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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.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Massachusetts home to more millionaires despite new surtax, report says
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.' Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
So are millionaires really fleeing Mass.? A new report says they're staying — and paying
It's a common refrain: Massachusetts' Millionaire's Tax, the levy slapped on the state's wealthiest citizens, is prompting an exodus to more tax-friendly climes. Notably, former Boston Celtics star Grant Williams declined to stay in Boston in 2023, instead signing with the Dallas Mavericks, as he pointed directly to the extra 4% income tax levy on people who earn $1 million or more. But new data shared exclusively with MassLive appears to show that Williams and others who have left the state are the exception rather than the rule. The wealthy are staying in the Bay State — and they're paying. And there are more of them. The analysis by the Institute for Policy Studies and State Revenue Alliance concluded that the number of ultra-wealthy people, defined as those with at least $50 million in total wealth, grew from 1,954 in 2022 — before voters approved the Millionaire's Tax at a statewide referendum — to 2,642 in 2024. That's an increase of 35.2% according to the analysis, which relies on data from Wealth-X, a proprietary database of millions of records on the world's wealthiest individuals. The study was commissioned by the progressive-minded advocacy group Raise Up Massachusetts. 'It has been two years into the experiment of progressive taxation in Massachusetts, and the evidence is clear: the surtax has succeeded in raising revenue and exceeded all expectations,' Omar Ocampo, the report's lead author and a researcher at the Institute for Policy Studies, said in a statement. 'The state now has more resources at [its] disposal to help fund essential programs that expand economic opportunity for all,' Ocampo said. Read More: Mass. 'Millionaire's Tax' is a year old. Where it's helped, hurt | Analysis Taken together, those 2,642 super-wealthy people account for just 0.04% of the state's total population of 7.1 million people. However, they have an outsized impact, holding an eye-watering $500.4 billion in total wealth, according to the analysis. The report also found that the number of millionaires by net worth in Massachusetts rose by 38.6% between 2022 and 2024, from 441,610 individuals to 612,109. The report's authors said, " It's important to note that because the ... tax only applies to taxpayers with annual taxable income above $1 million, only a small percentage of those millionaires will pay any amount in [Millionaire's] taxes." The number of Massachusetts taxpayers with annual income above $1 million was approximately 27,000 in 2022, the last year for which data were available from the IRS, the report's authors wrote. Under state law, money that's raised from the levy can only be used to fund education and transportation projects. Democratic Gov. Maura Healey's $62 billion budget proposal for the new fiscal year that starts July 1 leans heavily on the levy to pay for a bevy of state programs and to support the MBTA and other transportation projects. At a public hearing earlier this month, budget writers in the state House and Senate debated the best way to spend some $1.3 billion in unspent money from the levy formally known as the 'Fair Share Amendment.' A $61 billion spending proposal for fiscal 2026 being advanced by majority Democrats in the state House of Representatives also relies on money from the Millionaire's Tax to continue to fund free school meals for all students, early education grants, and free community college. It also would contribute to a significant increase in funding for the MBTA — the House proposes a total of $687 million for T operating costs — at a time when the transit agency faces a major funding gap that could imperil recent service improvements, according to State House News Service. That's proof that the tax is doing what it was intended to do, Shanique Rodriguez, the executive director of the Massachusetts Voter Table, and a member of Raise Up Massachusetts' steering committee, said. 'As Fair Share revenue continues to surpass expectations, 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,' Rodriguez said in a statement. 'As income and wealth inequality continue to escalate nationally and in Massachusetts, the Fair Share Amendment is making our state tax system fairer and strengthening our entire economy by funding new investments in transportation and public education,' she continued. The tax, however, is not without its critics. Namely, the pro-business Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, which has been among the most vocal. In an interview in 2023, Paul Craney, a spokesperson for the group, told MassLive that the tax cuts would improve the state's economic competitiveness. 'Other states know they can continue to lure high-income earners and businesses because Massachusetts has not responded to the income surtax in an appropriate way,' Craney told MassLive at the time. 'It will continue to ravage our competitiveness. Other states will continue to prey on us because this is on the books.' In particular, that's New Hampshire and Florida, which are the top two destinations for Massachusetts residents seeking more tax-friendly climates. 'This will continue to impact [Massachusetts],' Craney told Masslive. 'Other states are aware of this income tax hike. It's given ... states that are highly competitive with Massachusetts the ability to plan ahead.' An analysis earlier this year by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation lent some firepower to Craney's arguments. The Bay State ranked 41st overall in the foundation's annual State Tax Competitiveness Index. The state also finished among the bottom 10 states on the Index 'due to its overly burdensome individual income taxes, property taxes, and [unemployment insurance] taxes,' according to the Tax Foundation's analysis. And many state residents are voting with their feet. More people left Massachusetts than moved into it in 2024, according to an analysis earlier this year by United Van Lines. Massachusetts ranked No. 5 on its list of the 'most moved from states in 2024,' according to the analysis. 'California, Massachusetts, New York, Illinois and New Jersey have been included in the top outbound states over the past five years,' the company said in a statement. The tax's backers, meanwhile, remained adamant in their insistence that it's a win-win for the Bay State. 'The Fair Share Amendment is a huge success for Massachusetts — and a national victory — because it shows that we are all better off when we work toward justice in the tax code,' Amber Wallin, the executive director of the State Revenue Alliance, said. 'Far from filling U-Hauls headed out of the Commonwealth, there's 171,000 more millionaires in Massachusetts than there were before the Fair Share Amendment. President Donald Trump should take notice: demanding the wealthy pay their fair share is a good investment in everyone's future — including the rich," Wallin continued. 2 big reasons to care about the Harvard-Trump battle royale| Bay State Briefing How Trump vs. Harvard is a page out of the Project 2025 playbook 'Games of chicken': Trump reversing foreign student legal status raises concerns Poll reveals divide between Gen Z and older Americans on finances and economy Mass. AG Campbell sues Trump admin after threat to hold education funds over DEI Read the original article on MassLive.
