The Foundation offers a preview of issues to watch in the Senate Ways and Means FY 2017 budget.

This week, the House completed its debate of the FY 2017 budget. Over the course of three days, the House added $59.5 million in new budget spending and 91 new policy sections to the budget plan released from the House Ways and Means Committee (HWM) earlier in the Month.

When measured against three key metrics of a fiscally responsible spending plan, the House Ways and Means (HWM) budget get good grades. Similar to the Governor’s budget in several key respects, the HWM budget spends $70 million less.

The House Committee on Ways and Means (HWM) is expected to release its budget on Wednesday, April 13th. This brief poses three important questions to consider when assessing how this proposal would impact the long-term fiscal health of Commonwealth. This brief also identifies several of the…

MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid program, makes up 39 percent of spending in Governor Baker’s FY 2017 budget proposal – by far the single largest area of spending. This brief examines MassHealth spending in the Governor’s budget, strategies employed to control cost and other notable elements of his…

Last fall, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation released a Stabilization Fund report that drew attention to the risks the state runs by failing to rebuild “rainy day” reserves during times of economic recovery. This companion brief explores how reliance on capital gains tax revenues in the…

Today, Governor Baker released his FY 2017 budget recommendations. His House 2 proposal recommends $39.55 billion in line item spending, an increase of $1.22 billion (3.2%) over FY 2016 projected spending. Of this $1.22 billion increase, $739.3 million goes to support increases in MassHealth.

Today, the Executive Office of Administration & Finance (ANF) and the House and Senate Committees on Ways and Means announced that the FY 2017 state budget will be built on $26.860 billion in tax revenues. This consensus figure, which assumes 4.3% growth over an updated FY 2016 tax benchmark of…

Tax revenues will grow by $980 million, or 3.8 percent, to $26.69 billion in fiscal 2017, slower than the 4.6 percent annual average over the past five years and below that of previous economic recoveries, according to a new forecast released today by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.Eileen…