Before the end of the last legislative session, and after many months of over-collections in state taxes, Beacon Hill actually pondered a series of tax breaks and reforms including targeted tax relief along with long anticipated reform of our antiquated estate tax law. However, those ideas were ultimately dropped before the clock ran out at the end of the formal session.

Now is the start of a new two-year legislative session and the only thing that changed is a ballot question that would increase income taxes on some small businesses, home owners and high income earners was passed, creating a new revenue stream for the state coffers. This was done while many other states around the country actually cut their taxes. This change in our state’s constitutional flat tax rate is sure to have a negative impact on our state’s economic outlook and we need redeeming broad based tax cuts to come out front in the fight to keep our state competitive.

 We urge you to contact your state legislators to tell them to support broad based tax relief for our state. Massachusetts has a chance to come out in front of this new hurdle by making living in Massachusetts more affordable not just for targeted groups, but for everyone.