tax relief

After nearly two years of fits and starts, a long-awaited Massachusetts tax relief and reform package made it to the governor’s desk Thursday after senators overwhelmingly approved the legislative agreement. The roughly $1 billion tax bill is among the most significant pieces of legislation to reach Gov. Maura Healey since she took office in January. The Arlington Democrat has been…

Senators overwhelmingly approved the long-awaited tax relief and reform agreement Thursday, putting the bill a handful of usually procedural votes away from Gov. Maura Healey’s desk. The Senate accepted the conference report on a 38-1 vote with Sen. Jamie Eldridge of Marlborough casting the lone vote of dissent. President Karen Spilka of Ashland voted “yes,” which can sometimes be...

Representatives nearly unanimously embraced a compromise tax relief bill Wednesday, one day after the final contours of the long-awaited deal became clear. The House voted 155-1 to accept a conference committee report that would roll out a bevy of tax breaks, credits and reforms worth $561 million this year and more than $1 billion by fiscal year 2027. Rep. Mike…

Lawmakers intend to schedule this year’s mandatory sales tax holiday for the weekend of Aug. 12-13, Senate President Karen Spilka said Monday. With a Thursday deadline to set the dates approaching, Spilka told reporters the Legislature intends to select the second weekend in August to suspend the state’s 6.25 percent sales tax on most retail sales of less than $2,500….

Massachusetts Senate Democrats on Thursday advanced a long-awaited tax relief package, and both branches and the governor have now all rolled out proposals to cut costs for Massachusetts residents and make the state more competitive. But the Senate Ways and Means Committee’s plan to bring relief to taxpayers is close to half the long-term size of the measure their...

Massachusetts Senate Democrats rolled out a $55.8 billion state budget bill Tuesday, leaving room for about $575 million in future investments in tax relief, which the Senate budget chief said will be hitting the chamber floor for debate soon. The Senate Ways and Means Committee’s fiscal 2024 spending plan weighs in at about $3.4 billion, or 6.5%, larger than the…

Though talks around economic development and tax relief have continued since formal sessions ended early on Aug. 1, the House and Senate remain far apart and, according to Senate President Karen Spilka, House leaders last weekend rejected the latest proposals. Spilka told the News Service that she thinks it is imperative that the Legislature finish its work reconciling differing versions…

The day of decisions has arrived. As Massachusetts’ senators and representatives prepare Sunday for the final formal session of the year as allowed by their joint rules, all eyes are on the five conference committees still negotiating significant policy topics that the House and Senate each have passed legislation to address: economic development, cannabis industry reforms, sports betting, mental health…

With Democrats heading into the weekend scrambling for a path forward on tax relief, House Speaker Ron Mariano said Friday that he is open to changing, delaying or spiking a 1986 voter law that appears poised to return nearly $3 billion to taxpayers. This week’s revelation that Massachusetts is on track to trigger a decades-old provision requiring excess tax collections…

Anticipating that a 1980s law that’s largely been relegated to the depths of Beacon Hill memories will be triggered by the fiscal year 2022 surplus, the Baker administration is preparing to make “north of $2.5 billion” in tax rebates available to Massachusetts residents later this year. With a historic surplus expected from the budget year that ended June 30, Democrats…

Massachusetts lawmakers are debating this week whether to offer tax relief and rebates to residents amid the highest inflation rates seen in decades.

Massachusetts lawmakers are debating this week whether to offer tax relief and rebates to residents amid the highest inflation rates seen in decades. A $3.8 billion dollar spending bill was given initial approval by the Massachusetts House of Representatives on Monday, which calls for roughly one $1 billion in combined tax relief. About half of that relief would come in…

Democratic leaders of the Massachusetts House and Senate have agreed to a broad framework for up to $500 million in additional tax relief that would see credits for low-income earners, parents, renters and seniors expanded, and the “archaic elements” of the state’s estate tax reformed. The deal comes on the heels of last week’s announcement from House Speaker Ron...

House Democrats estimate their new tax rebate plan would help more than 2 million Massachusetts residents, and the half billion-dollar program might only represent an opening salvo of tax relief proposals. The program legislative leaders placed on the table Thursday would offer one-time, $250 payments to middle-income taxpayers across the state, a move lawmakers pitched as a more targeted way…

The Legislature on Monday set the dates of this year’s sales tax holiday weekend, settling on Aug. 13 and 14, when Massachusetts shoppers will get a break from state sales tax on most retail items less than $2,500. The annual sales-tax-free weekend was made permanent by a 2018 law, which calls on the Legislature to set the dates by June…

House Democrats kicked off debate Monday on a nearly $50 billion state budget bill by rejecting Republican-led efforts to weave tax relief into the annual spending plan. Massachusetts raked in more than $5 billion in surplus tax revenues last fiscal year and is running at least $1.5 billion ahead of the current year’s projections, performance that — coupled with more…