TELECOMMUTING TAX CREDIT, BIZSMART,
Benefits of proposed telecommuting incentive debated
The proposed $2,000 tax credit for companies that allow employees to telecommute to help cut down on gridlock around Boston is being knocked for only helping white-collar workers.
Gov. Charlie Baker offered up the bonus — which would give an employer $2,000 per worker who begins telecommuting starting in January — as part of his plan to free up mounting traffic congestion in and around the city.
The credit maxes out at $50 million a year — meaning that at its best, it would impact 25,000 workers. That headcount isn’t substantial enough to fix the traffic problem, said Livable Streets Executive Director Stacy Thompson.
“Pushing this initiative would really only benefit white-collar workers who have the flexibility to stay at home,” said Thompson. “Many of our larger industries include the health care sector and the growing service sector … those folks can’t work from home.”
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that education and health services are the largest industries in the Boston area. Other sectors that have grown by at least 1,000 jobs over the last year include manufacturing and government.
Over 2.5 million
people made up the total workforce of the Boston metro area in 2017, census statistics show, with an estimated 137,506 people working from home.
Thompson said instead of incentivising people to work from home, getting them out to the office creates business for local stores and restaurants.
She also noted that having employees work from home is often cheap for businesses that aren’t spending money and space to support those employees in an office setting.
“I don’t know if we need to be giving businesses a tax incentive to do something that is actually cheaper for them,” said Thompson, adding that the language of the proposal is vague and doesn’t define how many days or hours a week employees would need to telecommute.
But Charles Chieppo, senior fellow at The Pioneer Institute, said that while telecommuting incentives won’t solve the problem completely, they would work well in conjunction with other proposals like congestion pricing. As the Herald reported this week, part of Baker’s plan is to have luxury lanes where commuters pay for faster access to the city.
Chieppo also said businesses offering telecommuting options could attract more employees.
“It’s a commonsense thing at this point because it will help employers in the sense that it makes them more competitive to find talent and it will certainly have an impact on congestion, so it’s a good step,” said Chieppo.
Josh Fairchild, co-founder and president of TransitMatters, said it won’t take much to make a noticeable difference. She added: “You don’t have to pull that many cars off the road to make a dent. It’s like 5%. If you could get 5% diverted to other things … then that would really ease things up.”