Residents exiting Massachusetts took a net of $4.2 billion in adjusted gross income with them in 2023, one of the largest totals in the country, after a tax on millionaires took effect.
The amount was an 8% year-over-year increase, according to Internal Revenue Service data, even as the total number of taxpayers leaving the state slowed.
This was the first year that residents were subject to a 4% surtax on incomes over $1 million after voters approved the levy in 2022 to fund schools and transportation.
Several Democrat-led states have since approved or are considering similar taxes on top earners, partly as a way to make up for federal funding cuts enacted under President Donald Trump and also to pay for more ambitious agendas.
Supporters of the Massachusetts measure hail the more than $6 billion in revenue it’s brought to state coffers. Critics warn that it’s driving away entrepreneurs, even if Massachusetts lacks the high-profile departures seen in California, which is weighing a wealth tax, or Washington, which enacted a millionaire tax earlier this month.
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The state’s millionaires-tax collections have increased every year since 2023 and so far in fiscal 2026 have jumped 19% year-over-year to $1.3 billion.
That haul “shows most conclusively that the people with very high incomes continue contributing revenue at rising rates based on their residence in Massachusetts,” progressive organization Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center said in a statement.
