How should Mass. lawmakers spend the money from the state's millionaires tax? We asked around.
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TODAY'S STARTING POINT
Call it the $1.3 billion question: How should Massachusetts spend the extra money that its so-called millionaires tax raised?
First, some background. In 2022, Massachusetts voters approved a 4 percent surtax on annual income over $1 million. The constitutional amendment that created it requires that the money go to transportation and education initiatives. Last fiscal year alone, the tax raised more than $2.4 billion, or about $1.3 billion beyond what officials budgeted. This year, revenue has again
The amendment left the Legislature with a lot of leeway to decide which initiatives to fund, and lawmakers have been
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This week, lawmakers
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More for the T
The Legislature's compromise proposal would give $535 million to the MBTA. But some argue that the T, which has languished with insufficient funding and a backlog of repair work for decades, could use more.
Amy Sutherland, a Charlestown resident and Starting Point reader, framed it this way: 'Making the T work at a 21st century level would solve traffic, economic, social, and climate problems in Boston and the surrounding metro area,' she wrote in an email. Jonathan Cohn of Progressive Mass, a liberal advocacy group, suggests using some millionaires tax revenue to expand efforts to make MBTA buses and trains free to ride.
Other transportation needs
The MBTA isn't the only transit service in the state that could use money. There are also
Another possibility, Wilson said, could be to expand so-called
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The federal funding gap
But paying for transportation needs alone would leave little for other challenges — including ones that didn't exist when voters first approved the millionaires tax, like the Trump administration's efforts to cut federal funding to states. The administration has moved to
'Resources should be allocated to protect the schools impacted by these attacks,' Dominic Copeland and Davian Pagan of the Massachusetts Communities Action Network, a faith-based organizing collective, wrote. Jessica Tang leads the state branch of the American Teachers Association, which supported passage of the amendment. Tang said that $690 million — about half the Legislature's compromise proposal — could support low-income students and students with disabilities, as well as cover the Medicaid reimbursements that schools use to provide speech therapy, nursing, and more.
The administration is also pushing legislation in Congress that would cut federal student aid, which helps low-income
What's next?
There's no shortage of ideas about what to do with the money, but the debate over the millionaires tax may be unfolding on borrowed time.
Some business leaders remain staunchly opposed, arguing that the tax is a drag on the economy and will cause wealthier residents to leave the state. Research groups that support the tax recently reported that
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Even if it stays in effect, it's unclear how much the tax will raise in the future. The surtax is tied to inflation, which means its income threshold has risen. In effect, the millionaires tax may
Still, any repeal effort would likely take years. And for now, the tax continues to bear fruit, raising more than state officials expected. Wilson, of Transportation for Massachusetts, sees a long list of possibilities. 'There are a lot of needs across the state,' he wrote.
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9 Across:
83°
POINTS OF INTEREST
A black bear chewed on a garbage container in Wolcott, Conn., back in 2006.
Steven Valenti/Associated Press
Boston and New England
What do we do now?
The Karen Read retrial may be over, Beth Teitell writes, but
Filthy animals:
Rats in Boston are spreading leptospirosis,
Struggle to survive:
Amid tough tariffs and harsh immigration policies,
Connecticut bears:
Encounters with humans are happening so frequently that some lawmakers want to start a bear-hunting season. (
Vermont visitors:
Tourism businesses in the north are feeling the impact of Trump's rhetoric against Canada as Quebecers start to boycott US travel. (
Trump administration
Iran options:
President Trump's announcement that he could take up to two weeks to decide whether to attack Iran not only buys him time, it also gives him several new military and covert options. (
The Tok isn't really Tiking:
Trump delayed the ban on TikTok by another 90 days. The new deadline for a sale is Sept. 17. (
Silent treatment:
Trump honored Juneteenth in each of his first four years as president. But yesterday, he said nothing about the holiday. Instead, he complained on Truth Social that there are 'too many non-working holidays in America.' (
The Nation and the World
Israel and Iran:
The countries
Social Security rush:
Worsening finances and claims of fraud are prompting nervous recipients to take their retirement payments earlier than planned.
Adding insult to injury:
NFL widows who struggled to care for ex-players who had the devastating degenerative brain disease CTE say a new study is insulting and dismissive of their experience. (
Rout:
The Indiana Pacers rolled to an easy Game 6 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals, forcing a Game 7 Sunday night. (
VIEWPOINTS
The Globe's Opinion pages featured two different takes on Israel's war with Iran.
Matthew Levitt,
director of the Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, made the case that
Ankit Panda,
the Stanton senior fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and
Nicole Grajewski,
a fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, warned that the US
Meanwhile, the Globe's editorial board weighed in on the
Karen Read verdict,
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BESIDE THE POINT
By Teresa Hanafin
💘
Blind date:
He's a data analyst whose family immigrated; she's a teacher who used to work in immigration law.
📖
Contradictions:
Jen Hamilton, a nurse with 4.2 million followers on TikTok, picked up her Bible a couple of weeks ago and
🦁
The next 'White Lotus':
Travel writer Christopher Muther tried to have a non-working vacation. But when he entered the Mahali Mzuri
📺
Top TV picks:
From 'The Better Sister' to 'Forever,' here are Chris Vognar's
💦
A watery escape:
Of the Charles River's 80-mile journey from Hopkinton to Boston Harbor, the last 6 miles are a pure delight. Here are
🧒
Keeping kids busy:
Here's a sample of
🌮
Keeping kids fed:
And after all that excitement, Kara Baskin suggests some stress-free and delicious
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