Lawmakers need to shift gears on tax policy if they want to ensure that Massachusetts remains a place where residents can prosper and the economy remains competitive into the future, according to an opinion piece in today’s Boston Globe:
Massachusetts also has the most burdensome estate tax in the nation with a threshold of $1 million. Oregon is the only other state with such a low threshold. The majority of states have no estate tax.
[. . .]
Healey proposed raising the threshold to $3 million, while former governor Charlie Baker had previously proposed raising the threshold to $2 million and eliminating the “cliff effect” by taxing only the portion of the estate’s value over this threshold. Healey’s proposal also addresses the cliff effect, albeit in a different manner by creating a nonrefundable credit of up to $182,000. The omnibus tax relief package passed by the House on April 13 would increase the threshold to $2 million. The estate tax is by no means a policy that exclusively targets the wealthy. The explosion of home values in Massachusetts means even people of modest means are being impacted by this onerous tax.
We urge the Senate to follow the governor’s lead and boost the estate tax threshold to $3 million. This would help make the state more competitive while providing a measure of relief to residents suffering from crushing inflation.
This post is a part of Old Colony Law’s Estate Tax Updates.