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Boston Globe
24-05-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
What Trump's ‘beautiful bill' means for Medicaid, food stamps, and Massachusetts
Advertisement This disruption of the social safety net could cost Massachusetts more than $1.5 billion a year by increasing state contributions for these benefits and penalizing the state for continuing to use its own funds to Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up House Republicans say the restrictions in President Trump's The extension of the tax credits in the bill would also disproportionately benefit the wealthiest Americans. The fifth of residents earning the least would get just 1 percent of the bill's net tax cuts next year, according to the Advertisement 'The purpose of this bill is to give tax cuts to the richest people in the country,' said Viviana Abreu-Hernandez, president of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center. 'They are doing this by cutting the budget for services that the most vulnerable populations in the country need to be able to survive.' The bill would require Work requirements don't increase employment, however, according to Work requirements would also be levied on more recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. In addition to those already required to work, recipients with children above the age of 6, including grandparents up to age 65, would have to work — or be enrolled in job training or community service — at least 20 hours a week to receive benefits for more than three months. For parents who can't afford child care or don't have transportation, this is untenable, advocates say. Advertisement Immigrants here legally would also become ineligible for SNAP under the House bill. Undocumented immigrants are already barred from benefits. All told, more than 250,000 Massachusetts residents, including children, are at risk of losing some or all of their SNAP benefits, according to the For the first time in the program's history, states would have to pay for a portion of SNAP benefits, ranging from 5 to 25 percent, depending on their payment error rate. States' share of administrative costs would also rise, from 50 to 75 percent. The federal SNAP program, known colloquially as food stamps, has been a stabilizing force during recessions, supporting families and, in turn, local economies when state resources are dropping. In Massachusetts, SNAP adds more than $2.6 billion a year to the economy, benefiting more than 5,500 farmers and retailers. The proposed cuts — which Erin McAleer, chief executive of the anti-hunger nonprofit Project Bread calls 'the most devastating attack on food assistance in our lifetime' — would force the state to absorb $710 million in new costs each year, the organization said. Some states might even opt to stop offering SNAP benefits entirely. With fewer people on MassHealth, hospitals, nursing homes, and community health centers would get less revenue; people would get sicker and crowd emergency rooms — changes that would also impact patients without MassHealth. Administrative costs for tracking work requirements, more frequent eligibility renewals, and other changes will put an additional burden on state coffers. To compensate for these changes, states may cut back on benefits or tighten eligibility requirements, advocates said. Some might raise taxes. Advertisement What isn't in doubt is the effect the bill could have on income inequality. The House measure would decrease household resources in the lowest tenth of the income distribution by 2 to 4 percent over the next eight years — mainly due to the loss of Medicaid and SNAP — and increase resources for households in the top 10 percent by the same margin — largely because of tax reductions — according to the 'It's going to make sick people sicker,' said Kate Symmonds, a senior health law attorney at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute. 'It's going to make poor people poorer. … It's going to make wealthy people richer.' Regardless of what the Senate does, the bill will cause harm, said Victoria Negus, senior economic justice advocate at the institute, following an election in which one of voters' biggest concerns was the cost of groceries. 'This package as a whole says to the American people: We are prioritizing the needs of the wealthy and the few, the well connected and the privileged, over every family in this country who is working hard to get by and does not make enough money to put food on the table or afford health care,' she said. 'It is a monumental step back in efforts to end hunger and poverty and improve health outcomes.' This story was produced by the Globe's team, which covers the racial wealth gap in Greater Boston. You can sign up for the newsletter . Advertisement Katie Johnston can be reached at
Boston Globe
21-05-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Massachusetts has already collected $2.6b in ‘millionaires tax' cash, surging past state projections
Most of the additional money raised would go to a reserve account, from which state policymakers can pluck money for one-time investments into projects or programs. Advertisement The amount of millionaires tax revenue collected this year was already expected to be significant, particularly after total But cash from the surtax is are already topping what Healey administration officials roughly expected to collect for the entire fiscal year. The surge underscores both the surtax's potential as a major revenue driver and the ongoing difficulty state officials face in predicting exactly what it will deliver. Last year, state officials initially said the surtax generated Advertisement The state's Department of Revenue won't certify the official amount raised from the surtax for this fiscal year for several months. Voters approved the millionaires tax in 2022 to levy an additional 4 percent tax on annual earnings over $1 million. At the time, the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, a left-leaning think tank, projected it could The cash it's produced has regularly blown past even that. The tax generated $1.5 billion between February and April of this year alone, according to state officials. That surtax is 'highly responsive' to how the stock market and economy is performing, said Doug Howgate, president of Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business-backed budget watchdog. That makes it a 'moving target' for state officials, and a difficult one to predict as the country slides into an uncertain fiscal future. The national economy 'The concern next year,' Howgate said, 'is that we're not using this [surtax money] for sustained recurring resources. . . .It certainly looks like we're in a different stock market world now than we were 12 months ago.' Advertisement A huge millionaires tax surplus also doesn't automatically mean the state is enjoying a healthy fiscal picture. State officials have treated money from the surtax separately from other types of tax collections because under the state Constitution, the surtax revenue can only be spent on education and transportation. And despite ending last year with extra surtax money, officials still had to close Matt Stout can be reached at
Boston Globe
08-04-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
‘A war on the poor': How tariffs hit low-income residents hardest
Advertisement Add that to the many services for low-income families that are on the chopping block, such as SNAP, WIC, Section 8 housing vouchers, and Medicaid, said Viviana Abreu-Hernández, president of Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, and the impact is remarkable: 'This is a war on the poor.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The Globe spoke to Abreu-Hernández, Adam Hersh at the Economic Policy Institute, and Ryan Young at the Competitive Enterprise Institute to learn more about the effect tariffs will have on vulnerable people. Boston Globe: How will lower-income people be affected in the checkout line? Viviana Abreu-Hernández: Poor people tend to rely on imported products that are significantly cheaper. Where do they go to do their shopping? They don't go to Target, they go to the dollar store, and everything at the dollar store is made in China, it's made in Vietnam, it's made in Indonesia. … There are places in this country where the closest grocery store is a 90-mile drive. Poor people buy their groceries at the dollar store. They have pizza, they have ice cream, they have frozen food, they have canned food. … They sell everything from socks and T-shirts and bulbs to birthday things and cleaning products. Advertisement Ryan Young: If a good is worth less than $800, then you can ship it into the country duty-free. So companies like Temu and Shein from China, if it's just one person buying a shirt or a dress or something, that can enter the country duty-free. Early on, the Trump administration tried to do away with that, so those goods would now be tariffed. They drew it back because that is 1.4 billion packages per year that would have to be inspected. And Customs and Border Patrol simply does not have the resources to do that. Part of [Trump's so-called] Liberation Day, and this is going under the radar, is that he is once again going to try and do away with that. BG: What's going to happen to the cost of clothing? Adam Hersch: A number of countries where we get a lot of consumer goods from, particularly … footwear and apparel, and lower-end consumer goods from Southeast Asia, they are getting hit with the highest tariffs. They also are some of the poorest countries: Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos are singled out for some of the highest tariff rates. RY: A lot of people are scrambling to do [back to school] shopping now before the tariffs fully phase in. But if you're in a paycheck-to-paycheck situation, you might not be able to get your kids' back-to-school clothes now, in April, for something that's not going to happen until August. Advertisement BG: How about groceries? RY: Things like canned goods, things with a long shelf life, might be good to stock up on now if you can. A lot of fresh produce, especially stuff that's out of season in the US but might be [in season] in say, South America, because they have such a short shelf life, those prices are going to go up quickly. BG: Housing is a huge cost in Massachusetts. Will that go up? AH: We import a lot of building supplies. So that's going to slow down the construction of new housing. We already have housing shortages in most places, which is why we have such high housing costs. BG: Many people rely on their cars to get to work. Will those costs rise too? AH: With the tariffs on autos, we're going to see prices of new cars go up, but we're also going to see prices of used cars go up because when the new cars are expensive, few people can afford them. There's going to be a shift in demand toward used cars. During the pandemic, when there was an auto shortage, new car prices went up but the used car prices went up like crazy. BG: What about small businesses, many of which are owned by lower-income people of color? VAH: The mom-and-pop shops that import goods from abroad and sell to the poorest people, they're going to either make no margins, they're not going to be able to afford the product, and the consumers are not going to be able to buy products. Advertisement AH: Small businesses are going to be much less able to handle financially this shock from the tariffs, so it's likely that we're going to see a lot more of what we call business deaths — small businesses going out of business or being bought up by big business, and fewer business starts from small-business entrepreneurs. So we're going to see an increasing market concentration in monopolistic firms and that's going to tend to raise prices for consumers. BG: Will prices for domestic goods take a hit? RY: Domestic steel producers can raise their prices now without fear of being undercut and that's exactly what we saw the last time there were steel tariffs in Trump's first term. Even domestic goods, many of them will go up in price, even if there's no tariff on those goods … because they can get away with it. BG: Why is it that the most vulnerable populations are affected the most by economic headwinds? VAH: This is affecting the people that are not invited to the decision-making table. These are the people that do not have the means to lobby the House and the Senate. AH: By definition, they have the least power and the least access to opportunities to insulate themselves from these problems. When we have an economic slowdown or go into recession, it's always low-income workers, people of color, women, young workers, who bear the brunt of the costs of those downturns. This story was produced by the Globe's team, which covers the racial wealth gap in Greater Boston. You can sign up for the newsletter . Advertisement Katie Johnston can be reached at
Boston Globe
27-03-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Even well-to-do towns like Milton are hard hit by school fiscal problems
As Massachusetts districts struggle with inflation and other rising costs, even well-to-do communities like Milton, where home values average a million dollars, are feeling the financial pinch, often in very big ways. 'What's occurring in Milton is really a microcosm of the perfect storm that's been happening in districts across the Commonwealth, where several major costs have been rising exponentially while revenue has remained relatively flat,' said Elizabeth Carroll, the Milton School Committee chair. 'That's especially true in a town like ours where we lack any significant commercial tax base." Advertisement Likewise, The financial hardships are emerging nearly seven years after state lawmakers Advertisement 'This should be a golden era of school funding investment in Massachusetts because of the Student Opportunity Act, but we had the highest inflation since the 1970s,' said Colin Jones, deputy policy director at the left-leaning Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center. Related : Districts experienced inflationary increases of just over 7 and 8 percent during the 2022-23 and the 2023-24 school years. The funding gap added to other swelling costs, including salaries, insurance premiums, transportation contracts, and costs for out-of-district special education programs. Meanwhile, the loss of federal pandemic relief funds have expired. The state's school funding debate in Massachusetts has largely focused on districts in the greatest financial need, which received the lion's share of the additional state aid approved in 2019, and on rural and regional school districts with declining enrollments. But the financial strains in tony districts exemplify how deep and widespread the problems have become. Affluent communities like Milton receive less per student than other districts under the state's school funding formula, which relies strongly on property wealth and household income levels, out of a belief that their residents can afford to pay more in taxes. Under Governor Maura Healey's proposed state budget for next year, Milton would receive $12.5 million in education aid, known as Chapter 70, which goes to the school system and other educational expenses, such as charter school tuition. In order to maintain level services, Milton school leaders are aiming to spend about $73 million next year. Advertisement Milton stands apart from its affluent peers in some ways that raises questions about its financial commitment to its schools. Per student spending in Milton, which averages $18,925 in 2023, is nearly $3,000 below the state average, putting it in the bottom 30th percentile in the state, according to the most recent data. Milton has had three operating overrides in the last 20 years, which were in 2017, 2009, and 2006, and ranged in value between $2.4 million and $3.4 million, according to the state Department of Revenue. Voters approved each one. Advocates for this year's override are hoping to achieve similar success. Related : Haley Byron, who has three children at Tucker Elementary School, is supporting the override. She is worried about critical school and town jobs getting cut. Particularly alarming to her is the potential elimination of the full-day prekindergarten at Tucker. 'I don't know what's more important than educating our kids and investing in them and the people taking care of them and teaching them,' Byron said. If the override passes, the property tax bill for an average single-family home, which is currently assessed at $1,028,457, would increase by an additional $1,063 for fiscal year 2026, resulting in a total tax bill of $12,857, according to the town's website. If the override fails, taxes would still go up, but not by as much, $389. Brendan Bonn, president of the Milton Educators Association, said a rejection would be 'extremely aren't going to get what they deserve.' Many questions remain over how Milton schools racked up its deficits. A recent School Committee presentation noted spending amounts in some parts of the budget relied on past budgeted figures instead of actual spending, which was much higher. Such has been the case with utilities and substitute teachers, as the district has underbudgeted by hundreds of thousands at least two years in a row. Advertisement It is a problem the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education identified in 2022 when it conducted a targeted review of the district, recommending that Milton include 'actual expenditures from previous years in budget documents.' For the most part, though, the review found Milton schools to be in good shape financially. The district also has added nearly 80 positions since 2018, some funded with federal pandemic aid and other grants. Amid the budget crisis, Superintendent Peter Burrows In hindsight, Richard G. Wells, Jr., the Select Board chair, said the town probably should have pursued an override last year, noting the financial crisis in the schools is the most pressing issue in the town. 'If you look at the town of Milton as a human body, it's hemorrhaging,' Wells said, 'and you have to find a way quickly to stop the hemorrhaging.' James Vaznis can be reached at
Boston Globe
31-01-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Amid Mass. school budget crises, lawmakers weigh how to fix school funding system
The recommendations could address budget challenges districts are facing due to causes including recent high inflation, the end of federal pandemic relief funds, and the rising costs of special education and student transportation. 'There are few issues as important as ensuring we have well-funded, high-quality public schools for all of our children, no matter what communities they live in,' Lewis said. 'Even though the inflation rate has come down to more manageable levels, we had several years where inflation was quite high, and that has a real impact on school districts.' Related : Advertisement Lewis helped lead the creation of the But that financial boost has been School leaders, teachers unions, and advocates have Advertisement Ed Lambert, director of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education, said it made sense to try to address some of the challenges identified by Lewis, but said the state should not just be focused on how much money it provides districts. 'We need to really be prioritizing, along with how the money is distributed, how the money is being spent,' Lambert said. 'If they're not spending it on evidence-based practices ... you can change the formula all you want, it's not going to make a difference.' Lambert's group is one of those that would get a seat on the commission, according to the bill. Other drivers of rising costs include Making district finances more difficult is the state's property tax cap, which limits increases to 2.5 percent annually unless voters Colin Jones, deputy policy director for the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, a progressive think tank that would get a seat on the commission, said in a statement his group has not taken a position on the bill, but immediate action is also necessary. 'Over the past five years, the Student Opportunity Act has added $1 billion in school funding across Massachusetts,' Jones said. 'Even with that incredible progress, it is a fitting time to have a systemic review of K-12 funding.' Related : Advertisement Lewis acknowledged the budget challenges go beyond the schools, and said he would also support reexamining how the state distributes other local aid, but education is his priority. 'The school budgets are typically by far the largest part of municipal budgets, so if a community is looking to have to make budget cuts, that's often going to fall disproportionately on the schools,' he said. This year also marked the Lewis noted the commission would take years to produce a new school funding formula and said the state should try to provide more funds to school districts on an annual basis in the meantime. based on enrollment, except the state does not cut aid to districts with falling populations. That could even include examining areas of potential cost savings, Lewis said, such as having small districts with declining enrollment share resources or consolidate. Advertisement The commission would include members of both parties in the state Legislature, the state education department, teachers unions, various municipal and school associations, and five appointees of the governor. The commission would also consider removing or altering a requirement for the state to assist even the wealthiest towns with their school budgets. The state calculates a 'foundation budget' required to adequately educate the community's students (though districts can and do spend more) and funds at least 17.5 percent of the foundation budget for every district. Lambert said the commission should address that provision as well as the annual per-student increase received by every district, as both run counter to the system's goal of sending Christopher Huffaker can be reached at
