That includes a drop in capital gains collections this year after they were “just through the roof” over the past two years and the likelihood that pass-through-entities would claim credits owed to them by the state, which in turn lowered how much they paid, said Doug Howgate, president of the…

Major Trends in Local Finance Municipal revenues and expenditures increased by 5.7 percent ($1.8 billion) from fiscal year (FY) 2021 to FY 2022; the highest rate of growth since FY 2007. The strong rate of growth in FY 2022 is partially the residue of the pandemic. In FY 2021, municipal resources…

Doug Howgate, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business-backed budget watchdog, said that while jarring, the numbers aren’t surprising given that some pots of revenue were never going to sustain the peaks of years past. “Today’s revenue collections doesn’t change the…

Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President Doug Howgate said the consensus revenue estimate crafted by legislative and administration budget chiefs assumed the impacts from a capital gains slowdown and PTE credits would be "staggered over '23 and '24." "The number is jarring, but I'm not sure '…

Doug Howgate, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, agreed that the causes of the April downturn were on the radar screens of policymakers and analysts, but their timing was unclear. As for tax relief, Howgate said, it is sound from a policy standpoint and doable from a financial…

The House finalized its $54.9 billion Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 budget this week after adding $129.7 million in spending over the course of three days of debate. The House took action on 1,566 amendments through a combination of 7 consolidated amendments and 3 separate votes. Some form of at least 773…

Members can register here, and non-members, please contact MTF Membership Director Debbie Carroll for more information! 

Members can register here, and non-members, please contact MTF Membership Director Debbie Carroll for more information! 

The next major step in the FY 2024 budget development process began today with the release of the House Committee on Ways and Mean’s (HWM) budget proposal. Coming just six weeks after Governor Healey filed her administration’s inaugural budget, the $54.8 billion HWM spending plan makes significant…