The House Ways and Means Committee (HWM) has released its $45.96 billion budget for fiscal year (FY) 2019, its first under Chairman Sanchez. This bulletin provides an overview of this proposal, which will be debated by the full House during the week of April 23rd.

Two months ago, MTF identified ten key questions that will shape the FY 2019 budget. Now it is time to revisit those questions in the context of Governor Baker’s budget recommendations and the latest revenue and policy developments.

Governor Baker has proposed a $45.9 billion budget for fiscal year (FY) 2019. This bulletin provides an overview of notable spending, revenue and policy proposals included in the document.

At the Foundation, we are looking at the TCJA through two primary lenses: the likely impact of the federal changes on state revenues; and the impacts on subgroups of taxpayers in Massachusetts– both individuals and corporations – that may warrant state policy changes.

Today, the Secretary for Administration and Finance and the House and Senate Committees on Ways and Means announced a consensus tax revenue figure of $27.594 billion for FY 2019. As part of the agreement, the FY 2018 tax estimate has been upgraded by $157 million to $26.661 billion. Budget makers…

The fiscal year (FY) 2019 budget process is officially underway, commencing last month with the annual Consensus Revenue Hearing. The testimony provided at the hearing touched on a number of issues – including slow revenue growth, insufficient reserves and growing nondiscretionary costs – that have…

Forecasting state tax revenues 18 months into the future is always risky as unforeseen events often undermine predictions as the past three years have demonstrated. However, predicting revenues in FY 2019 is more daunting than usual because there are several upcoming events over the next 12 months…

“Preparing a budget months in advance is difficult in the best of circumstances but this year is particularly challenging given the huge revenue swings that could result from any one of several scenarios in play, including the potential impact on state finances from federal tax cuts and ballot…