14 Options for Raising Progressive Revenue
How to collect enough revenue to pay for the things we accomplish together as a Commonwealth and how to collect that revenue fairly are questions that every community and every state need to examine. This paper describes 14 ways the Commonwealth could generate substantial new revenue in a manner that makes our tax system more progressive and would not require changing the state constitution.
The Evidence on Millionaire Migration and Taxes
This policy brief examines the evidence on the likely migration effects of raising income taxes on households with taxable annual income above $1 million and the impacts on net state revenue.
The Growing Cost of Special Business Tax Break Spending
The cost to the state from special business tax break spending has nearly tripled, even after adjusting for inflation, from $370 million in 1996 to over $1 billion anticipated in this fiscal year. Despite the findings of a 2012 report from a state special commission that called for limiting these breaks and studying their effectiveness, most state business tax breaks have not faced a thorough examination.
Building a Strong Economy: The Roles of Education, Transportation, and Tax Policy
Effective economic policies can create a more highly productive state economy and make it possible to improve economic opportunity and security for working families. This paper examines the economic research on the relationship between effective investments in education and transportation and improved economic productivity. The paper also examines the economic effects of tax reforms that can fund those investments.
Massachusetts’s Earned Income Tax Credit
The EITC improves the economic security of working families by increasing the after tax incomes of low and moderate wage workers. This factsheet explains how the tax credit works, describes how many families and individuals it helps in Massachusetts, and examines recent research on the long-term effects of the EITC on families and children.
Massachusetts Ranks in Middle for Taxes in FY 2013
Analyzing recently updated data from the Census on state and local taxes across the country, this factsheet compares the overall level of state and local taxes in Massachusetts to the level in other states.
Where Does the Taxachusetts Label Come From?
This factsheet explains the history of the “Taxachusetts” label and describes how it is at odds with the reality of the level of taxation in Massachusetts today.
Large gains in health coverage, some growth in incomes, big challenges remain
New Census data released this week shows that ACA implementation led to the largest single-year increase in health insurance coverage nationwide in 2014. Also, incomes in Massachusetts increased and child poverty declined for the first time since 2008. But we have a long way to go. Incomes are barely growing across the country and more than one in five children nationally (and more than one in seven in Massachusetts) lived in poverty in 2014.