Public Finance

While House leaders touted areas of investment, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation recently cautioned that a growing portion of state revenues are being consumed by a few priorities, leaving a lot less money for lawmakers to invest in programs important to their constituents.

The business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation has said lawmakers should establish a contingency plan in case the income tax question is not passed and the sales tax question passes. The foundation said one important step would be to commit a large amount of money to the state's rainy day fund and put any surplus money from this year into the rainy day fund.

The president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation told the assembled lunchtime crowd that the state's economy was strong. What's more, the economic recovery has lasted longer than those in the past, and state tax receipts are coming in above estimates.