By October 23, 2025
Local business leaders are hoping the Legislature finally ends up killing the estate tax in Massachusetts.
Two years ago, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce teamed up with the Massachusetts Society of CPAs to lobby lawmakers on Beacon Hill about increasing the exemption for the estate tax — something that ended up happening in a tax bill that was passed later that year. Now, the two business groups are trying to get the estate tax removed entirely.
Last week, Chamber chief executive Jim Rooney wrote to Governor Maura Healey, House Speaker Ron Mariano, and Senate President Karen Spilka, urging them to adopt another tax reform bill to build on the one Healey signed in 2023.
MassBudget Reference:
And further changes to the state tax is sure to run into resistance from left-leaning groups such as the Mass. Budget and Policy Center, a local think tank.
“Because of the federal government, we are going to be facing enormous cuts [to the state budget],” MassBudget policy director Phineas Baxandall said. “We don’t know how deep our revenue hole is. We know we need to be gearing up to double down on our priorities, not to be taking away our ability to invest in them.”
Baxandall noted that the estate tax is one way of addressing the wealth disparities in Massachusetts between “the haves and the have-nots.” He noted that the state’s new income tax surcharge for high earners has brought in more money than anticipated since taking effect in 2023, a sign that a feared exodus didn’t materialize.
“The lesson from that … is that wealthy families are smart enough to know they want to be in a place that invests in its future,” Baxandall said. “Eliminating a major tax like that … from the people who can most afford to pay it is exactly the wrong thing to do.”
