PM in the News: Solidarity Lowell’s Advocacy for the Unhoused

Melanie Gilbert, “Lowell’s adult homeless shelter at peak capacity,” Lowell Sun, February 21, 2024.

There are more homeless people than available beds in Lowell, leading to people in need of emergency shelter being turned away, said Isaiah Stephens, managing director of the Lowell Transitional Living Center on Middlesex Street.

“People are coming into the shelter faster than we can house them,” Stephens told a group of service providers and advocates attending a remote meeting of Solidarity Lowell on Jan. 28.

Solidarity Lowell is a volunteer group of community members of Greater Lowell working toward social justice in areas such as housing and homelessness.

State House News Service: “City Council backs idea of debt-free college bill”

Chris Lisinski, “City Council backs idea of debt-free college bill,” State House News Service, January 31, 2024.

“Councillors posed for a photo with Higher Ed for All advocates and turned over the microphone to Jonathan Cohn, policy director of the Progressive Massachusetts group that’s part of the coalition pushing for higher education reforms.

“The bill that we’re fighting for this session, in particular the CHERISH Act, is something that builds on that vision with debt-free higher education so that students aren’t graduating with thousands and thousands of dollars in debt that makes it hard for them when they start out and is damaging for the economy of Massachusetts as a whole,” Cohn said in the council chambers.”

PM in the News: “Midyear budget shortfall raises questions about Healey’s tax cuts”

“Midyear budget shortfall raises questions about Healey’s tax cuts,” WGBH, January 12, 2024.

Have Gov. Maura Healey’s tax cuts backfired?

That’s the argument coming from some on the left as Healey makes hundreds of millions of dollars in midyear budget cuts, just a few months after she signed off on the state’s first big tax-break package in two decades. But not everyone thinks the state’s current fiscal duress means the cuts were a bad idea.

Adam Reilly is joined by Mass. Taxpayers Foundation president Doug Howgate and Progressive Mass policy director Jonathan Cohn, who discuss the impact of the cuts and what they might portend for the future of budget-making in the state.

PM in the News: Governor Healey defends “absolutely essential” tax cuts (But Are They?)

Chris Lisinksi, “Governor Healey defends ‘absolutely essential’ tax cuts,” State House News Service, January 9, 2024.

Progressive Massachusetts, which describes itself as a grassroots organization with local chapters, called itself “disappointed and disturbed” by the budget cuts, contending they will “disproportionately harm the most disadvantaged members of the Commonwealth.”

“Last year, advocates repeatedly stressed that now was not the time for permanent tax cuts, as signs of lower revenue collection were already coming. The Legislature refused to listen and instead passed a tax cut package that included regressive tax cuts almost equivalent in size to these draconian cuts,” the group said in an unsigned statement. “It should not be lost on us that we never see emergency pauses of regressive tax giveaways; the solution is always one that falls on the backs of the poorest.”

Chris Van Buskirk, “Gov. Maura Healey defends tax cuts as Massachusetts faces $1 billion revenue slowdown,” Boston Herald, January 9, 2024.

Progressive Massachusetts, a policy group, said 2023 was “not the time for permanent regressive tax cuts.”

“We remain disappointed that so many legislators chose not to listen,” the group said on social media in response to the financial headwinds.

PM in the News: “New Massachusetts ‘Tax the Rich’ Law Raises $1.5 Billion for Free School Lunch and More”

Julia Conley, “New Massachusetts ‘Tax the Rich’ Law Raises $1.5 Billion for Free School Lunch and More,” Common Dreams, January 2, 2024.

“The state analysis of the law shows that requiring wealthy households to pay more in taxes to contribute to the greater good has overall benefits for the state, said observers including Jonathan Cohn, political director for Progressive Massachusetts.

“The Fair Share Amendment has had a great first year. Looking forward to many more!” said the organization.”

PM in the News: “New Tax Cuts Prompt Debates about Affordability”

Sarah Robertson, “New Tax Cuts Prompt Debates about Affordability,” The Shoestring, November 21, 2023.

The child and dependent credit, described by Healey as the “most generous” in the country, was the largest single piece of the bill, representing $307 million in cuts. It is expected to provide around 565,000 families with a $440 annual tax credit per dependent, who can include children under 12 years old, seniors, and people with disabilities.

“I’m sure they can use it and welcome it, but we’re talking about a $440 tax credit like it’s somehow revolutionary for people when that’s not making a dent,” said Jonathan Cohn, policy director for Progressive Mass. “This state could be doing so much more by pooling money and investing in infrastructure to support parents rather than just giving people a check.”

….

The bill also raised the threshold at which the estate tax kicks in from inheritances of $1 million to $2 million.

“They’re throwing money at people,” said Cohn. “Many people in this state will die in debt, and the idea of putting that much focus on cutting the taxes on multi-million dollar estates is crazy.”

Cohn said he was disappointed in the Healey administration’s “misleading” characterization of the cuts as a way to address affordability. “The cost of living is at a crisis point for so many people,” he said. “The tax bill does not meaningfully address that.”

PM in the News: “We Can’t Tax-Cut Our Way to an Affordable Commonwealth”

Jonathan Cohn, “We Can’t Tax-Cut Our Way to an Affordable Commonwealth,” Fenway News, November 2023.

If Massachusetts wants to be an affordable state—attractive for people to move to, a place where people can thrive—that’s where our focus should be. And I hope that’s where our Legislature turns its attention for the rest of the session—and that legislators don’t have the audacity to say they don’t have the money to help make living here more affordable.

Daily Collegian: Debating the Effectiveness of New Tax Cuts

Sam Cavalheiro, “Massachusetts passes first tax cuts in almost two decades,” Daily Collegian, October 23, 2023.

Jonathan Cohn, Policy Director at Progressive Massachusetts (a progressive policy advocacy group,) was disappointed at the new tax law as he felt it only focused on  cutting taxes.

Cohn explains that Massachusetts voters, in the most recent election, voted out a Republican governor who was fiscally conservative and passed an increase on taxes on the wealthy, called the Fair Share Amendment.

“Shifting the entire discussion to cutting taxes feels like ‘Wait, what just happened in the last election?’ It’s just not the best use of that in the political moment,” he said.

Cohn argues that the tax cuts do little to make Massachusetts an affordable place, referencing the Child Tax Credit Expansion: “…raising that child tax credit of $440 is ultimately not going far for people given how expensive children are. In Massachusetts, the cost of childcare is over $20,000 a year and saying that their tax credit is [going to] go up from $140 to $440 over a few years, that’s not a significant amount.”

He also argues that the rental deduction will do little to make Massachusetts more affordable: “What the expansion of the rental deduction means maybe $50 more for many renters… and many people see their rent increase each year by more than $50.”

Cohn criticized the short-term capital gains cuts and estate tax cuts, which mostly affect wealthier residents. He questions who the tax cuts are benefiting.

“Is it disproportionately benefiting those who already have high incomes or is it benefiting the people who are really struggling with being able to afford to live in Massachusetts?”

PM in the News: “We Don’t Have the Money” Doesn’t Cut It

Chris Lisinski, “Healey, not Baker, gets to sign big tax relief law,” State House News Service, October 4, 2023.

“Voices on the left were also less enthused about the final product. The Progressive Massachusetts group contrasted the $1 billion in relief with the roughly similar amount of revenue the state expects to generate this year from a new surtax on high earners, revenue from which will be earmarked for education and transportation investments.

“It is simply not acceptable for legislators to say ‘We don’t have the money’ when it comes to meeting basic needs, when they are willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on unnecessary and regressive tax cuts for the rich and large corporations,” the group said in an unsigned statement. “Our commonwealth has the resources we need to solve the great challenges we face; the question is whether our elected officials have the will to do so.” “

“The perils of one-party rule”

Kelly Garrity, “The perils of one-party rule,” POLITICO, July 24, 2023.

“There’s a sense of complacency in the Massachusetts Legislature,” Jonathan Cohn, political director for Progressive Massachusetts, told Playbook. “When you have a situation where most of them never face any type of electoral challenge — primary or general — if you don’t finish something, you can get the band back together in the next legislative session.”