Negotiators representing either chamber of the state Legislature met in public briefly before closing the door for a second year of secretive tax talks.
A joint conference committee comprised of three state senators and as many representatives gathered at the State House Monday to begin again the process of ironing out the differences between their separate proposals to cut taxes in the Bay State. Members from both bodies acknowledged they had been in the same position before.
“We want to make sure that we finish the job on this one, as we’ve obviously had some starts and stops over the last year or two related to these things,” House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz told his colleagues.
For the second year running Michlewitz made the case for acting fast as he sat across the table from Senate Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues and after the pair called to order another attempt to make the commonwealth more affordable and competitive with other jurisdictions.
This year’s tax reform proposals come in at just under $600 million in cuts and are mostly the same as 2023’s efforts; aimed at upping the rental deduction and the senior circuit breaker while offering changes to the tax code to make the state more attractive to wealthier residents.
The House plan, in keeping with a similar proposal offered by Gov. Maura Healey, would see the capital gains tax slashed from 12% to 5% and the establishment of a single sales factor apportionment. Both proposals call for changes to the estate tax cap, though the House plan calls for a larger exemption.
Last year, negotiators were in the midst of doing exactly what they began Monday when an unexpected announcement by then-Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration that the state would need to send almost $3 billion back to taxpayers upended any discussions of tax relief.
That will hopefully not be the case this year.
“I think it’s important that we make sure that we get this done as quickly as we can, mainly because we’ve done a lot of work to keep our fiscal climate steady over these last couple of years,” Michlewitz said.
The mood during the brief public meeting on Monday was both congenial and light-hearted, with both Senate and House members expressing their hope they could send a finalized tax cut package back to their respective chambers.
“I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Senate and good friends from the House to reconcile the differences of these bills as quickly as possible in order to provide the citizens of the commonwealth much-needed tax relief,” Rodrigues said.
Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, noting it was not the first time he and his colleagues had tried to change the tax code, placed a burlap sack labeled “taxpayers” in the middle of the conference room table. Inside, he said, were numerous ideas on how to make the state more affordable.
“Now is our opportunity, at long last, to do that. Not only because of all the work that’s been done, but because of the need that the citizens of the commonwealth have,” Tarr said.
