The Raise Up Massachusetts coalition explains it’s opposition to the Healey Administration’s tax relief package and, more specifically, the estate tax relief component of that package:
WAMC: The coalition is now speaking out against Governor Maura Healey’s new $742 million tax plan. Can you explain why the coalition is speaking out against it, and how it relates to the efforts of the Fair Share Amendment?
So, voters were very clear in November that they wanted higher taxes on the richest 1% in order to spend more money on education and transportation across the state. We have huge needs for investment, from East-West Rail to local roads and bridges to our schools and colleges across the state. These are areas that are holding our state back from its full potential and that need greater state investment. We’re very concerned that the governor’s proposal to cut state taxes by a billion dollars each year would undermine the Fair Share Amendment’s goals of a fairer tax system and more revenue for investment in critical public goods. Specifically, we’re very concerned that the governor’s proposals to cut the estate tax and the short-term capital gains tax would amount to enormous windfall to the richest 1% in our state. The proposal that the governor has made on the estate tax would give $182,000 to some of the wealthiest families in the state. We’re talking about not just smaller estates of $2 million or $3 million, but the estate of a person with a $20 million, $40 million, $80 million estate would receive a $182,000 tax credit. We don’t think that’s good tax policy, and we don’t think that’s the will of the voters who just voted for those wealthy members of our society to pay more.
WAMC/Northeast Public Radio
This post is a part of Old Colony Law’s Estate Tax Updates.