According to data from the Federal Reserve, cited by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation in recent legislative testimony, the labor force in Massachusetts in August had 143,840 fewer workers than pre-pandemic, a decline of 3.9 percent. While the...

MTF President Eileen McAnneny testified last week at the Economic Roundtable convened by budget writers to help them determine the size of the revenue shortfall for FY2021. The state has been operating on an interim budget since the start of the...

Unlike Congress, state lawmakers need to pass a balanced budget every year. Money is tight, to say the least: The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation recently estimated that state tax revenue in the next fiscal year will drop by $6 billion,...

Driven by operating costs that were already growing and the pandemic’s deep impacts on revenues, a Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (hereinafter the MBTA or the T) operating budget that was in balance in FY 19 is now moving backward toward a...

Budget watchdogs are warning of more pain to come. The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, in a report released last week, projected it could take five years for revenues to exceed prepandemic levels, and that the state could be looking at revenue...

As Congress bickers over the size and scope of the next federal relief package, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation warned this week that the pillars of the state’s economy – health care, higher education, tourism – could be so fundamentally...

Hopes for an expedited economic rebound from the COVID-19 shutdown simply isn’t realistic, according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, which predicts a prolonged recovery period that will strain state resources, which may not fully recover...

“If you’re selling that many fewer meals, it means you may have less profit, you pay less taxes, and so it goes,” Eileen McAnneny, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation said. Back in April, the foundation forecasted a V-shaped...

According to one watchdog, the state budget won’t weather it well. The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation projected in a report released Thursday that it could take five years for state revenues to exceed prepandemic levels. Even that scenario...

The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation has projected the state will not be able to collect close to $6 billion in revenue. “This is going to have a dramatic impact on local revenues,” said Fitzgerald. “Soaring unemployment and the expectation...