The House budget chief wants to direct $1 billion in surplus income surtax funds towards transportation investments, mainly MBTA capital investments, he told business leaders at an event in Boston.
The man widely viewed as the heir apparent as speaker has a message for the state’s business community, which has complained about the economic climate since voters passed the Millionaire Tax two years ago: Get over it.
Voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly chose Democrat Maura Healey as the next governor of Massachusetts. Meanwhile, a hot-button tax policy ballot question remained close Wednesday morning.
Massachusetts ranked 34th in the Tax Foundation’s annual business tax climate index released last month, but analysts at the think tank say the state’s ranking would slide all the way down to 46th if the income surtax on Tuesday’s ballot were in effect right now.
Nearly 6 in 10 likely voters support a proposed constitutional amendment to impose a higher tax rate on income above $1 million, a new poll shows.
With less than a month left for voters to decide where they will come down on the Constitutional amendment that would add a 4 percent surtax on annual household income above $1 million, each side of the argument made its case before the Charles River Chamber on Wednesday.
Two leading commercial real estate industry figures say a proposed surtax on the portion of someone’s income over $1 million will push businesses out and hurt many non-millionaires selling homes and businesses.
For us in the real estate community, the Fair Share Amendment is a chance to support the housing needs of our workforce using the better transit infrastructure the tax will fund.
An organization that holds considerable sway on Beacon Hill and among the state’s business community on Tuesday reaffirmed its longstanding opposition to the income surtax amendment that will appear on this November’s statewide ballot.
Rather than just dismiss the issues or the amendment, this may be an opportunity for the business community to highlight its solutions to Massachusetts’ ongoing problems.
Opponents of the proposed surtax on household income over $1 million launched their campaign Monday morning to defeat the Constitutional amendment on November’s ballot, focusing on the potential impact on small businesses and retirees as well as the possibility that the Legislature treats the estimated $1.3 billion in annual surtax revenue as a “blank check.”
