In fact, many in Massachusetts have been taxed more than enough. Those in the lowest 20 percent of personal income pay more than twice as high a share to state and local taxes than those in the top 1 percent, according to the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy. Add in the state’s growing reliance on take-from-the-poor and give-to-everyone-else gambling revenue, and you have fertile territory for change.
And there’s another reason. Standard & Poor’s, hardly a left-wing think tank, is on board: With “rising income inequality, the move toward more progressive tax rates may help states generate faster tax revenue growth than would flatter tax regimes.’’
