Latest news with #FairShare
Boston Globe
3 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Recent bad rap aside, the millionaires tax is making an impact
After reading Carine Hajjar's May 23 opinion piece, Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up Just as learning never really ends, public policy can always grow and improve. While Hajjar identifies areas where such policy can be refined, it would be a disservice to overlook the amazing opportunities created by these dollars. Thank you, Massachusetts, for investing in residents like me. My classmates and I promise to make that investment worthwhile. Advertisement Mike McDougal Haverhill Fair Share funds have been a boon to public higher ed In response to Carine Hajjar's opinion piece regarding the Fair Share Amendment, it's important to also highlight the transformative impact this funding is having on public higher education in Massachusetts. The House's fiscal 2025 supplemental budget includes a $20 million investment in higher education, with $10 million allocated to the University of Massachusetts for its endowment matching program. This initiative provides a $1 state match for every $2 in private contributions to the school and has already created or supported 700 scholarship funds worth $135 million, which distribute $4.6 million in student aid annually. Advertisement The Senate's proposal of $125 million in capital support would provide much-needed state funding for deferred maintenance, and it aligns with Governor Maura Healey's visionary BRIGHT Act, which would modernize and improve sustainability on public campuses. A notable Senate earmark is the $10 million designated for a nursing simulation lab at UMass Amherst. This facility would double the enrollment capacity for the Amherst campus's nursing program, helping to address the statewide health care workforce shortage. The UMass system educates 73,000 students annually and is celebrating 19,000 new graduates entering the workforce, predominantly in Massachusetts. These strategic investments fulfill the promises made when voters approved the Fair Share Amendment and ensure a robust future for public higher education and the Commonwealth's economy. Christopher Dunn Associate vice chancellor for government relations UMass Amherst
Boston Globe
6 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
With Fair Share pet projects, our lawmakers are at it again
This is not what I had in mind when I voted for the Fair Share surtax. Combined, the House and Senate have added roughly 400 earmarks costing a total of $120 million to the bill — almost 10 percent of its total spending. Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up The Legislature once again displays its core dysfunction — a lack of open, accountable, and democratic decision-making — and undermines public trust. Advertisement John Lippitt Reading The writer is on the leadership team of Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts. Ah, so this is what it takes to get the Legislature to move swiftly Just because this is apparently the way they've always done it doesn't make it right. How about legislation to stop this that can also be passed in the blink of an eye? Nothing else the Legislature does ever moves this fast. Legislation often sits stagnant for years — unless it will score big political points with lawmakers' constituents. Time for still more reform to promote total transparency. All spending amendments should be treated equally, presented at the same time in public, and voted on separately, not in a surprise mystery package. Advertisement I'm sure the state auditor is well aware of this secret process. This is the kind of thing she has been fighting to expose all along, but these same leaders still refuse to cooperate. They need to be voted out to stop this from continuing. This whole power play looks really bad and destroys people's confidence in any fairness through the legislative process. Steven Tryder Rockport Is this spending really going to serve education and transportation needs? Repeatedly, elected representatives have ignored the express mandates of the voters who elected them. Now the Fair Share surtax, supported by many because the funds were to be used to provide critically needed support for our ailing school system and aging transportation network, is being transferred to pork barrel projects. The brazen greed and dishonesty of our lawmakers occurs because it is not punished. How are we to correct this problem? Throw the bums out and replace them with new elected officials who we believe will be more responsive to the will of the people. Julian M. Aroesty Scituate
Boston Globe
09-05-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
A new pathway to vocational training is an alternative to school wait-lists
Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up But there's another more modest solution — one the Massachusetts Senate has just given its approval to — a pilot program to encourage career and vocational technical 'annexes' adjoining comprehensive high schools and offering vocational programs aimed at juniors and seniors. Advertisement 'We're offering this to kids who are at a different point in their lives than the eighth-graders who apply to vocational schools,' said Senator John Cronin, a chief proponent of the concept. 'This is the most important work we're doing right now — to create an opportunity for young people to be able to enter the workforce.' Advertisement The Senate set aside $15 million of a $100 million line item for vocational education in a $1.3 billion spending bill passed Thursday. The money was generated through the state's 4 percent income surtax on incomes over $1 million generated by the 2022 voter-approved Fair Share amendment. There is no comparable line item in the version passed earlier by the House, but the idea is not without its fans in the other branch, Cronin said. The model is the The students stay enrolled in their home districts, thus eliminating any financial disincentive to the sending district. They take academic classes for one full week, followed by vocational training the following week, alternating for the entire year. The 'annex' is just a mile from the main Monty Tech campus. Its schedule allows students to continue to participate in sports or other after-school programs. It offers programs in carpentry, electrical, and plumbing work and on-the-job training in a co-op program for seniors. But MVP Academy was borne of a hodge-podge of state grants, including a $1.2 million grant from the It shouldn't have to be that hard to advance such a sound idea. Advertisement Cronin estimates modest annexes of some 3,000 to 5,000 square feet would cost from $3 million to $5 million and accommodate 50 to 100 students each. The Senate-passed pilot would prioritize communities where vocational schools have wait-lists of students — as so many do — and where the education department has identified projects that address an 'opportunity gap.' 'It represents a sea change to allow students into the voc-tech world, which opens the way to real career paths,' Cronin said. 'And this is a funding model that is something we can actually sustain. You get a lot more bang for the buck and it delivers programs to the right target population.' Lawmakers have too often squabbled over admission requirements — and, yes, the House has managed to resurrect that debate in its budget this year — when they should be working harder to expand opportunities that would make that debate irrelevant. Career vocational annexes provide a low-cost alternative to those never-ending wait-lists. And they provide opportunity to those ready to work for it. This pilot program deserves a chance to show the way. Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Senate working 'around the clock' on spending plans
BOSTON (SHNS) – Senate Democrats plan to roll out a surtax-backed spending bill Thursday and vote on it next week, inching the state closer to big education and transportation investments. Senate Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues told the News Service Wednesday that he will unveil the supplemental budget during a Thursday morning press conference in his office, followed by debate next Thursday. Senators will be able to file amendments until 2:30 p.m. Monday, the Westport Democrat said. The House passed its $1.3 billion supplemental budget, fueled by excess income surtax revenues, on April 9. Representatives allocated $353 million for education and $828 million for transportation. Revenues from the 4% surtax on household income above $1 million per year must be spent on education and transportation, according to the constitutional amendment voters approved in 2022. The branches will eventually settle spending differences, likely with a six-person conference committee. 'There are different priorities, and we will explain all that tomorrow,' Rodrigues said after a private caucus with Senate Democrats. Senate Democrats are also preparing to announce their fiscal 2026 budget proposal. The House is on its third day of budget deliberations. Rodrigues, pressed whether the Senate budget could come out next week, said, 'We are gearing up to release our budget very soon, yes.' 'We don't have a date certain yet,' he continued. 'We're ready. Senate Ways and Means has been working around the clock, literally since February, in writing both the Fair Share budget and the FY '26 budget.' The Senate plans to tackle the budget 'in May, just before Memorial Day,' Senate President Karen Spilka told the Springfield Regional Chamber at a State House event Wednesday morning. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Massachusetts home to more millionaires despite new surtax
BOSTON (SHNS) – Surtax supporters released data Monday that they said pokes holes in the argument that the state's new tax on high earners is causing higher-income residents to move out of Massachusetts. The report from a pair of progressive research groups found that the number of individuals in Massachusetts with at least $50 million in total wealth grew from 1,954 in 2022 — the year voters adopted the 4% surtax on household income above $1 million — to 2,642 in 2024, a 35.2% increase. The Institute for Policy Studies and State Revenue Alliance report analyzed data from Wealth-X, a proprietary database of millions of records on the world's wealthiest individuals, according to Raise Up Massachusetts. The new income surtax, which adds to the existing 5% income tax rate, generated $2.46 billion in its first full year, and Beacon Hill Democrats are spending that money on investments in education and transportation. The report measures accumulated wealth rather than annual income, but surtax supporters say they're certain that some share of the 'ultra-wealthy' captured in the report are paying the income surtax. 'This is further evidence that multi-millionaires are not fleeing the state in response to the new tax – they are staying here, paying more in taxes, and enjoying the stronger transportation and public education systems that Fair Share dollars are funding,' said Shanique Rodriguez, executive director of the Massachusetts Voter Table and a member of the Raise Up Massachusetts Steering Committee. There's bipartisan agreement in Massachusetts that high costs of living here, including housing and energy prices, are causing some residents to pick up and move to lower-cost states. While addressing the underlying causes of that outmigration and the state's 'affordability crisis' has become an ongoing public policy challenge, the report looks exclusively at the number of higher-wealth households to draw conclusions about tax impacts. Raise Up says the 2,642 ultra-wealthy individuals delineated in the report represent 0.04% of the Massachusetts population, and collectively hold $500.4 billion in total wealth. The report also modeled a hypothetical 'wealth tax' on this group with at least $50 million in total wealth. The researchers concluded that Massachusetts has the potential to raise $3.7 billion with a 1% tax, $7.4 billion with a 2% tax and $11 billion with a 3% tax. Raise Up spokesman Andrew Farnitano said the group is not pursing a wealth tax 'at the moment' and instead remains focused on its push for the Legislature to approve a new 'corporate fair share' policy targeting global businesses that advocates say evade millions of dollars in state taxes. The number of Massachusetts taxpayers with annual income above $1 million was about 27,000 in 2022, the last year when data is available from the IRS, according to Raise Up. The report found that the number of 'millionaires by net worth' in Massachusetts, a category that includes the value of homes, retirement and other assets, rose by 38.6% between 2022 and 2024, from 441,610 individuals to 612,109. Their collective wealth increased from $1.6 trillion to $2.2 trillion, or 37.3%. 'Research has demonstrated that million-dollar earners and high net worth individuals tend to exhibit lower rates of migration compared to the general public,' said lead report author Omar Ocampo, researcher at the Institute for Policy Studies. 'This is not a surprise. Their family, business and social network deeply root them to amenity rich locales where they enjoy a high quality of life. A modest increase on their incomes does not compel the overwhelming majority of millionaires to flee to other states.' President Donald Trump stirred debate over tax policy recently when he weighed in on higher taxes on those earning more than $1 million per year, including impacts on other taxpayers and election outcomes. In a recent Boston Globe 'inbox' item, Jonathan Cohn, policy director of Progressive Mass, said surtax-funded investments in education and transportation will spark housing production and that policies like free school meals, bus rides and community college 'are making the state more affordable for middle-class families.' 'Massachusetts is experiencing outmigration, but it's not multimillionaires who are fleeing slightly higher taxes. It's young workers fleeing our high cost of living,' Cohn wrote. 'As a millennial, I've become accustomed to seeing friends move out of Boston, then out of the state entirely, due to high cost of living. If you want to buy a home for a decent price or find affordable child care, good luck. We are losing people because affording the high quality of life we tout is getting father and farther out of reach.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
