Governor Healey filed her administration’s FY 2023 closeout supplemental budget on September 13th, and versions of the spending bill were passed by the House and Senate on November 8th and 14th, respectively. While the House and Senate bills largely reflect shared spending that is necessary to…

The Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 budget was signed into law on August 9th, but four months into the new fiscal year, work remains for administrative and legislative budget writers to close the books on FY 2023. This work – typically marked by the passage of a closeout supplemental budget – is completed…

Doug Howgate, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said while April's revenue numbers are "jarring" they’re "not necessarily surprising given the recognition that capital gains and other collection types were likely to decline sharply from last year’s levels." He said the revenue…

Doug Howgate, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business-backed budget watchdog, said that while jarring, the numbers aren’t surprising given that some pots of revenue were never going to sustain the peaks of years past. “Today’s revenue collections doesn’t change the…

Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President Doug Howgate said the consensus revenue estimate crafted by legislative and administration budget chiefs assumed the impacts from a capital gains slowdown and PTE credits would be "staggered over '23 and '24." "The number is jarring, but I'm not sure '…

Doug Howgate, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, agreed that the causes of the April downturn were on the radar screens of policymakers and analysts, but their timing was unclear. As for tax relief, Howgate said, it is sound from a policy standpoint and doable from a financial…

In January, budget-writers upgraded the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 tax revenue benchmark by just over $150 million, from $39.618 billion to $39.768 billion. Tax collections for the month of March (announced on April 5th) are the first collections to be compared to the new, upgraded, FY 2023 benchmarks.…

Gov. Maura Healey signed a supplemental budget for fiscal year 2023 Tuesday, just a few weeks after announcing her FY-2024 budget. As Doug Howgate of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation explains, this is normal and is essentially a way for the state to pay their bills. “The supplemental budget…

The Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 budget development process is well underway, but with about 4 months remaining in FY 2023 this brief takes a fresh look at the state’s current fiscal picture. Based on current spending and revenue collections to date, the fiscal year appears in balance with an estimated…

Governor Healey’s Capital Authorization Bills On Thursday, January 19th, Governor Maura Healey filed the first capital bond bills of her Administration, totaling $1.4 billion. The first bill focuses on what the Administration identifies as the “immediate needs” of municipalities, and includes $987…