Massachusetts
Mansion Global: Massachusetts Weighs Mansion Tax on $1 Million-Plus Homes
May 9, 2024 • By Andrew Boardman
Massachusetts could join the growing number of cities and states with a mansion tax on high-value properties, as it considers a proposal to levy an additional transfer fee on commercial and residential sales above $1 million. Read more.
Our Taxes Can Set Kids Up for Success
March 26, 2024 • By Brakeyshia Samms
Every child deserves the opportunity to succeed in society – and tax policy has a huge role to play in making that happen. Better tax policy can help prepare our young children with skills to become successful and thriving adults.
States Move to Tax the Top in 2024
March 20, 2024 • By Marco Guzman, Miles Trinidad
These forward-thinking states are demonstrating the wide variety of options for policymakers who want to raise more from the wealthiest people, rein in corporate tax avoidance, create fair tax codes and build strong communities.
Moving the Needle Toward Tax Fairness in the States
March 4, 2024 • By Jon Whiten
While many state lawmakers have spent the past few years debating deep and damaging tax cuts that disproportionately help the rich, more forward-thinking lawmakers have improved tax equity by raising new revenue from the well-off and creating or expanding refundable tax credits for low- and moderate-income families.
Massachusetts Budget & Policy Center: How Much Does the Millionaire Tax Improve Tax Fairness? How Does Massachusetts Compare Now to Other States?
January 10, 2024 • By ITEP Staff
A new 50-state analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) finds that Massachusetts’ recently adopted millionaire tax makes Massachusetts’ state and local tax system much more equitable. Even under current law, however, those with incomes over $1 million still will pay a smaller share of their income in state and local taxes […]
Massachusetts: Who Pays? 7th Edition
January 9, 2024 • By ITEP Staff
Massachusetts Download PDF All figures and charts show 2024 tax law in Massachusetts, presented at 2023 income levels. Senior taxpayers are excluded for reasons detailed in the methodology. Our analysis includes nearly all (99.8 percent) state and local tax revenue collected in Massachusetts. As seen in Appendix D, recent tax policy changes have significantly lessened […]
Massachusetts Budget & Policy Center: What’s Race Got to Do With It? Some Tax Proposals Would Widen Racial Inequality, Others Would Advance Equity
May 17, 2023 • By ITEP Staff
Lawmakers have proposed a variety of tax cuts, some of which would provide outsize benefits to the most affluent households and widen existing racial and economic disparities. Other proposed tax changes would make the Commonwealth more equitable by targeting benefits to lower-income households who need them the most. Read more.
Massachussets Budget & Policy Center: Taking Measure of the Governor’s Tax Plan
March 21, 2023 • By ITEP Staff
Governor Healey’s tax relief proposal would reduce state revenue available for future investments by $986 million annually. Three proposed tax credits would be progressive, meaning the benefits for lower-income households would be a larger percent of their income than the benefits for higher-income houseolds..1 The Governor also proposes two highly regressive tax cuts, meaning richer, higher-income households would receive […]
Why the States Have a Major Role to Play If We Want Tax Justice
February 9, 2023 • By Amy Hanauer
With fears of gridlock in a divided Washington, tax justice champions are building momentum in other places where there's dire need for better tax policy: the states. We can upgrade communities across the country by making 2023 a year to win tax improvements in statehouses.
Massachusetts Voters Score Win for Tax Fairness with ‘Fair Share Amendment’
November 9, 2022 • By Marco Guzman
In a significant victory for tax fairness, Massachusetts voters approved Question 1—commonly known as the Fair Share Amendment—Tuesday night with 52 percent of the vote. The new constitutional amendment creates a 4 percent surcharge on income over $1 million, and the revenue will specifically fund education and transportation projects in the Bay State.
Measures on the November Ballot Could Improve or Worsen State Tax Codes
October 26, 2022 • By Jon Whiten
In a couple of weeks, voters in a handful of states will weigh in on several tax-related ballot measures that could make state tax codes more equitable and raise money for public services, or take states in the opposite direction, making tax systems less fair and draining state coffers of dollars needed to maintain critical […]
Massachusetts Budget & Policy Center: Ending the Tax Penalty Against Working Immigrants: MA Should Follow Other States Extending EITC to Immigrant Tax Filers
May 17, 2021 • By ITEP Staff
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a key program for reducing poverty in the United States. Together with the federal Child Tax Credit, these low-income federal credits lifted 7.5 million households above the poverty line in 2019, more than any other program except Social Security. In Massachusetts, the EITC provides support to more than […]
Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center: Supporting Racial Equity and a Robust Recovery with a Corporate Income Tax Rate Increase
August 10, 2020 • By ITEP Staff
By returning the state corporate income tax to pre2010 rates, the Commonwealth could raise $375 million to $500 million a year to help fund a racially equitable, economically just, and robust recovery. As is now clear, low-income communities and communities of color have been hurt far more deeply by the COVID-19 pandemic than wealthier and […]
Sentinel & Enterprise: It’s Been a Year Without Equal
June 21, 2020 • By ITEP Staff
Instead, the last real action on the fiscal 2021 budget came in January when Baker rolled out a $44.6 billion spending plan that would have its underlying assumptions wiped away before lawmakers could try their hands at producing a budget of their own. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy this week said that “despite […]
Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center: The Gas Tax: What it is and Who Pays
January 31, 2020 • By ITEP Staff
Data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) detail how the current system of state and local taxes in Massachusetts is regressive, largely because the state uses a flat income tax rate and relies heavily on sales taxes. The chart above shows how an increase in the gas tax would make Massachusetts taxes […]
Many States Move Toward Higher Taxes on the Rich; Lower Taxes on Poor People
July 18, 2019 • By Meg Wiehe
Several states this year proposed or enacted tax policies that would require high-income households and/or businesses to pay more in taxes. After years of policymaking that slashed taxes for wealthy households and deprived states of revenue to adequately fund public services, this is a necessary and welcome reversal.
CommonWealth: Before the T Derailed, its Funding Got on the Wrong Track
July 16, 2019 • By ITEP Staff
Overall, funding for the Commonwealth during the last two decades has relied increasingly on sales taxes and regressive user fees, while cutting income tax rates. As a result, we have an upside-down tax system. Effectively, these taxes and fees make lower-income Massachusetts residents pay a higher percentage (10 percent) of their income in state and […]
MassBudget: Why Highest Incomes in Massachusetts Receive Most Tax Benefits from Charitable Deduction
February 11, 2019 • By ITEP Staff
Our Commonwealth does best when all people experience rising prosperity. But for several decades, the wealth and income of the top 1 percent of households has grown briskly while others have been left behind. While there are many reasons for this trend, one contributing factor is the way the federal tax deduction for charitable giving […]
MassBudget: 14 Options for Raising Progressive Revenue
January 14, 2019 • By ITEP Staff
People in Massachusetts seek to live in communities that provide a high quality of life for their family and neighbors. We value good schools, police and fire protection, libraries and parks, smooth roads and reliable transit, and supports to help families struggling through tough times. A community’s day-to-day well-being and its long-term prosperity are built […]
Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center: Who Pays? Low and Middle Earners in Massachusetts Pay Larger Share of their Incomes in Taxes
October 25, 2018 • By ITEP Staff
Taxes are the main way communities pay for the things we do together. Taxes pay for essential programs and infrastructure we take for granted, like fire protection, public education, and health inspectors; roads, bridges, and public transit; and the support for people facing hard times. Examining how much people at different income levels pay in taxes is important when considering the fairness of tax policy.
Massachusetts: Who Pays? 6th Edition
October 17, 2018 • By ITEP Staff
MASSACHUSETTS Read as PDF MASSACHUSETTS STATE AND LOCAL TAXES Taxes as Share of Family Income Top 20% Income Group Lowest 20% Second 20% Middle 20% Fourth 20% Next 15% Next 4% Top 1% Income Range Less than $23,100 $23,100 to $44,300 $44,300 to $74,600 $74,600 to $131,100 $131,100 to $279,600 $279,600 to $719,500 over $719,500 […]
Tax Cuts 2.0 – Massachusetts
September 26, 2018 • By ITEP Staff
The $2 trillion 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) includes several provisions set to expire at the end of 2025. Now, GOP leaders have introduced a bill informally called “Tax Cuts 2.0” or “Tax Reform 2.0,” which would make the temporary provisions permanent. And they falsely claim that making these provisions permanent will benefit […]
Building on Momentum from Recent Years, 2018 Delivers Strengthened Tax Credits for Workers and Families
July 10, 2018 • By Aidan Davis
Despite some challenging tax policy debates, a number of which hinged on states’ responses to federal conformity, 2018 brought some positive developments for workers and their families. This post updates a mid-session trends piece on this very subject. Here’s what we have been following:
Most States Have Raised Gas Taxes in Recent Years
May 22, 2018 • By Carl Davis
An updated version of this blog was published in April 2019. State tax policy can be a contentious topic, but in recent years there has been a remarkable level of agreement on one tax in particular: the gasoline tax. Increasingly, state lawmakers are deciding that outdated gas taxes need to be raised and reformed to fund infrastructure projects that are vital to their economies.
New Tax Subsidy for Private K-12 Tuition in Massachusetts Creates a Host of Problems
May 9, 2018 • By Carl Davis
Last year’s federal tax cut bill changed 529 college savings accounts in a major way, expanding them so that they can be used as tax shelters by higher-income families who choose to send their children to private K-12 schools. This controversial change was added in the Senate by the slimmest of margins—requiring a tie-breaking vote […]
