Tax cut plan announcement expected as Gov. Healey finalizes first budget
The details long absent from an oft promised tax cut plan may finally come to light as soon as Monday morning, if a statement included with the governor’s publicly released schedule is any indication.
“Tomorrow, Governor Maura T. Healey and Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll will visit the Demakes Family YMCA in Lynn to make an announcement related to affordability in Massachusetts,” Healey’s staff said along with the release of her public schedule Sunday afternoon.
Gov. Maura Healey will deliver the announcement — her team described it as “major” — just days before she is expected to send the Legislature her first budget as chief executive of the commonwealth and about two weeks after she said she would pair the spending plan with a much anticipated tax cut proposal.
The governor has long stated, both before winning her job and after, that she supports changes to the state’s tax code which would make the Massachusetts more livable for low income residents and more attractive to people who may consider relocating.
“Massachusetts is a great place as long as you can afford to live here, and right now, with the cost of housing, the cost of child care, and then some of what we’ve seen in terms of inflationary pressures, it’s tough,” she told WBUR on February 15.
The governor previously signaled strong support for a tax relief package offered by former Gov. Charlie Baker last year and mostly approved by the Legislature at the end of summer.
That plan would have lowered the tax burden for seniors, provided additional tax relief to renters and low income families and changed the estate tax.
It has been unclear if Healey’s tax cut proposal would look much the same as Baker’s or if it would provide relief in other areas. Healey has been vocal about her support for increasing the child tax credit to $600, but murky on other details of what her proposal might include.
Even less clear is the Legislature’s appetite for tax reform.
Lawmakers unanimously agreed to the last package, paired down by hundreds of millions from Baker’s $700 million offering, but never let the bill advance from the joint conference committee where it was sitting when news broke the state would be required to send $3 billion back to taxpayers.
Still, support for some form of tax relief has been trumpeted by many outside of Beacon Hill, including the leaders of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, and the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.
“Governor Maura Healey made a campaign promise to cut taxes, and for the sake of our state’s economic competitiveness, the Governor should cut the state income tax rate. Being the highest in New England and among the highest in the country will only drive out more taxpayers unless broad tax cuts are adopted,” MassFiscal spokesman Paul Craney said in a statement.