Mass. collected $1.1 billion more in taxes than it expected to in April. But warning signs remain.
It's also unlikely that the revenue haul offers any certainty about
where the state's fiscal winds will be blowing in the months ahead as concerns about a recession and threats of federal cuts swirl. The state could also still end up dealing with some type of budget deficit,
In all, Massachusetts pulled in more than
nearly $1.9 billion, or 5.5 percent, ahead of its projections for the fiscal year with two months to go.
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The state budgeted to spend about $1.3 billion this year from revenue generated by the millionaires tax. But officials in Governor Maura Healey's administration said they believe the surtax could end up generating close to the more than $2.4 billion
the tax brought in last year.
The millionaires tax continues to 'perform strongly as a revenue source,' Matthew Gorzkowicz, Healey's budget chief, said in a statement. But he also cautioned that money from it will not 'alleviate persistent pressures on the overall state budget tied to the escalating costs of providing state services.'
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'As we continue to navigate economic uncertainty at the national level, our administration is focused on controlled, effective spending and fiscal responsibility,' he said.
President Trump has already withheld or cut
The national economy also
With all that at play, state lawmakers have warned that any budget they pass now could look dramatically different in the coming months.
The Massachusetts House last week passed a
State Senate leaders are expected to release their own budget proposal Tuesday, with debate to follow later this month. The two chambers will then have to negotiate a final version to send Healey for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
Some budget watchers have already warned that, given all the warning signs, lawmakers should begin
State Senator Michael Rodrigues, the chamber's budget chief, told reporters last week that if 'any real cuts come down from from Washington D.C.,' lawmakers would reassess the state's spending plan then.
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'But you cannot build budgets based on assumptions — or I say — [on]
wishes or prayers," the Westport Democrat said. 'You have to build it upon facts.'
This spring's haul is reminiscent of one a year ago, when the state
That surge in revenue, too, came with similar qualifications attached: State officials at the time said that most of it was tied to the surtax and capital gains. By the summer, state officials said they ultimately collected well north of $2 billion in millionaires tax revenue, helping create the roughly $1.3 billion surplus that lawmakers are
State officials have treated money from the millionaires tax separately from other types of tax collections because under the state Constitution, the surtax revenue can only be spent on education and transportation.
The state actually closed last fiscal year with a
Whether the state could follow a similar path this year is unclear. Before last year's unexpected haul, Healey had slashed state spending, downgraded the state's revenue forecast, and
Healey administration officials said Monday that some major revenue categories that best reflect current economic conditions also came in at, or below, expectations.
That included corporate and business tax collections, which dipped $142 million, or 21 percent, below the monthly benchmark in April and were $117 million less than what the state counted in April 2024, state officials said.
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Doug Howgate, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said when taken as a whole, the numbers could indicate that the state experienced a turnaround after months of unsteady collections in 2024. But, he said, it's a 'pretty hollow turnaround.'
'If you're a budget maker and you look at this [and say], 'Hey guys, no worries, we're going to build a strong-growth FY26 budget,' I think you'd be insane,' Howgate said. In fact, the state budget proposal the House passed at the end of April trailed Healey's own
'Every thing we can collect in [this fiscal year], great,' Howgate said of tax revenue. 'There are some storm clouds on the horizon.'
Matt Stout can be reached at
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15 minutes ago
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Nancy Mace said 'due process is for citizens.' Here's who it's really for
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In February 2023, Mace wrote on X (archived): "Everyone deserves the right to due process. Even those we vehemently oppose." (X user @NancyMace) Snopes has reached out to Mace for comment on whether she maintains that due-process protections should apply only to U.S. citizens and how she reconciles that view with her 2023 statement. We will update this article if we receive a response. The U.S. Constitution's guarantee of due process appears in the Fifth and 14th amendments, both of which state that no person should be deprived "of life, liberty or property, without due process of law." As shown, the language uses "person," not "citizen," with regard to due-process protections. Further, the Supreme Court has repeatedly interpreted that due-process protections apply to everyone within U.S. borders regardless of citizenship or immigration status. In Shaughnessy v. 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44 minutes ago
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an hour ago
- Yahoo
DNC votes to redo vice chair elections of Hogg, Kenyatta
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