Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s tax shift proposal has been frozen in the state Senate for months, and business leaders don’t seem keen to ride to her aid. iStock photo

Here we go again.

Tax bills will be going out soon in New England’s economic powerhouse and largest city.

Boston homeowners are faced with another spike in their tax bills as the values of office towers collapse, taking with it potentially $2 billion in revenue over the next five years, per the Boston Policy Institute.

And with just weeks to spare, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has resurrected her controversial tax shift proposal that sparked weeks of fierce debate in the fall of 2024 before dying in the state Senate.

Wu’s proposal would provide a modest cushion to homeowners, knocking a few points off a 13 percent increase. And to pay for it, the city would put the squeeze on owners of all those half-empty office and commercial buildings in Boston’s downtown and beyond.

A Tardy Sense of Urgency

It’s been radio silence on the issue for nearly a year out of City Hall.

But now, more than a month after her 50-point reelection win, the mayor and her aides have suddenly leaped into action.

Wu has mounted a full-blown pressure campaign to win a green light from the Senate for her plan, which would push more of the city’s tax burden onto its commercial property base than currently allowed by law.

So is this truly a serious effort by the Wu administration to overcome stiff opposition from the real estate and business community and get its plan over the final legislative hurdle?

Or is this just simply a political power play designed to shift blame on a volatile issue but ultimately meaning nothing much at all?

I suspect it is more of the latter – blame-shifting – than the former, as in an earnest attempt to pass a lightning-rod-of-tax plan.

Mad about the double-digit increase in your tax bill? Well, don’t come crying to us at City Hall – go holler at all those fat-cat developers and real estate investors and their buddies in the Senate, or so the mayor and her minions might say.

If nothing else, the timing of everything undercuts any claims that this is a real attempt to pass a  piece of legislation with complex, statewide implications.

Legislature Snubs Mayor

Of note, the Legislature has had Wu’s home rule petition since February, with the Senate not so much as referring it to a committee, keeping it on procedural ice while also shielding senators from taking a potentially tough vote.

Last week, the Senate finally moved two bills forward that try to address the issue of ballooning residential property tax bills statewide, but kept Wu’s bill on lockdown. As of publication, it was unclear whether either of the new bills had a chance in the House of Representatives.

Does the mayor truly think she is going to get her tax shift plan passed in the few weeks before the city sends tax bills out?

Even under the best of circumstances, getting either branch of the Massachusetts Legislature to move that fast, even on a bill everyone agrees on, would be pretty much a hopeless task.

The Legislature doesn’t have the reputation as one of the least productive in the nation for a reason.

Scott Van Voorhis

Sure, Wu may believe she has a mandate after her strong reelection win, but as other Boston mayors over the decades have found, it is a mandate that does not extend to the State House, which is in a world of its own.

Meanwhile, the same business leaders who the last time around actually came to a tentative agreement with the Wu administration on the tax shift idea before everything collapsed don’t sound particularly eager to do anything.

Here’s what James Rooney, CEO of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, had to say, in a statement given to the Boston Herald.

“Instead of increasing the costs and the difficulty of developing and operating a business in Boston, we urge policymakers to refocus on strategies that support economic growth and competitiveness, strengthening our commercial sector and creating jobs for our residents,” Rooney said.

Scott Van Voorhis is Banker & Tradesman’s columnist and publisher of the Contrarian Boston newsletter; opinions expressed are his own. He may be reached at sbvanvoorhis@hotmail.com.