State officials agreed Wednesday to build their next annual budgets on the estimate that Massachusetts will collect $44.9 billion in tax revenue, 2.9% more than is expected to come in this year, and also coalesced around a new schedule that delays elimination of the state’s unfunded pension liability.
Secretary of Administration and Finance Matthew Gorzkowicz, Senate Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues and House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz said their tax estimate agreement includes money coming in from the surtax on high-earning households. Excluding surtax revenue, the agreement foresees $42.2 billion in tax revenue for fiscal year 2027, an increase of 2.4% over the current fiscal 2026 benchmark. The most recent national measure of inflation showed prices rose at an annual rate of 2.7% as of the end of 2025.
The estimate “represents a responsible and sustainable projection for revenues, including the income surtax, that captures growth in our economy as well as the underlying uncertainty caused by actions at the federal level,” Gorzkowicz said. He predicted the agreement would “enable us to present a thoughtful budget that protects key investments and priorities, while also confronting the real challenges of controlling inflation-driven spending growth and putting state finances on a structurally sound path forward.”
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The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center said the agreement “assumes modest revenue growth (which is a good thing)” but not enough growth to fill gaps left by federal funding cuts and state tax revenue losses.
“Today’s news should create even greater urgency among state lawmakers to close corporate tax loopholes and eliminate other costly tax giveaways to corporations and millionaires,” the organization said. “Lawmakers will need every available dollar to help keep Massachusetts communities and families afloat during the fiscal storm that is gathering.”
