Earlier this week, Massachusetts reported April state tax revenues $1.6 billion short of what officials originally projected.
As Raise Up Massachusetts said in a statement, “Senators should treat this report as a red light. Rather than cutting taxes for the wealthy, they should focus on making sustainable investments in affordability for working families.”
In the face of a possible economic downturn and a debt-ceiling showdown (and possible looming government shutdown) on the federal level, continuing to move forward with tax cuts for the ultra-rich and large corporations isn’t just inequitable — it’s reckless, setting our state up for deep cuts to necessary programs and services.
Happy May Day! May 1st marks International Workers’ Day, a day commemorating the struggles and gains made by workers and the labor movement.
Labor organizing in the US was behind the achievement of the weekend, of workplace safety laws, of the minimum wage, of the social safety net, of paid leave, and of so much more and has been crucial to any campaign for a fairer economy and a more robust political democracy.
And the fight continues.
Here are just a few things the Massachusetts Legislature could do this session to strengthen workers’ rights:
Raising the minimum wage to $20 per hour to bring it closer to a living wage, and then indexing it to inflation so that its value doesn’t erode over time
Strengthening enforcement of wage theft laws and holding companies accountable for wage theft committed by subcontractors
Extending collecting bargaining rights to State House staff
Requiring employers to publicly report their wage data, to provide information essential to measuring our progress toward racial and gender wage equity
Although we often think of the history of voting rights in the US as one of ever-forward motion, Massachusetts stands as an outlier. In the late 1990s, after incarcerated individuals in MCI-Norfolk started organizing for better conditions, Republican Governor Bill Cellucci and the MA Legislature responded with retaliation: a multi-step process of disenfranchisement. In 2000, Massachusetts voters approved a constitutional amendment to prohibit people incarcerated for felonies in state prison from voting in state elections; the subsequent year, Cellucci signed a law to extend this prohibition to federal and municipal elections. Our commonwealth did something rare in recent history: it took away the right to vote from a category of people who were formerly enfranchised.
But the tide is turning. On Wednesday, the Joint Committee on Election Laws took the significant step of giving a favorable report to S.8/H.26, constitutional amendments filed by Sen. Liz Miranda and Adam Gomez and Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven that would ensure that incarceration never leads to a loss of voting rights.
Celebrate graduates and ensure that debt-free public higher ed is an option for future generations!
The Massachusetts State House will soon be considering the Cherish Act (S.816 / H.1260) and Debt-Free Bill (S.823 / H.1265). Collectively, these bills call for debt-free public higher education, increased student supports, better wages and working conditions, and green/healthy buildings.
Here are three quick actions that you can take this weekend.
Ask of Gov. Healey: Pause New Gas Infrastructure
Happy Earth Day! The science has long been clear: we need to rapidly transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy. If we know that there can be no long-term future for fossil fuel infrastructure, then we need to stop expanding it and creating a lock-in effect for decades to come, with negative health and environmental impacts on surrounding communities.
Governor Healey has spoken of climate as a top priority, so she should show that commitment by pledging to halt new gas system expansions until the state has a concrete plan for a just transition to a clean — and green — energy future.
Can you join Mass Power Forward in calling on her to do so?
Ask of Your State Senator: Protect Fair Share
The tax plans proposed by the Governor and the House include hundreds of millions of dollars in unnecessary giveaways to the ultra-rich and large corporations.
But the Senate can take a different path.
Call your State Senator and ask them to:
REJECT the proposed cut to the short-term capital gains tax that would overwhelmingly benefit wealthy investors; REJECT expanding the ‘single sales factor apportionment’ that would give a massive tax break to large, profitable multi-state corporations; TARGET any estate tax reform exclusively to moderate estates, with no tax breaks to large multi-million-dollar estates; AND USE THOSE SAVINGS to invest in affordable housing, childcare, and reliable transportation.
Don’t know your State Senator’s phone number? Find it here, and then save it in your phone for next time.
And then after you make that call, can you follow up with an email?
And if you’re free this upcoming week, sign up for a phone bank with Raise Up Mass so that we can drive more calls to legislators.
Tuesday, April 25, 4 pm to 7 pm
Wednesday, April 26, 4 pm to 7 pm
Thursday, April 27, 4 pm to 7 pm
Ask of Your State Rep: Support No Cost Calls
The good news is that the MA House included No Cost Calls language — that is, ending the predatory practice of prisons and jails charging incarcerated individuals for phone calls to loved ones — in its FY2024 budget proposal.
However, there are additional steps necessary to strengthen the guarantee of access to such free phone calls. Rep. Chynah Tyler filed an amendment to the budget (Amendment #1559) to do just that, ensuring a stronger baseline of access (i.e., including access to tablets and setting a minimum guarantee for call time).
Can you call your state rep to ask them to support Amendment #1559 to the House budget?
Last November, voters sent a message by voting for the Fair Share Amendment: the rich should pay their fair share so that we can invest in public education and infrastructure. For years, the Legislature has used the line “We don’t have the money” to justify inaction and underinvestment. We got them the money.
But on Thursday, the MA House made clear that they plan to give money right back to the rich and large corporations by passing a tax cut package filled with giveaways to the richest residents of the Commonwealth. And that’s not okay.
The House vote was 150 to 3, with only Rep. Mike Connolly (D-Cambridge), Rep. Dan Sena (D-Acton), and Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven (D-Somerville) voting no. If they are your representatives, you should reach out and thank them. With the exception of a few absent representatives, all others voted yes, and if your representative voted to undermine Fair Share like that, they need to hear about your disappointment. Read more about the vote here.
But the fight isn’t it over.
Here’s how you can act.📣
The tax plans proposed by the Governor and the House include hundreds of millions of dollars in unecessary giveaways to the ultra-rich and large corporations. But the Senate can take a different path.
Call your State Senator TODAY and ask them to:
✅ REJECT the proposed cut to the short-term capital gains tax that would overwhelmingly benefit wealthy investors; ✅REJECT expanding the ‘single sales factor apportionment’ that would give a massive tax break to large, profitable multi-state corporations; ✅TARGET any estate tax reform exclusively to moderate estates, with no tax breaks to large multi-million-dollar estates; AND ✅USE THOSE SAVINGS to invest in affordable housing, childcare, and reliable transportation.
Don’t know your State Senator’s phone number? Find it here, and then save it in your phone for next time.
Last November, voters sent a message by voting for the Fair Share Amendment: the rich should pay their fair share so that we can invest in public education and infrastructure. For years, the Legislature has used the line “We don’t have the money” to justify inaction and underinvestment; we got them the money.
But, yesterday, the House, in unveiling their tax package, said that they plan to give money right back to the rich and large corporations.
Almost half of the cost of their tax proposal comes from the three regressive tax cuts:
A $231 million cut to the estate tax designed to disproportionately benefit the wealthiest estates
A $130 million cut for day traders and speculators by cutting the short-term capital gains tax
A $79 million tax cut for the state’s largest corporations through what is called “single sales factor apportionment”
Think of all that we could do with $440 million if instead we invested it in our public transit systems, in education, in child care, in climate resilience, in affordable housing, or in health care. Indeed, tackling our housing crisis should be the #1 priority if legislators actually cared about the goals of “affordability” and “competitiveness.” Indeed, even the less regressive parts of the tax package could go further if invested in a robust social programs. By proposing such regressive tax cuts, the House is disrespecting the will of the voters, and they are setting Massachusetts up for brutal cuts when the next recession hits.
You can also let your state representative know (on phone or in person tomorrow) that you want them to support two amendments filed by Rep. Mike Connolly:
#5 (Establishing a Tiered Corporate Minimum Tax), which ensures that large corporations pay their fair share [When corporations, through accounting wizardry, secure a $0 tax liability, the minimum tax they have to pay is $456. That tax should be based on the size of the corporation.]
#11 (Maintaining Some Degree of Short-Term Capital Gains Equity) to blunt the cut to the short-term capital gains tax
This spring, the Massachusetts House and Senate will be voting on their budgets for the next fiscal year, and it’s critical that they make sure to complete and protect last year’s victories when doing so.
What does that mean?
First, that means protecting last year’s win on the ballot for the Fair Share Amendment. Voters were clear about wanting the rich to pay their fair share and for us to invest in our public education and infrastructure. However, Governor Healey’s proposed budget would give away almost as much in tax cuts as is estimated to be raised by Fair Share, undermining the hard work that went into that campaign. In particular, almost $400 million of her tax package consists of regressive tax cuts that will go to speculators and major estates. We need to make sure to protect the revenue we raised so that we can realize the vision of better schools, better roads, and better transit for all.
Second, last summer the MA House and MA Senate both included language from the No Cost Calls bill in their budgets, but a veto from Governor Baker doomed its fate. The Legislature needs to complete the No Cost Calls win by including language to permanently guarantee that neither state nor county prisons or jails will continue the predatory practice of charging incarcerated individuals and their loved ones for phone calls.
Co-sponsor An Act to Modernize Participation in Public Meetings (HD.3261 / SD.2017), which would improve equitable access to open meetings by guaranteeing that members of the public can participate in person or remotely and establish a trust fund to help municipalities finance this goal.
Co-sponsor An Act to provide sunlight to state government (SD.131) and An Act extending the public records law to the Governor and the Legislature (SD.390), which would end the Governor and Legislature’s full exemption from public records law
Hybrid access for local meetings has helped increase participation and has removed obstacles facing working people, parents of young children, other caregivers, people with disabilities, people with limited transportation, among many other populations.
There are countless stories out there about the positive impact of such increased access. And the stories might include YOU.
Personal stories are a powerful tool to move legislators to take action. Has remote or hybrid access to public meetings enabled you to more fully participate in local government? If so, please use this form to share your story with the ACLU for this important campaign.
In November, voters passed the Fair Share Amendment, decisively choosing to raise significant new revenue for investments in transportation and public education by increasing taxes on the richest taxpayers.
Any additional changes to state tax policy should similarly prioritize fairness while preserving state revenues that are necessary to sustain long-term improvements in both education and transportation, as well as other critical areas such as housing, health care, and human services.
Unfortunately, last week, Governor Maura Healey put forth a proposal to cut state taxes by a billion dollars each year, including nearly $400 million in cuts to estate and short-term capital gains taxes that amount to a windfall to the richest 1%, would directly undermine the goals of the Fair Share Amendment while placing the state at risk for catastrophic budget cuts in future years.
Tackling the real challenges to the Commonwealth’s economic competitiveness – from working families’ struggles to afford housing and child care, to our economy’s need for an educated workforce and safe and reliable transportation infrastructure – will require making significant investments over the coming years. To make those investments possible, we need to protect both the new revenue from the Fair Share Amendment, and overall state revenue in general.
The ball is now in the Legislature’s court, as the House and the Senate will be working on their respective budgets in the coming weeks.
Help Communicate About Common Start in Your Local Community
The Common Start Coalition is looking for volunteers to help communicate about the Common Start agenda (affordable, high-quality early education and child care for all Massachusetts families) in local newspapers, cable access TV programs, and radio stations across the state.
Are you interested in writing a letter to the editor about Common Start in your local newspaper and/or going on a local cable access TV or radio program in your community to talk about Common Start? Please fill out this formto express your interest in communicating about Common Start!
Higher Ed for All Advocacy Day: Tuesday, 2/28
Affordable high-quality public higher education is essential to expand opportunity in all of our communities and create a more equitable and prosperous Commonwealth. Higher Ed For All is advocating for fully funded community colleges, state universities, and UMass campuses to knock down the barriers that too many potential college graduates’ encounter.
The Higher Ed for All coalition will be having an Advocacy Day at the State House on Tuesday, February 28. Never been to a lobby day before? There will be trainings in advance.
Follow-up to Last Week’s Prison Moratorium Lobby Day
Have a few minutes for a quick action? Call Governor Healey and leave a message about why it’s time to put a pause on new prisons and jails: bit.ly/massmoratoriumguide.
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REJECT the proposed cut to the short-term capital gains tax that would overwhelmingly benefit wealthy investors;
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