A proposal to raise the personal income tax exemption and simultaneously raise the rate — so as to make the income tax more progressive — has merit, but it is not politically viable at this time.
Budget
budget and local aid updates, community preservation act, financial outlook, local aid policy, priorities/requests, resources, revenue, taxes
Money Issues in 2009-2010
An outline of the financial issues that will be front and center throughout the coming legislative session.
Gas Tax
Most feedback to me has been overwhelmingly supportive of the gas tax — simple, fairer than high tolls, environmentally sound, definitely needed, a broad-based mechanism to fund a broadly-used commonwealth asset.
Gas tax increase
A conversation is developing about the gas tax and also about how to protect low and middle-income tax payers from additional financial stress.
Cutting the state budget
Observations about where Massachusetts stands in the crisis, how the state is responding, and how the cuts affects our local communities.
How does the House of Representatives propose to close the FY2009 budget gap?
The major elements of the emerging House approach to the budget are essentially the same as in the Governor’s proposal, except that, instead of casino revenues, the House proposes to levy a cigarette tax.