Tax ballot questions emerging as Beacon Hill boogeyman

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Before you form an opinion, consider the consequences and review your TAX RETURNS. Reducing the MASSACHUSETTS STATE TAX by 1% is not the  solution considering the requisite CUTS IN SERVICES.  Due to the staggering cuts from the MAGA/TRUMP "Big Beautiful Disaster," the future is unpredictable.  Many economists are predicting a RECESSION or worse.  Due to travel bans and bans on FOREIGN STUDENTS, slashing RESEARCH FUNDING and TRUMP discouraging TOURISM, the COMMONWEALTH risks hidden reductions in revenue.     This in itself jeopardizes the progress the Commmonwealth has made in many areas.  If anyone remembers when ROMNEY was GOVERNOR, although he promised not to raise taxes, he raised FEES and eliminated numerous programs that were poorly chosen - PAGES AND PAGES of CUTS! One in particular was FREE TB TESTING. Those most llikely to contract TB are those who lack health insurance: drug addicts, homeless people, those recently released from prison, poor people. It was SLASH and BURN! It was so disastrous that I retained the lengthy newspaper insert! Maybe that's why ALL OF THE COMPUTERS were removed when ROMNEY left office.  Let's also remember that SLOW ZONE Shortsleeve left major expensive problems at the MBTA that Gov. Maura Healey was forced to address.  Those problems did not suddenally happen, but were ignored.  In addition, Governor Charlie Baker misspent FEDERAL PANDEMIC RELIEF FUNDS of $2.1 BILLION that the COMMONWEALTH must repay.  In deal with feds, Mass. will have to pay back $2.1 billion misspent by Baker administration The costly mistake came to light soon after Gov. Maura Healey took office in 2023. BOSTON.COM

Tax ballot questions emerging as Beacon Hill boogeyman   December 17, 2025 By Chris Lisinski

State finances are treading water, and there’s growing fear on Beacon Hill that voters could soon yank Massachusetts below the surface.

The annual fiscal check-up that state budget-writers convened Tuesday featured the same calls for caution and warnings about a volatile environment that have dominated conversations for the past year-plus. But this time around, the 2026 election also emerged as a point of concern.

That’s because influential business groups are pushing a pair of ballot questions that would trim the state’s income tax rate by one-fifth and make it much more likely for the state to owe refunds to taxpayers.

If the proposals earn a spot on the ballot and secure enough support from voters, they could carve billions of dollars out of the revenue foundations on which lawmakers have built their quickly growing spending plans.

House budget chief Aaron Michlewitz went out of his way at Tuesday’s hearing to lament the potential impacts, warning that they could compound the already-potent stress of federal funding cuts and a wobbly economy.

“Given these realities and the funding priorities that Massachusetts needs to realize in order to continue to be a top-tier state, now is not the time for irresponsible ballot questions,” Michlewitz said during his opening remarks. “These questions would only benefit high-end earners and would require either dramatic spending cuts or other tax increases in order to maintain the Commonwealth’s fiscal stability.”

Michlewitz did not explicitly identify which of the dozen prospective questions are giving him agita, but he almost certainly was referencing the two backed by the Massachusetts High Technology Council, the Pioneer Institute, and the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership, which together launched a group called the Massachusetts Opportunity Alliance.

One of the coalition’s questions would gradually reduce the state’s income tax rate from 5 percent to 4 percent, and the other would overhaul the voter-approved cap on allowable state tax collections, forcing more frequent returns of tax dollars.

Proponents say the measures could reduce the burden on Bay Staters, who face a notoriously steep cost of living.

“People who leave Massachusetts cite high costs, and taxes are the top of that list,” Mass. High-Tech Council president Chris Anderson said last month.

But tax relief always requires a tradeoff by the state.

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More Context Ballot measures must clear courts, lawmakers, and voters (November 2025)  ‘No margin for error’: State economic check-in spotlights tricky balancing act (September 2025)

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