of
at least $785.7 million in fiscal year 2023. Asked why the
House is continuing to boost the rainy day fund rather than
deploying that money in the annual budget, Mariano suggested
darker economic days could be ahead for the Bay State.
"These good times may not roll forever. We want to make sure
that we have money in case there is a sudden downturn. You
know, we're on the brink of major confrontations in Europe,
the oil production is being cut way down; if I was an
economic prognosticator, I would think we were in for some
tough times," the speaker said. "So obviously we wanted to
strengthen our ability to pivot if revenues do take a
downward plunge."
The Boston
Herald
Saturday, April 16, 2022
Fury over $20M to pay for prisoner phone calls in
Massachusetts
While proposed tax cuts on gas and statewide are thwarted
By Joe Dwinell
As taxpayers swallow soaring gas and grocery bills, fiscal
watchdogs are furious lawmakers want to spend $20 million so
prisoners and their families can make free phone calls.
It’s all part of the $49.6 billion budget plan that cuts out
tax breaks Gov. Charlie Baker has pushed while inflation
roars like wildfire and tax revenues pour in. Yet, the
Democratic-controlled state Legislature isn’t budging on gas
tax relief or other breaks.
“It shows their disdain and contempt for the taxpayers,”
said Chip Ford, Citizens for Limited Taxation
executive director. “All this surplus piling up and they
still refuse to give any of it back? Why?”
Baker tweeted earlier this month that Massachusetts
collected more than $400 million in tax revenue than
expected, adding “with numbers like that, along with prices
rising across the board, it’s clear that hardworking
families, seniors and low-income residents deserve a break.”
That’s not the case.
Speaker Ron Mariano said lawmakers want to invest in
programs “underpinning our middle and lower class
workforce,” Politico reported.
The speaker’s office explained to the Herald Friday the
proposed Communications Access Trust Fund would be seeded
with $20 million to “remove barriers to communication
services for incarcerated persons and their loved ones” who
pay $14.5 million a year on prison phone calls.
Baker’s tax cuts, Mariano’s people added, “are under review
by committee.”
“It’s bonkers,” said MassFiscal’s Paul Craney. “They want to
give inmates free phone calls while Massachusetts motorists
are stuck with high gas prices.”
Both the House and Senate shot down a proposal to drop the
state’s 24-cent gas tax last month.
Bristol Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, a Republican, said inmates
pay for phone calls because it’s “a privilege” they
surrendered when they committed a crime. “People who do the
responsible things end up becoming the victims,” he added.
Christopher Carlozzi, state director for the National
Federation of Independent Business, argues that the Bay
State needs to focus on the economy first.
“While it is encouraging to see the state unemployment rate
trending in the right direction, finding qualified workers
remains a top concern for many Massachusetts employers right
now, second only to fears regarding inflation,” he said.
“What would prove helpful for small businesses and the
state’s overall economic recovery,” Carlozzi added, “is for
lawmakers to finally provide much-needed relief for
consumers and small businesses by suspending the gas tax,
allowing for an extended sales tax holiday and approving the
governor’s $700 million tax cut plan.”
— Marie Szaniszlo and Amy
Sokolow contributed to this report.
The Boston
Herald
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
House raises Baker’s budget bid by $1.4 billion, passes on
tax relief
By Matthew Medsger
House lawmakers unveiled a nearly $50 billion budget
Wednesday that increases state spending by 4% over last
year, ignores all of Gov. Charlie Baker’s tax cut proposals,
and sends another $785 million to the rainy day fund.
“We are on our way towards filling some of the holes that
were created during the pandemic with a $49.6 billion
spending package that we think addresses a lot of the needs
and it’s based on state tax collections that have been very
strong,” House Speaker Ron Mariano said Wednesday.
The House Ways and Means Committee proposes spending $1.4
billion more than Baker’s January budget proposal. The price
tag is more than $2 billion over what the state spent last
fiscal year.
“With growing revenue returns from the state, a record $5.76
billion expected dollars in our rainy day fund by the end of
this fiscal year, this once-in-a-generation opportunity
allows us to build for a better future, one that is more
resilient, more equitable, and more rewarding for all of us
in the commonwealth,” committee Chairman Aaron Michlewitz
said.
The proposed budget includes $912 million for early
childhood education, $853 million for housing initiatives,
and $638.4 million for workforce development. The budget
also directs $6 billion in state aid to public elementary
and secondary schools.
Mariano had previously indicated the House would not
consider the $700 million tax cut proposal the governor has
been selling for months and explained why Wednesday.
“We felt they weren’t necessary at the time,” he said.
Baker had proposed further tax relief for renters, adoption
of federal standards for no-tax status for low-income
residents, an adjustment of the “low income circuit breaker”
on property tax relief for older residents, and a proposal
to lower the estate and short-term capital gains taxes.
The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a nonpartisan
watchdog group, had endorsed the tax plan, saying the
state’s continued growth depended on it and that the rainy
day fund, due to record tax revenues, had already reached a
historic high of $4.6 billion.
In explaining why the state would add another almost $800
million to the state’s rainy day fund, Mariano said that the
current fiscal climate may turn suddenly and that the
Commonwealth needs to be prepared.
“These good times may not roll forever. We want to make sure
that we have money in case there is a sudden downturn. You
know, we’re on the brink of major confrontations in Europe,
the oil production is being cut way down; if I was a
economic prognosticator, I would think we were in for some
tough times,” the speaker said.
“So obviously we wanted to strengthen our ability to pivot
if revenues do take a downward plunge,” he said.
March tax revenues were up by nearly 14% over last year,
according to the Department of Revenue. That department
reports year-to-date revenues are up by nearly 15%.
— Herald wire services
contributed to this report.
The Salem
News
Thursday, April 14, 2022
House Democrats reject Baker's tax cuts
By Christian M. Wade, Statehouse Reporter
House Democrats are rejecting Gov. Charlie Baker’s push to
cut state taxes as part of a preliminary spending package
for the next fiscal year.
On Wednesday, the House Ways and Means Committee rolled out
its version of the state budget that takes effect July 1,
which calls for spending more than $49.6 billion. The House
plan boosts expenditures over the previous budget by more
than $2 billion, buoyed by federal relief funds and state
surplus money.
But noticeably absent from the plan was a $700 million
buffet of proposed tax cuts that were part of Baker’s
preliminary budget, which he filed in January.
Baker’s budget proposal — which was about $1.4 billion less
than the House plan — called for adjusting state income tax
laws and boosting rent deductions to provide relief for
low-income residents, expanding tax credits for housing and
child care, and a major overhaul of the state’s estate or
“death” tax.
House Speaker Ron Mariano, D-Quincy, told reporters at a
briefing on Wednesday that House budget writers felt the
governor’s tax cuts “weren’t necessary” in the spending
bill. He said House leaders instead wanted to focus on
expanding child care options, criminal justice reforms and
other key issues.
Mariano said he isn’t closing the door on a tax cut package
this year, noting the state still has surplus revenue that
can be used to reduce the tax burden. Baker’s tax cuts were
filed as a separate bill, which could still be taken up by
the Legislature before the July 31 end of formal sessions.
Committee Chairman Aaron Michlewitz, D-Boston, highlighted
how the spending plan calls for making targeted investments
to expand early education and child care options, workforce
development, housing, criminal justice reforms and health
care coverage for low-income residents.
The House budget includes no wholesale tax or fee increases
and pumps another $785 million into the state’s “rainy day”
reserve fund, which would boost the fund’s balance to a
historic level of $6.55 billion in the next fiscal year.
Overall, the House spending plan calls for boosting state
aid to cities and towns by $30 million, or 2.7%, to more
than $1.19 billion in the next fiscal year.
Chapter 70 funding for public schools would also rise to
more than $5.9 billion in the next fiscal year. The extra
money for schools would also keep the state on track to
fully fund the Student Opportunity Act, which was approved
in 2019. The law calls for diverting $1.5 billion to schools
over seven years.
A centerpiece of the House plan calls for spending nearly
$70 million to increase salaries for early education and
care providers who accept children with state subsidies. The
plan also calls for updating a state law to allow child care
facilities to be paid based on student enrollment, not daily
attendance.
Another highlight of the House spending plan calls for
spending $20 million to provide inmates at the state’s
prisons and correctional facilities with free phone calls,
while another $10.2 million would be used to eliminate
supervised probation and parole fees for ex-convicts.
Another $2 million would be earmarked for a new program to
provide rent subsidies to formerly incarcerated individuals
returning to their community.
Meanwhile, the House plan calls for spending $110 million to
provide free school lunches for all public school students
through the end of the year. During the pandemic, the state
has benefited from a federal waiver that has paid for free
lunches, but funding for that program is set to expire on
June 30.
Debate on the House budget is expected to get underway in
two weeks.
House Republicans are expected to continue a push to suspend
the state’s .24-cent-per-gallon gas tax as part of the
budget deliberations.
Supply chain disruptions, high inflation and Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine have sent prices on everything from gas
to meat soaring to record levels in the past month.
So far, Beacon Hill Democrats have declined to take up a gas
tax holiday, saying it would affect the state’s bond rating
and provide minimal relief for motorists.
GOP lawmakers are likely to be emboldened in a recent
statement from S&P Global Ratings that a gas tax holiday
might not impact the state’s ratings.
But Mariano poured more cold water on the plan on Wednesday,
saying there is too much uncertainty about the potential
impact on ratings.
“The fact of the matter is the money is used to finance road
and bridge programs that are already committed and in the
pipeline,” Mariano said at the budget briefing. “So I don’t
see us getting the long-term benefits from the savings that
would come at the pump.”
— Christian M. Wade covers
the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media
Group’s newspapers and websites.
The Salem
News
Friday, April 15, 2022
A Salem News Editorial
House budget plan is off the mark
Massachusetts Democrats in the House of Representatives —
particularly those in leadership and on the Ways and Means
Committee — are out to lunch.
On Wednesday the House Ways and Means Committee rolled out
its version of the state budget. And it stinks.
Those who sit on the committee — such as Gloucester Rep. Ann
Margaret Ferrante who is the committee’s vice chair — should
be ashamed of themselves.
This country is in the midst of the highest inflation in 60
years. The Boston area has among the highest rents in the
nation.
Yet the Speaker of the House, Ron Mariano of Quincy, told
reporters at a briefing on Wednesday that House budget
writers didn’t include tax cuts because they “weren’t
necessary.”
What world does this guy live in? As reported by Statehouse
scribe Christian Wade, Mariano also doesn’t think a
temporary suspension of the gas tax would be worthwhile.
Tell that to moms and dads who have to commute and/or drive
their kids to baseball and softball practice all week long.
The cost of gasoline is sitting at around $4 a gallon. Any
reduction in that price would be helpful.
More to the point, any kind of tax cut — such as those
proposed by Gov. Charlie Baker in his budget released in
January — would also be helpful to folks paying higher rents
and more at the grocery store for every day items such as
milk, bread, chicken and vegetables, to name just a few.
Instead of cutting taxes, Mariano and his band of tone-deaf
pols like Ferrante and other local reps on the committee
want to spend $20 million to give free phones to inmates in
the state’s prisons.
They have a host of other spending “priorities.” Ways and
Means Committee Chairman Aaron Michlewitz, D-Boston,
highlighted how the spending plan calls for making targeted
investments to workforce development, housing, criminal
justice reforms and health care coverage for low-income
residents.
There are some positives in the budget, such as increasing
state aid to cities and towns, and education aid to school
districts. Although one has to wonder why cities and towns
need more money from the state when they currently have more
federal pandemic relief money than they know what to do
with.
As with many municipal budgets, the state budget doesn’t
have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem. Just
because Massachusetts and other states are sitting on a pot
of federal relief gold doesn’t mean that money has to be
spent on items like free phones for convicts.
In times of bounty — the state’s rainy day reserve fund
would set a record at $6.55 billion under the House budget —
perhaps it would be better to give a much-needed break to
the very people who pay the salaries of the Legislature and
every other state worker: the taxpayers of the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts.
It’s so easy for state elected officials to get co-opted by
the culture at the Statehouse. It’s much easier for them to
agree with leadership, even though in their hearts they may
disagree. Nobody wants to have an office in the basement of
Beacon Hill — which is what happens when you challenge your
leaders. It’s easier to go along to get along.
Ferrante has certainly found that out, sitting as vice chair
of the Ways and Means Committee alongside Michlewitz and
Mariano. It’s easier to get money for your district if you
play ball. But there’s something called “integrity” — a word
rarely uttered in the halls of the Statehouse, for it’s too
dangerous. You disagree with the wrong people, and you’re
out. But someone has to call out these misguided policies
that seem to be sensible on the surface but which penalize
millions of residents of the state in the process.
The House should scale back its spending plan and give money
back to the folks who need it — people struggling to pay
rent, fill their gas tanks and put food on the table.
State House News
Service
Friday, April 15, 2022
Encore Record Haul Headlines Strong March for Gaming Revenue
By Colin A. Young
March was a good month for the state's three gambling
centers and the state's coffers. Plainridge Park Casino, MGM
Springfield and Encore Boston Harbor cumulatively generated
more than $102 million in gaming revenue, about $28.6
million of which will be due to the state.
In terms of revenue, March was the best month on record for
Encore Boston Harbor, the third-best month ever for MGM
Springfield and the second-best month for Plainridge Park
Casino since Encore opened, the Gaming Commission announced
Friday. Encore brought in $64.87 million last month, MGM
reported a haul of $24.28 million and Plainridge took in
about $12.94 million in March.
Encore's March gaming revenue translates into $16.2 million
in state taxes and fees, MGM's take will result in just more
than $6 million for the state and Plainridge's revenue will
yield about $6.34 million for the state. In all, the state
is due roughly $28.6 million in March gaming revenues and
fees.
Since Plainridge opened in June 2015, Massachusetts has
collected nearly $1.05 billion from casino-style gambling.
Encore and MGM are each taxed at a rate of 25 percent of
gross gaming revenue and the money collected is split into
various buckets, like local aid, the Transportation
Infrastructure Fund, and an education fund. Plainridge Park
pays a 49 percent tax on its gross gaming revenue, with 82
percent of what is collected earmarked for local aid and the
remaining 18 percent allotted to the state's Race Horse
Development Fund. |
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this
material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes
only. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
Citizens for Limited Taxation ▪
PO Box 1147 ▪ Marblehead, MA 01945
▪ (781) 639-9709
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