The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation offered a mixed outlook, with President Eileen McAnneny forecasting that revenue growth will “remain robust” this fiscal year before flipping to a “completely different story” next year when the situation will revert “back to a period of stalled growth. ”…

Massachusetts experienced a startling $4.5 billion surge in tax revenues in FY 2021 representing 15 percent growth in the midst of the pandemic. MTF projects that FY 2022 revenue growth will remain strong, reaching $37.2 billion or $2.9 billion above the current benchmark. What makes this even more…

The news, announced Friday afternoon, comes after the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation reported that, based on spending rates in September, the Commonwealth Cares for Children (C3) grants, which were launched over the summer, would be spent down by the end of February 2022.

“The net difference between where we thought we were going to be and where we are is literally billions of dollars,” said Doug Howgate, executive vice president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. Howgate said early in the pandemic, policymakers were looking back at the 2008 recession…

Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation executive vice president Doug Howgate said the number of earmarks in this item is not normal, but also not unheard of, especially in an arts, culture and tourism-related item. Earmarked items had been kept separately in the House and Senate version of the ARPA…

The spending itself is mostly concentrated on health care ($964 million), housing ($624 million), infrastructure ($414 million), education ($389 million) and economic development ($267 million), as well as on specific workforce issues ($500 million allotments for both premium pay awards and the…

The bill the Legislature sent Baker was packed with earmarks — 843 in total, according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business-backed budget watchdog. They funded everything from $500,000 for a rail trail in Lawrence to $300,000 for construction of a museum in Worcester to honor…

The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation said the most notable difference between the House and Senate versions of the ARPA spending proposal was the proposed timeline and process for providing premium pay to essential workers. “Like the Senate version, the final language creates a Premium Pay…

According to a Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation analysis that highlights some of the bill's pressure points, the biggest buckets of money in the bill are for health care ($964 million), housing ($624 million), and $500 million allotments for both premium pay awards and the unemployment insurance…

The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation said the ARPA bill contains 843 earmarks for local projects and organizations, totaling $304.4 million, or 7.6 percent of the bill’s total spending. By contrast, earmarks account for 60 percent of arts funding in the bill, significantly weakening the impact of…