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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”
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their Institutional Memory — |
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CLT UPDATE
Monday, April 25, 2022
When They've Lost The
Globe Who Stands With Them?
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to CLT's Commentary on the News
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Most Relevant News
Excerpts
(Full news reports follow Commentary)
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Yes, by
and large the House Ways and Means Committee
produced a competent, even innovative budget, which
is scheduled to come up for debate next week. But in
its $49.6 billion budget plan for the fiscal year
that begins July 1, the committee neglected to
return to taxpayers some $700 million in carefully
targeted tax cuts proposed earlier this year by
Governor Charlie Baker. Instead, lawmakers opted to
find more ways to spend that money.
Since
state tax revenues continue to exceed expectations —
thus far by at least $1.5 billion, increasing about
15 percent over the previous fiscal year — there is
no reason to abandon the prospect of tax cuts, many
of them targeted toward those who continue to
struggle with the rising costs of rent, food, and
child care, along with incomes that haven’t kept
pace.
“As
inflation continues to rip around here, not doing
something for renters, not doing something for
low-income folks, not doing something for seniors,
not doing something for a lot of the people — the
child-care piece, in particular, the dependent-care
piece — we should do these,” Baker told reporters at
the State House recently. “I mean, this is exactly
when you should do it.” ...
There is
still time to do that — either during the budget
debate next week or as part of a freestanding but
must-pass piece of legislation. If ever there were a
moment to give taxpayers a break, this is it — even
we-know-best legislators should recognize that.
A Boston
Globe editorial
Tuesday, April 19, 2022
Another tax day, and high time
for a tax break
The Massachusetts House budget leaves taxpayers
waiting for relief.
With tax
revenues over projections and inflation squeezing
spenders at the checkout line, Governor Charlie
Baker on Tuesday worked to build support for a tax
package that he said would give nearly $700 million
back to taxpayers in the form of new tax breaks and
other reforms.
Flanked by
representatives from the Massachusetts Taxpayers
Foundation, Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, the
Retailers Association of Massachusetts, and others
during a Tax Day news conference, Baker argued that
the state can afford both more targeted spending on
programs like early childhood education as well as
tax relief. He called the state’s fiscal health ”a
surplus beyond one’s imagination.”
Through
March, the state had collected $3.6 billion above
what it initially projected for the fiscal year,
Baker’s finance secretary Michael J. Heffernan
announced Tuesday.
“We can
afford to give money back to the taxpayers,” Baker
said. “The Commonwealth is in a very unique and
unusual position ... we are currently running a
budget surplus that is billions of dollars above our
benchmark for the second year in a row. These are
billions with a ‘B.’” ...
While
Baker’s proposal is not included in the budget — and
was filed separately from Baker’s own budget plan —
it is up for consideration by the Joint Committee on
Revenue.
Representative Mark Cusack, the House chairman of
the Joint Committee on Revenue, said the governor’s
proposal is “obviously still alive,” and that the
committee may extend its May 4 deadline in order to
take it up.
“There is
an overreaction from the business community,”
Cusack, a Braintree Democrat, said of the Tuesday
news conference. “We are working on it. There are
200 members of the Legislature, it’s not just the
governor.”
The
Boston Globe
Tuesday, April 19, 2022
Baker, advocates
press for tax cuts ahead of House budget debate
Warning
that the Bay State is "way out of the mainstream" on
its approach to the estate tax in particular,
Massachusetts Society of CPAs President Amy Pitter
joined a cadre of business leaders calling on state
lawmakers to approve Gov. Charlie Baker's proposal
for $700 million in tax relief.
The
package of cuts and reforms, which has not yet
gained traction among Democrat legislative leaders,
would bring Massachusetts more in line with peer
states and offer greater "simplicity" to taxpayers
and accountants, Pitter, a former state commissioner
of revenue, said.
"People
have asked me: isn't complex tax law good for your
members because it gives them more work to do? Well,
the answer is no," Pitter said at an event in
Baker's State House office, flanked by the governor,
his top deputies and representatives from business
groups. "What it does is prevent our members from
doing what they really want to do, which is advising
their small business and other clients on how to be
successful in Massachusetts and divert their
attention to following arcane rules."
Alongside
his annual budget bill, Baker in January filed
legislation to create new tax breaks for renters,
seniors, parents and low-income workers and to
overhaul estate and capital gains taxes.
Tuesday's
event -- which coincided with Tax Day -- marked the
administration's latest volley aimed at swaying top
Democrats, who have kept the proposal in play for
the four-plus months remaining in the 2021-2022
session but have not yet lined up behind it.
Several of
the think tank and business leaders who joined Baker
at the State House linked the tax relief proposal to
the skyrocketing pace of inflation, calling for
action to relieve the financial burden many
residents face as they work to recover from two
harrowing years during the pandemic.
"The cost
at the checkout line is getting exorbitant for our
working families, and yes, their incomes are up --
in fact, the average weekly wage in Massachusetts
went up 14 percent in Massachusetts last year. That
probably means for the taxman some pretty good
collections on the income taxes today," said Jon
Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of
Massachusetts. "The taxman is winning, whether it's
on real estate taxes, income taxes, sales taxes, yet
the consumer, the taxpayer, is losing."
State
House News Service
Tuesday, April 19, 2022
CPAs, Retailers and Think Tanks Back
Baker Tax Relief
Gov.
Charlie Baker is using tax filing day to publicly
urge lawmakers to adopt his $700 million tax break
plan – a call House leaders have so far ignored.
“There’s
no better time than tax day to talk about why we
should be investing in the people in Massachusetts
whose hard work has generated an enormous surplus
here,” Baker said at a press conference in his State
House office, surrounded by supporters of his bill,
primarily from the business community.
Baker’s
fiscal 2023 budget proposal included tax breaks for
seniors, renters, low-income taxpayers, and parents
of dependent children. It would modify the estate
tax and lower the tax rate on short-term capital
gains. The proposal comes as Massachusetts is awash
in money from state tax revenues and federal COVID
recovery aid.
But the
House Ways and Means Committee, in a budget proposal
that will be debated by the full House next week,
declined to adopt any tax changes. House Ways and
Means chair Aaron Michlewitz said House leaders
prioritized reinvesting in programs and services,
like early childhood education and job training.
The debate
is turning into a fundamental disagreement between
the Republican governor and the Democratic-led
House.
But Baker
disagreed with the framing of investments versus tax
breaks. “I don’t look at the tax package and say is
this the sort of thing we should trade off against
this or that,” Baker said. He said the state is in a
unique position to be able to support programs and
cut taxes....
Administration and Finance Secretary Michael
Heffernan argued that revenues are soaring and the
state can easily afford to give taxpayers a break at
a time when inflation is increasing costs for goods
and services and housing prices are rising.
Heffernan
said tax collections, as of March, were $3.6 billion
above expectations for the fiscal year that ends in
June. “We can afford to provide tax relief, and
returning surplus tax revenues is the right thing to
do to provide relief to hard working taxpayers after
two very difficult years,” Heffernan said....
Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation president Eileen
McAnneny said the state’s large rainy day fund,
combined with soaring tax revenues and federal
revenues make this an “appropriate time to provide
the people of Massachusetts with much needed tax
relief, particularly against the backdrop of
inflation.”
CommonWealth Magazine
Tuesday, April 19, 2022
Baker, with
business backing, renews push for tax relief
Gov.
Charlie Baker assembled a broad swath of
representatives from the Bay State’s business
community on Tax Day to advocate for his tax plan,
which would include broad cuts for low-income
families, renters, seniors and others.
“With
residents and families continuing to face rising
costs, Massachusetts should take action and pass tax
cuts that will reduce costs and give taxpayers a
break,” Baker said. “Revenues continue to exceed
expectations, so it’s time to give some of this
surplus revenue back to taxpayers.”
Massachusetts has seen historically high revenue
levels, in part thanks to an influx of federal
dollars from the American Rescue Plan. Last fiscal
year, the state ended with a $5 billion surplus.
Already, state revenues beat projections by $856
million in January, $293 million in February and
$427 million in March.
Baker
invited guest speakers including Eileen McAnneny,
president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation,
Amy Pitter, president and CEO of MassCPAs, Jon Hurst
of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, John
Regan of Associated Industries of Massachusetts and
Carolyn Ryan of the Greater Boston Chamber of
Commerce, to advocate for his plan.
The
Boston Herald
Tuesday, April 19, 2022
Charlie Baker assembles
business community
to tout tax cut plan for Tax Day
House
Republicans are angling to include parts of Gov.
Charlie Baker’s stalled tax relief package and a gas
tax holiday into next year’s state budget.
GOP
lawmakers have filed proposed amendments to fiscal
year 2023 budget — debate on which gets underway
next week — calling for lowering the capital gains
tax to 5% from the current 14% and increase the
threshold at which the state’s estate or “death” tax
kicks in from $1 million to $2 million.
The
proposals mirror a tax relief package filed by Baker
as part of his preliminary budget plan, which
Democratic House leaders stripped from their version
of the spending package they unveiled last week.
Earlier
this week, Baker joined a group of business leaders
to push for approval of his tax relief package.
“I think
in many respects, these tax breaks are talking about
millions of people, when you put them all together,
who would benefit,” the Republican said at a
briefing.
Baker’s
buffet of tax cuts call 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 for a major
overhaul of the state’s estate or “death” tax....
House
Republicans are also making a renewed push to
suspend the state’s 24-cent gas tax to provide
relief for consumers at the pumps with several
amendments to the budget plan.
One
proposal, filed by Rep. Timothy Whelan, R-Brewster,
would suspend the gas tax until the average price of
filling up drops below $3.70 a gallon. Another
proposed amendment would to drop the gas tax from
July through the end of the year....
Overall,
House lawmakers had loaded up their version of the
budget with more than 1,500 amendments as of
Thursday, with debate on the spending package set to
begin next week.
The Salem
News
Thursday, April 21, 2022
House Republicans
renew push for tax cuts
Municipal
officials are pleased with some of the House
budget's local and education aid provisions, but
they have also noticed the recent trend of strong
state tax collections and are hoping the Legislature
will take advantage of the cash surge to further
increase local aid.
Administration and Finance Secretary Michael
Heffernan told the Local Government Advisory
Committee on Wednesday that state tax collections
through March were $2.184 billion ahead of
expectations with three months left in fiscal year
2022. The town manager for Sandwich told Heffernan
that local officials are very happy about the
state's good fortune.
"And we're
very optimistic that this will prompt the
Legislature to build on the increase in unrestricted
general government aid," George "Bud" Dunham said,
referring to the fiscal 2023 House budget plan that
calls for about $1.2 billion in so-called UGGA, an
increase of about $31 million over the current
year's budget.
State
House News Service
Wednesday, April 20, 2022
Surging State Tax Revenues
Prompt Calls for More Local Aid
Most
Massachusetts family farmers do not earn enough for
a surtax on household income above $1 million to hit
their regular paychecks, but they could feel
significant effects if they sell off land or if
larger businesses leave the state, opponents of the
proposal said Wednesday.
With the
long-debated measure on track to be decided by
voters in November, a string of local farmers joined
the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance to sound the alarm
that the 4 percent surtax would increase the
financial strain they face in an already-challenging
industry....
Massachusetts legislators have approved advancing
the surtax -- sometimes referred to as the Fair
Share Amendment or millionaire's tax -- to the
November 2022 ballot, where voters are set to
determine its fate.
State
House News Service
Wednesday, April 20, 2022
Farmers Warn of Unintended
Surtax Consequences
Polling
suggests the millionaire tax is popular with voters
because it targets the uber-wealthy -- after all,
someone earning so much money should be able to
afford paying an extra 4 percent on any income over
$1 million.
The
challenge for opponents of the November ballot
question is to convince voters that the tax doesn’t
just hit the wealthy, that it can sometimes target
people struggling to get by.
The
Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance attempted to do just
that this week by bringing together eight of the
state’s farmers, people who work the land
cultivating cranberries, growing fresh vegetables,
milking cows, raising animals, and tapping trees for
maple syrup.
The
farmers said they aren’t millionaires, but they
could be hit with the tax if they are forced to sell
off a chunk of their land to make ends meet or to
finance their retirement. The capital gain on the
sale of the land could exceed a million dollars and
subject them to the surtax, they said.
Leon
Ripley of Maple Corner Farm in the Berkshires makes
a living on his 600 acres by producing and selling
maple syrup, operating a cross country ski center,
and growing blueberries. He says the rising cost of
fertilizer and fuel is squeezing his business this
year.
“We will
never make a million dollars,” he said. “If we
cannot succeed in all ventures, we are probably
going to have to sell some of the property
eventually and [the tax] would affect us. An
additional [4] percent would be an enormous burden
if we sell the property.” ...
Leo
Cakounes, who grows cranberries in Harwich, feels
the same way....
Supporters
of the millionaire tax say these types of situations
would be rare -- once-in-a-lifetime events.
CommonWealth Magazine
Friday, April 22, 2022
Mass. farmers raise
concerns about millionaire tax
The
lawmakers behind the proposed “Millionaires Tax” in
Massachusetts see the move as a way to pump cash
into the state’s coffers.
They
missed the part in which cash drains from small
companies reliant on larger businesses bearing the
burden of the tax hike.
Companies
large and small often have a symbiotic relationship,
and a blow to the big players can have devastating
effects on smaller entities.
Case in
point: Bay State farmers.
A group of
local farmers joined a virtual press conference with
the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance Wednesday to call
out the 4% surtax as one more financial burden in an
industry facing many.
Paul
Craney, spokesperson for MassFiscal, noted that most
family farmers in the state don’t clear $1 million,
which would trigger the surtax, but if they sell
part of their property to reinvest in their farms,
or large businesses leave Massachusetts, the pain
would be significant.
Recall
dairy company Horizon Organic, which pulled out of
the Northeast last year, cutting ties with nearly
100 dairy farmers in the region. Almost overnight,
their market was gone.
That
should have been a wakeup call that smaller
businesses are often dependent on larger ones to
succeed, but Beacon Hill hit the snooze button.
Now the
state’s facing a 4% surtax added to the 5% flat
state individual income tax rate and a top federal
individual income tax rate of 37%. If the amendment
is adopted this November, the combined federal-state
marginal tax rate on ordinary income for high-income
earners in Massachusetts will be 46% in 2023 (lower
rates will apply to dividends and capital gains), as
The Hill reported.
And when
the going gets tight, those being squeezed will head
for the exits....
Proponents
of the surtax couch it in hurray-for-the-little-guy
terms, calling it the Fair Share Amendment. This
fits with the view of big corporations and high
earners as cartoon villains, rubbing their hands in
gleeful greed.
But they
are links in the economic chain, one that keeps
family farms working for another generation, and
lets other small business owners sell their firms
and retire.
There’s
nothing “fair” about ignoring the collateral damage
inflicted on hard-working people.
No matter
what you call it, the Millionaires Tax is a bad
idea.
A Boston
Herald editorial
Thursday, April 21, 2022
Farmers to reap pain if
Millionaires Tax passes
Gov.
Charlie Baker rolled out a $3.5 billion economic
development proposal Thursday that calls for
leveraging federal pandemic relief funds to spruce
up downtowns, build more housing and fund clean
energy projects.
Speaking
from a site along Lynn’s waterfront where a new
housing complex is rising from a once-vacant lot,
Baker said the legislative package calls for tapping
into $2.3 billion in American Rescue Plan Act funds
and borrowing $1.2 billion to fund economic
development programs and hundreds of shovel-ready
local projects.
“These
investments will strengthen our state’s
infrastructure, create jobs and provide investments
in all 351 cities and towns for dedicated funding
for projects and initiatives in every community,”
Baker said at the briefing. “We think this puts
Massachusetts in the best possible position to come
out of the pandemic.”
Baker’s
plan also calls for spending $1.2 billion on
environmental protection and climate change
adaptation, including $750 million specifically for
clean energy projects....
The state
expects to get $5.3 billion from the American Relief
Plan Act, a $1.9 trillion stimulus package signed by
President Joe Biden, over the next five years.
Baker and
lawmakers passed a $4 billion spending bill last
year that channels a sizable chunk of that money,
along with state surplus funds, to the state’s
health care system, housing, workforce development,
transportation upgrades and environmental
protection.
Under the
new law, ARPA funds must be committed by states by
the end of 2024 and spent by the end of 2026.
Otherwise, they will be returned to the federal
government.
The Salem
News
Friday, April 22, 2022
Baker unveils
$3.5B economic development plan
With $1.2
billion in state bond authorization and the $2.3
billion that remains from the state's American
Rescue Plan Act pot, Baker's bill is designed to
reinvigorate downtowns and prepare them for
post-pandemic realities, but it also proposes to
pump significant money into things like clean energy
innovation, climate resilience projects and more.
Of the
roughly $2.27 billion of ARPA money that Baker's
bill would spend, slightly more than half ($1.17
billion) would be directed towards climate or
environmental infrastructure, which Energy and
Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides
said is probably "the largest investment the state
has ever put towards this kind of thing."
That's
more than triple the ARPA money that the bill would
spend for the next-largest bucket, community
economic development ($311.5 million).
"In total,
the Governor's bill includes 614 environmental,
climate and economic development earmarks and
guarantees each of the state's 351 cities and towns
at least $250,000 in dedicated funds," the
Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation said in its
analysis of Baker's bill. The group points out that
it is unusual for a governor to earmark
appropriations so specifically because it then
limits flexibility when distributing funds....
The
governor's tax relief bill (H 4361) is still
technically alive on its own, but House leadership
opted to build its $49.6 billion budget plan for
fiscal year 2023 without incorporating any of
Baker's suggestions. "We felt they weren't necessary
at the time," Mariano said.
The
speaker has not closed the door entirely to tax
relief, but leadership also has not put forward its
own plan to address the crunch taxpayers face as
inflation soars and the cost of everyday goods
steadily climbs. Mariano would rather reinvest the
state's surging revenues into things like early
education and care, and Baker said this week that he
doesn't think a "trade-off" is necessary and would
be fine with his ideas advancing either as part of
the budget or as standalone post-budget legislation.
"Either
one works," Baker said. He added, "I think dealing
with this in or out of the budget process -- it's
not that hard to reconcile one way or the other."
The
speaker has said much of the same, telling reporters
during a budget briefing last week that "because of
the surpluses we are in a unique opportunity" when
asked about squaring a budget built on one set of
tax policy with a hypothetical set of tax policy
changes.
State
House News Service
Friday, April 22, 2022
Weekly Roundup
The House
kicks off deliberations Monday on its $49.6 billion
spending plan for the fiscal year that starts July
1...
With about
1,500 budget amendments pending, House lawmakers
will have plenty to mull over throughout the week.
In fact, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation says
the 1,521 proposals filed -- 36 of which were
withdrawn by Friday morning -- represent the most
budget amendments filed in more than a decade.
Almost three-quarters of those are earmarks for
specific projects or programs, clocking in at around
$500 million, MTF said, and another 217 suggest new
policy sections.
Speaker
Ron Mariano's office has scheduled at least four
days of formal sessions, with a potential formal
penciled in for Friday, too, and Ways and Means
Chairman Aaron Michlewitz said this week that he
thought representatives could make it through all
the amendments in three to four days....
To make
quicker work of scores of budget amendments, the
House traditionally packages those covering similar
topics together into large consolidated amendments.
A single vote on one of those mega-amendments
dispenses with all the relevant individual
amendments, either by adding a version of them into
the budget or discarding them.
Consolidated amendments are generally introduced
with short remarks from committee chairs, and don't
generate much debate. Debate can pop up, though, on
individual amendments and those that lawmakers pull
out of the consolidated packages.
One topic
that could generate some back-and-forth is tax
policy, the subject of 19 amendments per MTF's
tally. Four of those relate to the gas tax, which
House and Senate Republicans have sought,
unsuccessfully so far, to suspend, despite continued
opposition from Democratic leadership. The budget
could present a chance for the House's minority
party to get their colleagues' gas-tax stances on
the record after not forcing a roll call vote the
last time Republican representatives raised the
issue. MTF said three other amendments are similar
to Gov. Charlie Baker's tax relief proposal, which
remains before the Revenue Committee along with a
slew of other bills.
State
House News Service
Friday, April 22, 2022
Advances - Week of April 24,
2022 |
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary |
|
On a few rare occasions
I've discovered a Boston Globe editorial that supports my (and CLT's)
position — an event that stops me in my tracks and forces
a
reevaluation of my position. Such was the case last
week, and once again in a rare occasion, I've found the Globe and I
actually agree on something.
When a Boston Globe
editorial concludes with "If ever
there were a moment to give taxpayers a break, this is it — even
we-know-best legislators should recognize that," the
Democrat-Socialist supermajority that controls Beacon Hill with an
iron fist must sit
up and take notice. When the pols lose the support of the
"progressive" Boston Globe choir, Boston's version of
Pravda, what do they have left on which to defend
their intransigence — but insatiable,
undisguised
greed?
The Globe's editorial on Tuesday ("Another
tax day, and high time for a tax break —
The Massachusetts House budget leaves taxpayers waiting for relief")
particularly notes:
Since state tax revenues
continue to exceed expectations — thus far by at
least $1.5 billion, increasing about 15 percent
over the previous fiscal year — there is no
reason to abandon the prospect of tax cuts, many
of them targeted toward those who continue to
struggle with the rising costs of rent, food,
and child care, along with incomes that haven’t
kept pace.
“As inflation continues to
rip around here, not doing something for
renters, not doing something for low-income
folks, not doing something for seniors, not
doing something for a lot of the people — the
child-care piece, in particular, the
dependent-care piece — we should do these,”
Baker told reporters at the State House
recently. “I mean, this is exactly when you
should do it.” ...
There is still time to do
that — either during the budget debate next week
or as part of a freestanding but must-pass piece
of legislation. If ever there were a moment to
give taxpayers a break, this is it — even
we-know-best legislators should recognize that.
The Boston Globe on Tuesday further reported ("Baker,
advocates press for tax cuts ahead of House budget debate"):
With tax revenues over
projections and inflation squeezing spenders at
the checkout line, Governor Charlie Baker on
Tuesday worked to build support for a tax
package that he said would give nearly $700
million back to taxpayers in the form of new tax
breaks and other reforms.
Flanked by representatives
from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation,
Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, the
Retailers Association of Massachusetts, and
others during a Tax Day news conference, Baker
argued that the state can afford both more
targeted spending on programs like early
childhood education as well as tax relief. He
called the state’s fiscal health ”a surplus
beyond one’s imagination.”
Through March, the state
had collected $3.6 billion above what it
initially projected for the fiscal year, Baker’s
finance secretary Michael J. Heffernan announced
Tuesday.
“We can afford to give
money back to the taxpayers,” Baker said. “The
Commonwealth is in a very unique and unusual
position ... we are currently running a budget
surplus that is billions of dollars above our
benchmark for the second year in a row. These
are billions with a ‘B.’” ...
While Baker’s proposal is
not included in the budget — and was filed
separately from Baker’s own budget plan — it is
up for consideration by the Joint Committee on
Revenue.
Representative Mark Cusack,
the House chairman of the Joint Committee on
Revenue, said the governor’s proposal is
“obviously still alive,” and that the committee
may extend its May 4 deadline in order to take
it up.
“There is an overreaction
from the business community,” Cusack, a
Braintree Democrat, said of the Tuesday news
conference. “We are working on it. There are 200
members of the Legislature, it’s not just the
governor.”
Also on Tuesday, the State House News Service
reported ("CPAs, Retailers and Think Tanks Back
Baker Tax Relief"):
Alongside his annual budget
bill, Baker in January filed legislation to
create new tax breaks for renters, seniors,
parents and low-income workers and to overhaul
estate and capital gains taxes.
Tuesday's event -- which
coincided with Tax Day -- marked the
administration's latest volley aimed at swaying
top Democrats, who have kept the proposal in
play for the four-plus months remaining in the
2021-2022 session but have not yet lined up
behind it.
Several of the think tank
and business leaders who joined Baker at the
State House linked the tax relief proposal to
the skyrocketing pace of inflation, calling for
action to relieve the financial burden many
residents face as they work to recover from two
harrowing years during the pandemic.
"The cost at the checkout
line is getting exorbitant for our working
families, and yes, their incomes are up -- in
fact, the average weekly wage in Massachusetts
went up 14 percent in Massachusetts last year.
That probably means for the taxman some pretty
good collections on the income taxes today,"
said Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers
Association of Massachusetts. "The taxman is
winning, whether it's on real estate taxes,
income taxes, sales taxes, yet the consumer, the
taxpayer, is losing."
On Thursday
The Salem News reported ("House
Republicans renew push for tax cuts"):
House Republicans are also
making a renewed push to suspend the state’s
24-cent gas tax to provide relief for consumers
at the pumps with several amendments to the
budget plan.
One proposal, filed by Rep.
Timothy Whelan, R-Brewster, would suspend the
gas tax until the average price of filling up
drops below $3.70 a gallon. Another proposed
amendment would to drop the gas tax from July
through the end of the year....
Overall, House lawmakers
had loaded up their version of the budget with
more than 1,500 amendments as of Thursday, with
debate on the spending package set to begin next
week.
In its
Advances - Week of April 24,
2022, the News Service on Friday:
The House kicks off
deliberations Monday on its $49.6 billion
spending plan for the fiscal year that starts
July 1...
With about
1,500 budget amendments pending, House
lawmakers will have plenty to mull over
throughout the week. In fact, the
Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation says the
1,521 proposals filed -- 36 of which were
withdrawn by Friday morning -- represent the
most budget amendments filed in more than a
decade. Almost three-quarters of those are
earmarks for specific projects or programs,
clocking in at around $500 million, MTF said,
and another 217 suggest new policy sections.
[Emphasis mine.]
Speaker Ron Mariano's
office has scheduled at least four days of
formal sessions, with a potential formal
penciled in for Friday, too, and Ways and Means
Chairman Aaron Michlewitz said this week that he
thought representatives could make it through
all the amendments in three to four days....
To
make quicker work of scores of budget
amendments, the House traditionally packages
those covering similar topics together into
large consolidated amendments. A single vote on
one of those mega-amendments dispenses with all
the relevant individual amendments, either by
adding a version of them into the budget or
discarding them.
Consolidated amendments are generally introduced
with short remarks from committee chairs, and
don't generate much debate. Debate can pop up,
though, on individual amendments and those that
lawmakers pull out of the consolidated packages.
One topic that could
generate some back-and-forth is tax policy, the
subject of 19 amendments per MTF's tally. Four
of those relate to the gas tax, which House and
Senate Republicans have sought, unsuccessfully
so far, to suspend, despite continued opposition
from Democratic leadership. The budget could
present a chance for the House's minority party
to get their colleagues' gas-tax stances on the
record after not forcing a roll call vote the
last time Republican representatives raised the
issue. MTF said three other amendments are
similar to Gov. Charlie Baker's tax relief
proposal, which remains before the Revenue
Committee along with a slew of other bills.
I've been wading through
as many of those 1,500 amendments as quickly as possible to
determine if any of the stealth attacks of Proposition 2½
have been slipped in — this or other "must pass" legislation is
usually where we'll find them buried. House bills
H.3039 - An Act establishing a local option gas tax (Reps.
Pignatelli, Vitolo), and
H.3086 - An Act relative to regional ballot initiatives
(Reps. Vargas, Madaro) were last reported as being in the House Ways
and Means Committee. They are potential suspects.
If
they don't arise packaged within this week's House budget debate
among "consolidated amendments" watch for
some similar "must pass" bill to come along where the
stealth attacks can be buried hopefully unnoticed.
Another "must pass" bill is being teed up and potentially
about to appear on the horizon;
"economic development" is a favorite of those over-larded catch-all bills
often used to camouflage hidden attacks on Proposition 2½ (see
2018 economic development bill).
The Salem News reported on Friday ("Baker
unveils $3.5B economic development plan"):
Gov. Charlie Baker rolled
out a $3.5 billion economic development proposal
Thursday that calls for leveraging federal
pandemic relief funds to spruce up downtowns,
build more housing and fund clean energy
projects.
Speaking from a site along
Lynn’s waterfront where a new housing complex is
rising from a once-vacant lot, Baker said the
legislative package calls for tapping into $2.3
billion in American Rescue Plan Act funds and
borrowing $1.2 billion to fund economic
development programs and hundreds of
shovel-ready local projects.
“These investments will
strengthen our state’s infrastructure, create
jobs and provide investments in all 351 cities
and towns for dedicated funding for projects and
initiatives in every community,” Baker said at
the briefing. “We think this puts Massachusetts
in the best possible position to come out of the
pandemic.”
Baker’s plan also calls for
spending $1.2 billion on environmental
protection and climate change adaptation,
including $750 million specifically for clean
energy projects....
The state expects to get
$5.3 billion from the American Relief Plan Act,
a $1.9 trillion stimulus package signed by
President Joe Biden, over the next five years.
Baker and lawmakers passed
a $4 billion spending bill last year that
channels a sizable chunk of that money, along
with state surplus funds, to the state’s health
care system, housing, workforce development,
transportation upgrades and environmental
protection.
Staggering, multi-billion
dollar revenue surpluses that shatter all records for now two years, additional billions in federal pandemic grants, an historic
state "rainy day fund" overflowing and piling up, not a cent of tax
relief to those who paid the cost of this astronomical surplus
— and
still the Democrat-Socialists lust for more, more, always more from
the remaining productive taxpayers of Massachusetts.
For those paying
attention, in January we heard how the so-called "Millionaires Tax,"
aka "The Fair Share Amendment," would impact many small business
owners (CLT Update, January 24; "Out
of The Frying Pan, Into The Fire"). Last week we heard
from Bay State farmers on how they would also be affected by
its presumably unintended consequences.
A Boston
Herald editorial on Thursday ("Farmers to reap pain if
Millionaires Tax passes") summed it up
succinctly:
The
lawmakers behind the proposed “Millionaires Tax” in
Massachusetts see the move as a way to pump cash
into the state’s coffers.
They
missed the part in which cash drains from small
companies reliant on larger businesses bearing the
burden of the tax hike.
Companies
large and small often have a symbiotic relationship,
and a blow to the big players can have devastating
effects on smaller entities.
Case in
point: Bay State farmers.
A group of
local farmers joined a virtual press conference with
the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance Wednesday to call
out the 4% surtax as one more financial burden in an
industry facing many.
Paul
Craney, spokesperson for MassFiscal, noted that most
family farmers in the state don’t clear $1 million,
which would trigger the surtax, but if they sell
part of their property to reinvest in their farms,
or large businesses leave Massachusetts, the pain
would be significant.
Recall
dairy company Horizon Organic, which pulled out of
the Northeast last year, cutting ties with nearly
100 dairy farmers in the region. Almost overnight,
their market was gone.
That
should have been a wakeup call that smaller
businesses are often dependent on larger ones to
succeed, but Beacon Hill hit the snooze button.
Now the
state’s facing a 4% surtax added to the 5% flat
state individual income tax rate and a top federal
individual income tax rate of 37%. If the amendment
is adopted this November, the combined federal-state
marginal tax rate on ordinary income for high-income
earners in Massachusetts will be 46% in 2023 (lower
rates will apply to dividends and capital gains), as
The Hill reported.
And when
the going gets tight, those being squeezed will head
for the exits....
Proponents
of the surtax couch it in hurray-for-the-little-guy
terms, calling it the Fair Share Amendment. This
fits with the view of big corporations and high
earners as cartoon villains, rubbing their hands in
gleeful greed.
But they
are links in the economic chain, one that keeps
family farms working for another generation, and
lets other small business owners sell their firms
and retire.
There’s
nothing “fair” about ignoring the collateral damage
inflicted on hard-working people.
No matter
what you call it, the Millionaires Tax is a bad
idea.
"And
when the going gets tight, those being squeezed will head for the
exits," the Herald editorial observed.
Frankly, I wish more of you would expeditiously head
for those exits. I hear from an increasing number of CLT
members who have made their escapes to sane "sanctuary states" around the country, others who are in their planning stages, and
those committed to getting out ASAP. If enough of you
pull it off CLT can shut down, we can leave Massachusetts entirely to
the Gimme Lobby and The Takers, and I'll end my absurdly long
hours every day of the week trying my best to defend those of you I left
behind. Knowing that enough of you have relocated to a better place
that appreciates you would liberate my life
— and yours!
What will the remaining sponges do when so many of
the disheartened productive have given up the ghost and fled to more
hospitable destinations?
Watching the insatiable dependants reap the whirlwind of their own making will be a
righteous experience from a distance, if you bother to look back.
|
 |
 |
|
Chip Ford
Executive Director |
|
|
|
The Boston
Globe
Tuesday, April 19, 2022
A Boston Globe editorial
Another tax day, and high time for a tax break
The Massachusetts House budget leaves taxpayers waiting for
relief.
Tuesday is the moment of truth for Massachusetts tax
procrastinators — you know who you are.
But the filing deadline for income taxes is also a moment to
remind Massachusetts House lawmakers and House Speaker
Ronald Mariano that taxpayers are people too, and that their
needs ought not go to the bottom of budgeteers’ list of
priorities.
Yes, by and large the House Ways and Means Committee
produced a competent, even innovative budget, which is
scheduled to come up for debate next week. But in its $49.6
billion budget plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1,
the committee neglected to return to taxpayers some $700
million in carefully targeted tax cuts proposed earlier this
year by Governor Charlie Baker. Instead, lawmakers opted to
find more ways to spend that money.
Since state tax revenues continue to exceed expectations —
thus far by at least $1.5 billion, increasing about 15
percent over the previous fiscal year — there is no reason
to abandon the prospect of tax cuts, many of them targeted
toward those who continue to struggle with the rising costs
of rent, food, and child care, along with incomes that
haven’t kept pace.
“As inflation continues to rip around here, not doing
something for renters, not doing something for low-income
folks, not doing something for seniors, not doing something
for a lot of the people — the child-care piece, in
particular, the dependent-care piece — we should do these,”
Baker told reporters at the State House recently. “I mean,
this is exactly when you should do it.”
Baker’s tax proposals aren’t dead. In fact, they are still
up for consideration by the House Revenue Committee. But the
House Ways and Means Committee’s decision to decouple them
from the budget process does put them at a certain political
disadvantage.
Sure, the House budget, which would increase spending by
nearly $1.4 billion more than that proposed by the governor,
makes significant increases in education at all levels, from
early education right through higher ed (although apparently
not enough to stave off a tuition hike at the University of
Massachusetts). And it picks up funding for universal school
meals that during the pandemic had been covered by federal
funds. The price tag for that is $110 million.
The House budget also funds innovative efforts in the
criminal justice system, including $20 million to cover the
cost of inmate phone calls and $2.5 million for a pilot
program in correctional facilities to treat severe mental
illness. And it keeps Baker’s proposal to waive probation
and parole fees.
“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 on the day the House budget was released.
“Strengthening these underpinnings is the most important
thing we can do right now,” he added.
Some working parents and seniors might beg to differ.
Baker proposed to double the allowable tax credits for
dependent children and child care, a move that would put
$167 million back in the pockets of 700,000 families.
Increasing the cap on rent deductions from $3,000 to $5,000
would mean $77 million in tax breaks for working families,
and raising the income level at which people are required to
file an income tax return would give 234,000 low-income
taxpayers a break, according to the Baker administration, at
a cost to the Treasury of $41 million.
The administration also proposed doubling the
circuit-breaker real estate tax credit for income-eligible
seniors, a $77 million item.
Also high on the list was making long-overdue changes in the
Massachusetts estate tax, not just by doubling the threshold
at which it takes effect — from $1 million to $2 million —
but also by fixing the state’s outlier status as the only
place in the nation where if an estate goes over that $1
million mark it gets taxed from dollar-one. Baker’s bill
would apply the tax only to the amount over the new $2
million threshold.
The cost in foregone revenue is estimated at $231 million.
But that figure doesn’t begin to calculate how much revenue
is already being lost by retirees deciding to call Florida
or New Hampshire home long before that day of tax reckoning
arrives.
Massachusetts has been both fortunate and wise during these
pandemic years. While individuals have indeed suffered, the
economy has rebounded in record time and in astonishing
ways. This abundance deserves to be shared with those in
need, and it presents an opportunity to fix a tax that badly
needs fixing.
There is still time to do that — either during the budget
debate next week or as part of a freestanding but must-pass
piece of legislation. If ever there were a moment to give
taxpayers a break, this is it — even we-know-best
legislators should recognize that.
The Boston
Globe
Tuesday, April 19, 2022
Baker, advocates press for tax cuts ahead of House budget
debate
By Samantha J. Gross
With tax revenues over projections and inflation squeezing
spenders at the checkout line, Governor Charlie Baker on
Tuesday worked to build support for a tax package that he
said would give nearly $700 million back to taxpayers in the
form of new tax breaks and other reforms.
Flanked by representatives from the Massachusetts Taxpayers
Foundation, Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, the
Retailers Association of Massachusetts, and others during a
Tax Day news conference, Baker argued that the state can
afford both more targeted spending on programs like early
childhood education as well as tax relief. He called the
state’s fiscal health ”a surplus beyond one’s imagination.”
Through March, the state had collected $3.6 billion above
what it initially projected for the fiscal year, Baker’s
finance secretary Michael J. Heffernan announced Tuesday.
“We can afford to give money back to the taxpayers,” Baker
said. “The Commonwealth is in a very unique and unusual
position ... we are currently running a budget surplus that
is billions of dollars above our benchmark for the second
year in a row. These are billions with a ‘B.’”
Baker filed the legislation in January, and as inflation has
gotten worse, he’s emphasized it’s a top priority in his
last budget cycle in office.
His news conference came a week before the state House of
Representatives will debate its version of the state budget,
which notably did not include the governor’s tax relief
plan.
The Baker package would raise the income level at which
people are required to file an income tax return, increase
the cap on rent deductions, double the threshold for the
state’s estate tax from $1 million to $2 million, and double
the allowable tax credits for dependent children and child
care.
The House budget would increase spending by nearly $1.4
billion more than the spending package proposed by the
governor. The budget includes targeted spending on an array
of programs focused on populations such as children in
public schools and the incarcerated.
The state is so flush with cash, Baker said, that it’s
possible to achieve both his tax-reduction priorities and
the spending goals of House leaders.
“I think there is plenty of room to make sure that we make
the investments we all need to make on behalf of the people
of Massachusetts,” he said.
Eileen McAnneny, president of the business-backed
Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, told the Globe in an
interview that the Legislature should take advantage of the
“enviable” position Massachusetts finds itself this year.
“You can do tax relief and you can increase targeted
spending,” McAnneny said. “There is a path forward to do
both.”
The House is expected to take up the budget next week, and
some tax relief such as a suspension of the gas tax and a
reworking of the estate tax were among the 1,521 amendments
filed.
Others ranged from more money for towns that don’t offer
kindergarten, local projects like dog parks and library
improvements, and training for House members on how to
distinguish between the reply and reply-all buttons when
responding to a building-wide email.
While Baker’s proposal is not included in the budget — and
was filed separately from Baker’s own budget plan — it is up
for consideration by the Joint Committee on Revenue.
Representative Mark Cusack, the House chairman of the Joint
Committee on Revenue, said the governor’s proposal is
“obviously still alive,” and that the committee may extend
its May 4 deadline in order to take it up.
“There is an overreaction from the business community,”
Cusack, a Braintree Democrat, said of the Tuesday news
conference. “We are working on it. There are 200 members of
the Legislature, it’s not just the governor.”
When asked by the Globe Tuesday whether he thinks his
proposal will get a favorable nod from the committee, Baker
threw his arms up to mimic a shrug.
“There’s a long way to go between now and the end of the
year,” he said. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this
particular business is that predictions on how the
legislative process is going to work usually end badly.”
State House News
Service
Tuesday, April 19, 2022
CPAs, Retailers and Think Tanks Back Baker Tax Relief
'The Taxman is Winning ... The Taxpayer is Losing,' Hurst
Says
By Chris Lisinski
Complicated sections of tax law that make Massachusetts an
"outlier" compared to other states saddle public accountants
with unnecessary strain and prevent them from focusing on
their clients' best interests, the head of an industry group
said Tuesday.
Warning that the Bay State is "way out of the mainstream" on
its approach to the estate tax in particular, Massachusetts
Society of CPAs President Amy Pitter joined a cadre of
business leaders calling on state lawmakers to approve Gov.
Charlie Baker's proposal for $700 million in tax relief.
The package of cuts and reforms, which has not yet gained
traction among Democrat legislative leaders, would bring
Massachusetts more in line with peer states and offer
greater "simplicity" to taxpayers and accountants, Pitter, a
former state commissioner of revenue, said.
"People have asked me: isn't complex tax law good for your
members because it gives them more work to do? Well, the
answer is no," Pitter said at an event in Baker's State
House office, flanked by the governor, his top deputies and
representatives from business groups. "What it does is
prevent our members from doing what they really want to do,
which is advising their small business and other clients on
how to be successful in Massachusetts and divert their
attention to following arcane rules."
Alongside his annual budget bill, Baker in January filed
legislation to create new tax breaks for renters, seniors,
parents and low-income workers and to overhaul estate and
capital gains taxes.
Tuesday's event -- which coincided with Tax Day -- marked
the administration's latest volley aimed at swaying top
Democrats, who have kept the proposal in play for the
four-plus months remaining in the 2021-2022 session but have
not yet lined up behind it.
Several of the think tank and business leaders who joined
Baker at the State House linked the tax relief proposal to
the skyrocketing pace of inflation, calling for action to
relieve the financial burden many residents face as they
work to recover from two harrowing years during the
pandemic.
"The cost at the checkout line is getting exorbitant for our
working families, and yes, their incomes are up -- in fact,
the average weekly wage in Massachusetts went up 14 percent
in Massachusetts last year. That probably means for the
taxman some pretty good collections on the income taxes
today," said Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers
Association of Massachusetts. "The taxman is winning,
whether it's on real estate taxes, income taxes, sales
taxes, yet the consumer, the taxpayer, is losing."
Baker's bill (H 4361) would cut the tax rate on short-term
capital gains from 12 percent to 5 percent, double the
threshold for the estate tax to kick in from $1 million to
$2 million, and only tax the value of estates above $2
million rather than their full values.
His bill would also excuse some additional low-income
workers from the requirement to file taxes, double the
maximum senior circuit breaker tax credit, double the
dependent care tax credit, and increase the rent deduction
cap from $3,000 to $5,000.
Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito said Tuesday the rental reform would
"allow approximately 881,000 Massachusetts residents to keep
approximately $77 million each year," $34 million of which
would be concentrated in 20 "equity communities" hit hardest
by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Opponents of the package contend, however, that its relief
would be disproportionately provided to wealthy taxpayers
and businesses rather than Bay Staters most in need.
"The Governor's proposed package of tax cuts delivers over
half the total benefits to a small number of high-income
households. It should be a non-starter," the Massachusetts
Budget and Policy Center tweeted Tuesday afternoon, pointing
to its testimony opposing the bill.
Baker's pitch has not generated excitement among legislative
leaders. Although the standalone bill remains pending, House
Democrats opted not to bake any of the tax breaks into their
fiscal year 2023 state budget. House Speaker Ronald Mariano
said he and his team "felt they weren't necessary at the
time."
Instead, House leaders said they would rather inject
targeted spending into areas of need, like the early
education and care sector, rather than direct dollars back
to taxpayers.
Baker argued Tuesday that he does not view a "trade-off" as
necessary. With state tax revenues surging, another year-end
surplus appearing inevitable and billions more still
available in untapped one-time federal aid, Massachusetts
"can afford to give money back to the taxpayers," he said.
"The commonwealth's in a very unique and unusual position
where we have the ability to continue to adequately support
and fund our state programs and local governments," Baker
said. "Cities and towns currently have $2 billion in federal
ESSER money that they haven't put to work yet. The
commonwealth has billions of dollars in federal money it
hasn't put to work yet. We're currently running a budget
surplus that is billions of dollars above our original
benchmark for the second year in a row. These are billions
with a B."
"I think there's plenty of room there to figure out some way
to make sure that we make the investments we all need to
make on behalf of the people of Massachusetts," Baker added
when asked about the House budget plan.
Lawmakers gave the Revenue Committee until May 4 to work
through Baker's bill and make a recommendation on its fate,
though that date could get pushed back once again.
The governor hesitated to estimate the bill's chances of
receiving a favorable recommendation, saying that
"predictions on how the legislative process are going to
work usually end badly."
On format, though, Baker indicated he is open-minded.
Although he made his tax relief bill a central piece of his
state budget proposal, Baker said he would be fine with
lawmakers tackling the reforms in standalone legislation or
as part of a spending plan.
"Either one works," Baker said. "There's a lot that's going
on and a lot that will need to go on. I think dealing with
this in or out of the budget process -- it's not that hard
to reconcile one way or the other, and we've done tax policy
outside of the budget process several times over the course
of the past 10 years or so."
CommonWealth
Magazine
Tuesday, April 19, 2022
Baker, with business backing, renews push for tax relief
Governor says Massachusetts has money to support cuts while
supporting programs
By Shira Schoenberg
Gov. Charlie Baker is using tax filing day to publicly urge
lawmakers to adopt his $700 million tax break plan – a call
House leaders have so far ignored.
“There’s no better time than tax day to talk about why we
should be investing in the people in Massachusetts whose
hard work has generated an enormous surplus here,” Baker
said at a press conference in his State House office,
surrounded by supporters of his bill, primarily from the
business community.
Baker’s fiscal 2023 budget proposal included tax breaks for
seniors, renters, low-income taxpayers, and parents of
dependent children. It would modify the estate tax and lower
the tax rate on short-term capital gains. The proposal comes
as Massachusetts is awash in money from state tax revenues
and federal COVID recovery aid.
But the House Ways and Means Committee, in a budget proposal
that will be debated by the full House next week, declined
to adopt any tax changes. House Ways and Means chair Aaron
Michlewitz said House leaders prioritized reinvesting in
programs and services, like early childhood education and
job training.
The debate is turning into a fundamental disagreement
between the Republican governor and the Democratic-led
House.
But Baker disagreed with the framing of investments versus
tax breaks. “I don’t look at the tax package and say is this
the sort of thing we should trade off against this or that,”
Baker said. He said the state is in a unique position to be
able to support programs and cut taxes.
At Tuesday’s press conference, Baker, Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito,
and Administration and Finance Secretary Michael Heffernan
argued that revenues are soaring and the state can easily
afford to give taxpayers a break at a time when inflation is
increasing costs for goods and services and housing prices
are rising.
Heffernan said tax collections, as of March, were $3.6
billion above expectations for the fiscal year that ends in
June. “We can afford to provide tax relief, and returning
surplus tax revenues is the right thing to do to provide
relief to hard working taxpayers after two very difficult
years,” Heffernan said.
John Regan, president and CEO of Associated Industries of
Massachusetts, said similarly, “The state’s awash in money,
the people could really use a break.”
Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation president Eileen McAnneny
said the state’s large rainy day fund, combined with soaring
tax revenues and federal revenues make this an “appropriate
time to provide the people of Massachusetts with much needed
tax relief, particularly against the backdrop of inflation.”
McAnneny said remote work has made it easier for workers to
relocate, so it is more vital that Massachusetts has a tax
climate suitable to attracting and retaining talent. She
said the estate tax and short-terms capital gains tax are
some of the state’s more onerous tax provisions.
Baker wants to tax short-term capital gains at 5 percent,
instead of the current 12 percent. He would raise the
threshold at which the estate tax kicks in from $1 million
to $2 million, while only taxing income above
that amount. Today, Massachusetts is tied with Oregon for
the lowest estate tax threshold, but Oregon only taxes the
amount of the estate that exceeds $1 million, while
Massachusetts taxes its entire value.
Amy Pitter, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Society
of CPAs, said, “Any time we’re an outlier, doing things
dramatically differently from other states, it makes things
more complicated and makes us less inviting as a state.”
As the debate moves forward, Baker said his administration
is talking to individual lawmakers about how tax relief will
help their constituents. “There’s a reason many Democrats
and Republicans support one version or another of virtually
every tax proposal made here,” Baker said.
House Speaker Ron Mariano has not closed the door on passing
a tax bill separate from the state budget, and the governor
said he is not concerned whether it passes in the budget or
as a standalone bill.
Baker declined to predict his chances of success.
“Predictions on how the legislative process is going to work
usually end badly,” Baker said.
The Boston
Herald
Tuesday, April 19, 2022
Charlie Baker assembles business community
to tout tax cut plan for Tax Day
By Amy Sokolow
Gov. Charlie Baker assembled a broad swath of
representatives from the Bay State’s business community on
Tax Day to advocate for his tax plan, which would include
broad cuts for low-income families, renters, seniors and
others.
“With residents and families continuing to face rising
costs, Massachusetts should take action and pass tax cuts
that will reduce costs and give taxpayers a break,” Baker
said. “Revenues continue to exceed expectations, so it’s
time to give some of this surplus revenue back to
taxpayers.”
Massachusetts has seen historically high revenue levels, in
part thanks to an influx of federal dollars from the
American Rescue Plan. Last fiscal year, the state ended with
a $5 billion surplus. Already, state revenues beat
projections by $856 million in January, $293 million in
February and $427 million in March.
Baker invited guest speakers including Eileen McAnneny,
president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, Amy
Pitter, president and CEO of MassCPAs, Jon Hurst of the
Retailers Association of Massachusetts, John Regan of
Associated Industries of Massachusetts and Carolyn Ryan of
the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, to advocate for his
plan.
Last week, the House Ways and Means Committee unveiled a
nearly $50 billion spending package for the next fiscal
year, which did not include the nearly $700 million in
proposed tax cuts Baker proposed.
“We can afford to give money back to the taxpayers,” Baker
said in response to a question about the House’s omission.
“We claim to be one of the most progressive states in the
country in terms of what we do (for) low-income wage
earners… We should step up and do the right thing on behalf
of those folks.”
“The loss of workforce that Massachusetts has been
experiencing throughout the pandemic makes having a
proactive strategy to retain and attract talent critical to
our future economic vitality. The governor’s tax package
represents an important initial step,” McAnneny of MTF said.
“Other states are advertising on billboards, and they’re
targeting Massachusetts with proactive attraction strategies
for both talent and businesses,” Ryan of the Greater Boston
Chamber of Commerce added. “After decades of knowing that
the region’s workforce quality and business ecosystems were
enough to attract and keep businesses and jobs here, it’s
time to shift our thinking.”
Baker’s bill would raise the estate tax threshold from $1
million to $2 million, cut the tax rate in half for
short-term capital gains, raise the income threshold for
low-income residents to be exempt from income taxes, and
include other benefits for seniors, renters and those who
care for dependents.
Baker also dug into the state’s estate tax, one of only two
in the country that kicks in at $1 million.
“There’s a big coalition of Democrats and Republicans who
support doing something about the estate tax because they
have watched many of their residents leave, and move and
take with them their income, their philanthropy and
everything else,” he said. “This is an extraordinary
opportunity to do something for a bunch of people who
deserve the relief.”
The Salem
News
Thursday, April 21, 2022
House Republicans renew push for tax cuts
By Christian M. Wade | Statehouse Reporter
House Republicans are angling to include parts of Gov.
Charlie Baker’s stalled tax relief package and a gas tax
holiday into next year’s state budget.
GOP lawmakers have filed proposed amendments to fiscal year
2023 budget — debate on which gets underway next week —
calling for lowering the capital gains tax to 5% from the
current 14% and increase the threshold at which the state’s
estate or “death” tax kicks in from $1 million to $2
million.
The proposals mirror a tax relief package filed by Baker as
part of his preliminary budget plan, which Democratic House
leaders stripped from their version of the spending package
they unveiled last week.
Earlier this week, Baker joined a group of business leaders
to push for approval of his tax relief package.
“I think in many respects, these tax breaks are talking
about millions of people, when you put them all together,
who would benefit,” the Republican said at a briefing.
Baker’s buffet of tax cuts call 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 for a major overhaul of the state’s estate
or “death” tax.
House Speaker Ron Mariano, D-Quincy, rejected the governor’s
tax cuts in the House version of the $49.6 billion budget,
saying he wants to focus on expanding childcare options,
implementing criminal justice reforms, and other key
Democratic issues.
House Republicans are also making a renewed push to suspend
the state’s 24-cent gas tax to provide relief for consumers
at the pumps with several amendments to the budget plan.
One proposal, filed by Rep. Timothy Whelan, R-Brewster,
would suspend the gas tax until the average price of filling
up drops below $3.70 a gallon. Another proposed amendment
would to drop the gas tax from July through the end of the
year.
Gas prices in Massachusetts were averaging about $4.21 per
gallon Thursday, according to the American Automobile
Association of the Northeast’s weekly survey.
Massachusetts drivers pay a total of 44.9 cents per gallon
in gasoline taxes, including state and federal taxes,
according to the American Petroleum Institute.
But Democrats argue that a gas tax holiday would siphon away
millions of dollars the state uses for collateral to pay off
bonds, which would hurt its bonding rate. They also question
whether it will provide much relief for the average driver.
The Democratic-led House and Senate rejected a proposed
amendment suspending the gas tax that GOP lawmakers sought
to tack onto its version of the supplemental budget,
approved several weeks ago.
But Republicans argue that a gas tax holiday is doable —
given that the state is flush with surplus revenue and
federal pandemic relief money — and would provide
much-needed relief for Bay Staters who are paying some of
the highest gas prices on record.
Overall, House lawmakers had loaded up their version of the
budget with more than 1,500 amendments as of Thursday, with
debate on the spending package set to begin next week.
If previous budget cycles are a guide, most of the proposed
amendments will either be withdrawn or rejected before they
even come up for a vote.
— Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts
Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and
websites.
State House News
Service
Wednesday, April 20, 2022
Surging State Tax Revenues Prompt Calls for More Local Aid
By Colin A. Young
Municipal officials are pleased with some of the House
budget's local and education aid provisions, but they have
also noticed the recent trend of strong state tax
collections and are hoping the Legislature will take
advantage of the cash surge to further increase local aid.
Administration and Finance Secretary Michael Heffernan told
the Local Government Advisory Committee on Wednesday that
state tax collections through March were $2.184 billion
ahead of expectations with three months left in fiscal year
2022. The town manager for Sandwich told Heffernan that
local officials are very happy about the state's good
fortune.
"And we're very optimistic that this will prompt the
Legislature to build on the increase in unrestricted general
government aid," George "Bud" Dunham said, referring to the
fiscal 2023 House budget plan that calls for about $1.2
billion in so-called UGGA, an increase of about $31 million
over the current year's budget.
The House budget, which is due to be debated by
representatives next week, also increases the minimum
per-student school aid amount from $30 to $60 and
accelerates by one year the charter school reimbursement
process. Dunham said Wednesday that the increase in minimum
per-pupil aid "has a significant impact positively on the
136 school districts that are minimum aid districts like
Sandwich."
And the charter school reimbursement section, he said, will
"help offset the extraordinary costs of sending students to
charter school." Sandwich paid just over $3.9 million to
send students to charter schools in fiscal 2022 and the town
was reimbursed $250,000, Dunham said.
"So this trend has existed for over 17 years and if you do
the math, Sandwich has lost more than $15 million in
reimbursements over that period," he said. "So while those
losses can never be recouped, we're very grateful to see
that the charter reimbursement amounts have more than
doubled for FY 23."
State House News
Service
Wednesday, April 20, 2022
Farmers Warn of Unintended Surtax Consequences
By Chris Lisinski
Most Massachusetts family farmers do not earn enough for a
surtax on household income above $1 million to hit their
regular paychecks, but they could feel significant effects
if they sell off land or if larger businesses leave the
state, opponents of the proposal said Wednesday.
With the long-debated measure on track to be decided by
voters in November, a string of local farmers joined the
Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance to sound the alarm that the 4
percent surtax would increase the financial strain they face
in an already-challenging industry.
Leo Cakounes, who runs Harwich's Cape Farm Supply and
Cranberry Company, said he previously did business with a
company in Carver that purchased his crops and packaged them
as sweetened dried cranberries, but that company has since
sold to a Canadian entity. While the ballot question aims at
household income, Cakounes and the groups opposing the
measure said they believe its passage will prompt additional
business departures from Massachusetts.
"I can't stress enough how people have to look out of the
box when you're looking at proposals such as this," Cakounes
said at a virtual press conference MassFiscal hosted. "It's
not just those millionaires that are making x amount of
dollars a year. It has a trickle-down effect when large
companies and large businesses no longer want to do business
in this state. It's going to affect me, who quite honestly
has never seen a million dollars of income in family farm
products in my 20 years in the cranberry business."
Massachusetts legislators have approved advancing the surtax
-- sometimes referred to as the Fair Share Amendment or
millionaire's tax -- to the November 2022 ballot, where
voters are set to determine its fate.
CommonWealth
Magazine
Friday, April 22, 2022
Mass. farmers raise concerns about millionaire tax
Bruce Mohl -- CommonWealth editor
Polling suggests the millionaire tax is popular with voters
because it targets the uber-wealthy -- after all, someone
earning so much money should be able to afford paying an
extra 4 percent on any income over $1 million.
The challenge for opponents of the November ballot question
is to convince voters that the tax doesn’t just hit the
wealthy, that it can sometimes target people struggling to
get by.
The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance attempted to do just that
this week by bringing together eight of the state’s farmers,
people who work the land cultivating cranberries, growing
fresh vegetables, milking cows, raising animals, and tapping
trees for maple syrup.
The farmers said they aren’t millionaires, but they could be
hit with the tax if they are forced to sell off a chunk of
their land to make ends meet or to finance their retirement.
The capital gain on the sale of the land could exceed a
million dollars and subject them to the surtax, they said.
Leon Ripley of Maple Corner Farm in the Berkshires makes a
living on his 600 acres by producing and selling maple
syrup, operating a cross country ski center, and growing
blueberries. He says the rising cost of fertilizer and fuel
is squeezing his business this year.
“We will never make a million dollars,” he said. “If we
cannot succeed in all ventures, we are probably going to
have to sell some of the property eventually and [the tax]
would affect us. An additional [4] percent would be an
enormous burden if we sell the property.”
Leo Cakounes, who grows cranberries in Harwich, feels the
same way. “Quite frankly, I paid more in taxes in the last
couple years than I’ve made in the last 20 years. I can’t
stress enough how people have to look out of the box when
they’re looking at proposals such as this. It’s not just
those millionaires that are making X amount of dollars a
year. It has a trickle-down effect when large companies and
large businesses no longer want to do business in this
state. It’s going to affect me, who quite honestly has never
seen a million dollars of income in family farm products in
my 20 years in the cranberry business. This is going to
affect me, I guarantee it.”
Supporters of the millionaire tax say these types of
situations would be rare -- once-in-a-lifetime events. They
also point out that the tax would only be paid on the
capital gain from a sale, not the sale price itself, making
it less likely the threshold would be hit.
But Wayne Whittier of Whittier Farms in Sutton said the mere
existence of such a tax creates uncertainty for farmers and
other small business owners. “We have some great
relationships with other small businesses and they’re also
concerned. What if I need to sell my business or pass it
through to my offspring to continue, what are the tax
implications down the line?” he asked. “I really hope it
doesn’t pass.”
The Boston
Herald
Thursday, April 21, 2022
A Boston Herald editorial
Farmers to reap pain if Millionaires Tax passes
The lawmakers behind the proposed “Millionaires Tax” in
Massachusetts see the move as a way to pump cash into the
state’s coffers.
They missed the part in which cash drains from small
companies reliant on larger businesses bearing the burden of
the tax hike.
Companies large and small often have a symbiotic
relationship, and a blow to the big players can have
devastating effects on smaller entities.
Case in point: Bay State farmers.
A group of local farmers joined a virtual press conference
with the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance Wednesday to call out
the 4% surtax as one more financial burden in an industry
facing many.
Paul Craney, spokesperson for MassFiscal, noted that most
family farmers in the state don’t clear $1 million, which
would trigger the surtax, but if they sell part of their
property to reinvest in their farms, or large businesses
leave Massachusetts, the pain would be significant.
Recall dairy company Horizon Organic, which pulled out of
the Northeast last year, cutting ties with nearly 100 dairy
farmers in the region. Almost overnight, their market was
gone.
That should have been a wakeup call that smaller businesses
are often dependent on larger ones to succeed, but Beacon
Hill hit the snooze button.
Now the state’s facing a 4% surtax added to the 5% flat
state individual income tax rate and a top federal
individual income tax rate of 37%. If the amendment is
adopted this November, the combined federal-state marginal
tax rate on ordinary income for high-income earners in
Massachusetts will be 46% in 2023 (lower rates will apply to
dividends and capital gains), as The Hill reported.
And when the going gets tight, those being squeezed will
head for the exits.
Leo Cakounes, who runs Harwich’s Cape Farm Supply and
Cranberry Co., said Wednesday that he previously did
business with a company in Carver that purchased his crops
and packaged them as sweetened dried cranberries, but that
company has since been sold to a Canadian firm.
Cakounes and the groups against the surtax said they believe
it will spur more businesses to leave Massachusetts.
“I can’t stress enough how people have to look out of the
box when you’re looking at proposals such as this,” Cakounes
said during the virtual press conference. “It’s not just
those millionaires that are making x amount of dollars a
year. It has a trickle-down effect when large companies and
large businesses no longer want to do business in this
state. It’s going to affect me, who quite honestly has never
seen a million dollars of income in family farm products in
my 20 years in the cranberry business.”
Proponents of the surtax couch it in
hurray-for-the-little-guy terms, calling it the Fair Share
Amendment. This fits with the view of big corporations and
high earners as cartoon villains, rubbing their hands in
gleeful greed.
But they are links in the economic chain, one that keeps
family farms working for another generation, and lets other
small business owners sell their firms and retire.
There’s nothing “fair” about ignoring the collateral damage
inflicted on hard-working people.
No matter what you call it, the Millionaires Tax is a bad
idea.
The Salem
News
Friday, April 22, 2022
Baker unveils $3.5B economic development plan
By Christian M. Wade, Statehouse reporter
Gov. Charlie Baker rolled out a $3.5 billion economic
development proposal Thursday that calls for leveraging
federal pandemic relief funds to spruce up downtowns, build
more housing and fund clean energy projects.
Speaking from a site along Lynn’s waterfront where a new
housing complex is rising from a once-vacant lot, Baker said
the legislative package calls for tapping into $2.3 billion
in American Rescue Plan Act funds and borrowing $1.2 billion
to fund economic development programs and hundreds of
shovel-ready local projects.
“These investments will strengthen our state’s
infrastructure, create jobs and provide investments in all
351 cities and towns for dedicated funding for projects and
initiatives in every community,” Baker said at the briefing.
“We think this puts Massachusetts in the best possible
position to come out of the pandemic.”
Baker’s plan also calls for spending $1.2 billion on
environmental protection and climate change adaptation,
including $750 million specifically for clean energy
projects.
Kathleen Theoharides, secretary of the state Executive
Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, said the
spending plan includes a “record level” of funding for clean
energy that would be a “game changer” for a litany of
environmental initiatives.
The proposal also includes $60 million for water and sewer
projects, such as improving water quality along the
Merrimack River and other bodies of water, where aging
outfalls tip hundreds of millions of gallons of sewage into
the Merrimack, Mystic and Connecticut rivers each year.
Theoharides said those projects are aimed at ensuring that
the state’s “drinking water is clean, our beaches are
swimmable and that our rivers are not carrying dirty,
polluted water.”
Baker has filed a separate proposal to spend $9.7 billion on
infrastructure improvements over the next five years by
leveraging existing state and federal dollars to take
advantage of new federal matching grants. That measure is
being considered by the state Legislature.
The state expects to get $5.3 billion from the American
Relief Plan Act, a $1.9 trillion stimulus package signed by
President Joe Biden, over the next five years.
Baker and lawmakers passed a $4 billion spending bill last
year that channels a sizable chunk of that money, along with
state surplus funds, to the state’s health care system,
housing, workforce development, transportation upgrades and
environmental protection.
Under the new law, ARPA funds must be committed by states by
the end of 2024 and spent by the end of 2026. Otherwise,
they will be returned to the federal government.
Baker said there is a sense of urgency to move ahead with
his new development plan to get the financing in place for
redevelopment projects, given the likelihood of delays from
global supply chain issues.
“This is a lot of money and a lot of projects and we need to
get going now if we’re going to get them done over the next
few years,” he said. “Many of these communities have done a
lot of work put projects before us. ... What they need is
resources and certainty from the Commonwealth.”
While the pandemic disrupted normal activity along Main
streets across the state, Baker says that’s an opportunity
to rethink redevelopment in many downtowns.
“Downtowns are going to be different,” he said. “The goal
here is to make sure it makes them better. We have a big
opportunity here and we need to get started.”
— Christian M. Wade covers
the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media
Group’s newspapers and websites.
State House News
Service
Friday, April 22, 2022
Weekly Roundup - Easier Being Green
Recap and analysis of the week in state government
By Colin A. Young
It was a big week for Earth or at least a big week for
talking about how much everyone loves and wants to protect
the only planet known to support human life.
Environmental and climate topics are popular year-round on
Beacon Hill, but the third stone from the sun and talk of
its fate seemed to be on most lips this week. Friday capped
the week off with a flurry of pro-Earth platitudes to mark
Earth Day.
In the realm of more meaningful environmental measures,
gubernatorial candidate Maura Healey released her campaign's
climate plan this week and announced the endorsements of the
two chairmen of the Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy
Committee, Healey's Democratic primary opponent Sonia
Chang-Diaz touted her own support among environmentalists,
and a special task force released 30 recommendations for
dealing with so-called forever chemicals that don't break
down entirely and instead leech into drinking water and
soil, where they are thought to contribute to serious and
negative health impacts like thyroid disease and kidney
cancer.
"PFAS is present in the textiles, some of the clothing I bet
each of us is wearing this morning, maybe is present in a
pan you made your eggs in, is present in food packaging, in
children's products, in you name it. There's a real ubiquity
there," Sen. Julian Cyr, who co-chaired the task force,
said.
Cyr's co-chair, House Speaker Pro Tempore Kate Hogan, said
Wednesday that she is eyeing "funding opportunities and
mechanisms to advance some of the recommendations in the
report" before this legislative session wraps up and Gov.
Charlie Baker might have created a meaningful opening for
that plan on Thursday.
"Happy #EarthDay! ?? Clean energy is a critical component of
our strategy to achieve the state's net zero goal by 2050.
That's why we filed legislation to direct $750M in funding
to support the continued growth and development of the
industry," Baker tweeted Friday morning, referring to
funding included in the $3.5 billion economic development
bill he filed Thursday.
With $1.2 billion in state bond authorization and the $2.3
billion that remains from the state's American Rescue Plan
Act pot, Baker's bill is designed to reinvigorate downtowns
and prepare them for post-pandemic realities, but it also
proposes to pump significant money into things like clean
energy innovation, climate resilience projects and more.
Of the roughly $2.27 billion of ARPA money that Baker's bill
would spend, slightly more than half ($1.17 billion) would
be directed towards climate or environmental infrastructure,
which Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen
Theoharides said is probably "the largest investment the
state has ever put towards this kind of thing."
That's more than triple the ARPA money that the bill would
spend for the next-largest bucket, community economic
development ($311.5 million).
"In total, the Governor's bill includes 614 environmental,
climate and economic development earmarks and guarantees
each of the state's 351 cities and towns at least $250,000
in dedicated funds," the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation
said in its analysis of Baker's bill. The group points out
that it is unusual for a governor to earmark appropriations
so specifically because it then limits flexibility when
distributing funds.
"The benefit of this approach is it provides legislators and
communities with certainty as to how such appropriations
will be distributed and alleviates concerns that the
Legislature is ceding control over how [Fiscal Recovery
Funds] resources are used," MTF said.
While Democrats in the House and Senate are nearly certain
to return some version of Baker's economic development bill
to his desk by the end of July (with some of their own
priorities and earmarks attached, of course), the fate of
the public safety bill the governor is hoping to sign before
leaving office is far less certain.
Pending the Senate's agreement, the Judiciary Committee will
now have until June 30 to decide what to do with Baker's
pre-trial detention bill (H 4290). The governor, lieutenant
governor and other administration officials were in Salem on
Wednesday where Baker said they "heard once again from
survivors, their families and advocates that there is more
we can and should be doing to protect the brave men, women
and children who have been traumatized by violent offenders
and predators."
It was the latest in a series of survivor roundtables Baker
and Polito have held around the state as they turn up the
heat on lawmakers who have been cool to the proposal to
expand the list of offenses considered grounds for a
dangerousness hearing since it was first filed in 2018.
"I think certainly Gov. Baker has been quite vocal and
active advocating for his legislation. We have also heard
from civil liberties groups like the ACLU and domestic
violence groups, Jane Doe., about the unexpected or
concerning prospects of the bill impacting people of color,"
Sen. Jamie Eldridge, who co-chairs the Judiciary Committee,
said early in the week.
Baker was also busy Tuesday calling attention to another of
his legislative priorities in limbo -- the $700 million tax
relief proposal that Democrats in the Legislature have not
embraced but also have not totally ruled out. To mark Tax
Day, the governor assembled the heads of various industry
and trade groups to demonstrate their support for his bill.
"The cost at the checkout line is getting exorbitant for our
working families, and yes, their incomes are up -- in fact,
the average weekly wage in Massachusetts went up 14 percent
in Massachusetts last year. That probably means for the
taxman some pretty good collections on the income taxes
today," Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of
Massachusetts, said. "The taxman is winning, whether it's on
real estate taxes, income taxes, sales taxes, yet the
consumer, the taxpayer, is losing."
The governor's tax relief bill (H 4361) is still technically
alive on its own, but House leadership opted to build its
$49.6 billion budget plan for fiscal year 2023 without
incorporating any of Baker's suggestions. "We felt they
weren't necessary at the time," Mariano said.
The speaker has not closed the door entirely to tax relief,
but leadership also has not put forward its own plan to
address the crunch taxpayers face as inflation soars and the
cost of everyday goods steadily climbs. Mariano would rather
reinvest the state's surging revenues into things like early
education and care, and Baker said this week that he doesn't
think a "trade-off" is necessary and would be fine with his
ideas advancing either as part of the budget or as
standalone post-budget legislation.
"Either one works," Baker said. He added, "I think dealing
with this in or out of the budget process -- it's not that
hard to reconcile one way or the other."
The speaker has said much of the same, telling reporters
during a budget briefing last week that "because of the
surpluses we are in a unique opportunity" when asked about
squaring a budget built on one set of tax policy with a
hypothetical set of tax policy changes.
Commuters and travelers noticed a big change this week after
a federal judge sitting in Florida struck down the
nationwide mandate that public transportation riders wear
masks on trains, planes and in shared automobiles. Massport
and the MBTA stopped enforcing the mandate Tuesday.
STORY OF THE WEEK: Helping the environment and trying to
counteract the effects of climate change were hot topics of
conversation and Gov. Baker's massive economic development
bill could give Beacon Hill a chance to put its money where
its mouth is.
State House News
Service
Friday, April 22, 2022
Advances - Week of April 24, 2022
The House kicks off deliberations Monday on its $49.6
billion spending plan for the fiscal year that starts July
1, while the Senate, which meets in formal session Thursday,
could be moving towards a long-awaited vote on sports
betting legislation after a bill emerged Friday from the
Senate Ways and Means Committee.
With about
1,500 budget amendments pending, House lawmakers will
have plenty to mull over throughout the week. In fact, the
Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation says the 1,521 proposals
filed -- 36 of which were withdrawn by Friday morning --
represent the most budget amendments filed in more than a
decade. Almost three-quarters of those are earmarks for
specific projects or programs, clocking in at around $500
million, MTF said, and another 217 suggest new policy
sections.
Speaker Ron Mariano's office has scheduled at least four
days of formal sessions, with a potential formal penciled in
for Friday, too, and Ways and Means Chairman Aaron
Michlewitz said this week that he thought representatives
could make it through all the amendments in three to four
days.
If past House budget weeks are any guide, a lot of the
amendment decisions will be made away from the floor, in
closed-door meetings with Michlewitz and his team. With the
State House still gradually stirring back to its full
activity levels after a prolonged building closure and
COVID-19 metrics again ticking upwards, representatives this
year have the option of meeting with Michlewitz remotely or
in the pre-pandemic home for budget huddles, Room 348 in the
members' lounge. Mariano's office also told lawmakers they
can vote from the chamber or remotely, and that masks will
be made available at the chamber doors for those who would
like them.
To make quicker work of scores of budget amendments, the
House traditionally packages those covering similar topics
together into large consolidated amendments. A single vote
on one of those mega-amendments dispenses with all the
relevant individual amendments, either by adding a version
of them into the budget or discarding them.
Consolidated amendments are generally introduced with short
remarks from committee chairs, and don't generate much
debate. Debate can pop up, though, on individual amendments
and those that lawmakers pull out of the consolidated
packages.
One topic that could generate some back-and-forth is tax
policy, the subject of 19 amendments per MTF's tally. Four
of those relate to the gas tax, which House and Senate
Republicans have sought, unsuccessfully so far, to suspend,
despite continued opposition from Democratic leadership. The
budget could present a chance for the House's minority party
to get their colleagues' gas-tax stances on the record after
not forcing a roll call vote the last time Republican
representatives raised the issue. MTF said three other
amendments are similar to Gov. Charlie Baker's tax relief
proposal, which remains before the Revenue Committee along
with a slew of other bills.
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