Dear Neighbor,
This Tax Day Special has notes on the governor's austerity budget and an op-ed by Harris Gruman and me about two sources of funding we could tap to avoid some of the most destructive budget cuts.
After that, there are links to some very bad news and also some good news.
And finally, a song and a Meryl Streep movie that fit our times.
An Austerity Budget
Massachusetts is one of the richest states in one of the richest countries in the world. Yet, even before accounting for the federal cuts that are rolling out daily, the governor's proposed budget does not adequately fund some important needs. Just a few examples:
In education: Many school districts are laying off large numbers of staff, students testified to the Ways and Means Committee. The causes include the continued restrictions of Prop 2 1/2, passed in 1980, that limits communities' ability to raise taxes to 2 1/2% per year plus new growth. In the many years when inflation exceeds 2 1/2%, districts which haven't added new sources of property taxes or passed overrides fall farther and farther behind. Another cause is the failure of Chapter 70 school aid (and some other funding) to keep up with inflation. We need to consider finally amending Prop 2 1/2 and (more likely) establishing another Foundation Budget Review Commission.
Congratulations to the Medford voters who overrode 2 1/2 limits, allowing the School Committee and the Teachers Association to reach an agreement with major improvements and no layoffs! (graphic from Councilor Zac Bears)
The governor's budget would increase funding for the Department of Mental Health by 7%, but would close intensive residential programs for young people, and cut the number of case managers in half. In response to the cuts to case managers, SEIU 509 members voted no confidence in Commissioner Brooke Doyle.
People of all ages are experiencing more mental health problems. Members of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) visited recently, with hopeful stories of success, but more heart-breaking stories of their relatives' suffering due to lack of care - at current service levels. One man described his daughter being discharged from a hospital to the street at 6:30 am in a hospital gown.
In the Executive Office of Aging and Independence (the entity formerly known as Elder Affairs), the governor has already capped enrollment in ECOP (Enhanced Community Options Program), which provides extra home care services for older people who are eligible for nursing home placement. Lisa Gurgone, CEO of Mystic Valley Elder Services, told State House News that "the overhaul, combined with the ECOP enrollment cap for providers in March, will put more financial pressure on family caregivers." As more people live longer (good) and live longer with disabilities (good), we will need more funding to pay caregivers enough to provide services - or reduce those services (bad). At the same time, funds for Medicaid and other federal supports are at risk.
Mass Budget's analysis of Gov. Healey's budget
Mass Budget released its first analysis of the governor's budget proposal. Thanks to all of you who supported the Fair Share Amendment in 2022, the governor's budget includes almost $2 billion in new revenue from the surtax on incomes over $1 million. And her supplemental budget includes $1.32 billion in Fair Share revenue from earlier years that was above anticipated amounts.
This analysis focuses on education and transportation spending. It also notes the budget's reductions of planned benefit increases for TAFDC and EAEDC recipients, leaving many people in "Deep Poverty," below one half the federal poverty level. Thanks to Senator Sal DiDomenico, Rep. Marjorie Decker, and the Lift Our Kids coalition for their continued efforts to raise those benefits.
Our column: alternatives to budget cuts
I joined Harris Gruman of SEIU and Raise Up Massachusetts (and Somerville) in this article about how to offset cuts to important programs. Not nearly enough to save everything we care about, but part of how we fight back against the ongoing threats from Washington. Use money from the rainy day fund - and pass the Corporate Fair Share! Sen. Jason Lewis of Winchester, Sen. Liz Miranda, and Rep. Carlos Gonzales are the lead sponsors. Here's the column:
A NEW REPUBLICAN trifecta in Washington plans devastating cuts to health care programs, all to pay for massive tax breaks for the rich. State budget officials worry about how Massachusetts will respond when a drop in federal aid drives a hole in our state budget. Advocates call on their elected officials to stand up to DC and deliver a budget that protects working families.
It all sounds familiar, but we’re not talking about today. Twenty-three years ago, Massachusetts faced a major budget crisis as a result of President George W. Bush’s budget cuts. But thanks to the advocacy of a broad coalition of community organizations, faith-based groups, and labor unions, and with strong leadership by the state’s elected officials, Massachusetts weathered that storm and made bold new investments in our economy and people.
Most of the personalities are different today, but the crisis confronting Massachusetts is the same. Last week, Gov. Healey told GBH’s “Boston Public Radio” that “we do not have enough money to even begin to make up for the shortfall” if the Trump administration cuts a significant portion of the federal funding streams that comprise about $16 billion of the state’s $58 billion budget.
The scale of potential federal budget cuts is certainly enormous. But Massachusetts is one of the wealthiest states in the nation; we can afford to minimize the pain caused by the federal government’s actions. To begin addressing the state’s imminent fiscal challenges, we can look at how Massachusetts addressed the early 2000s budget crisis.
The year was 2002. The Massachusetts economy was faltering in the aftermath of the dot-com bubble and 9/11. At the time, Massachusetts was ill-prepared for an economic crisis. With only a minimal rainy day fund in place, the state faced a budget gap of more than $1 billion. Critical public services from health care to public education were under threat.
Progressive advocates met that crisis with a clear demand: Over $1 billion in new revenue that must include taxing capital gains the same as wages. We won both parts of that demand, as the Legislature passed a $1.5 billion package of new tax revenue. The package included half a billion dollars in highly progressive revenue from closing the capital gains loophole, ensuring that wealthy investors would no longer pay a lower tax rate than wage earners.
Our victory helped prevent devastating cuts that year, but it also helped strengthen the state’s finances going forward. In subsequent years, the new capital gains tax rate brought in $1 billion or more annually, so legislators began to direct a large portion of capital gains revenue into the state’s rainy day fund.
Today, the fund sits at nearly $9 billion. It’s one of the nation’s largest budget reserves. And it’s largely thanks to the work that was done to solve the 2002 budget crisis.
That brings us to today. Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and congressional Republicans are preparing to slash federal spending on health care, education, infrastructure, and other public services in order to give billionaires yet another round of federal tax breaks. Massachusetts faces the real threat of hospital closures, teacher layoffs, and vulnerable seniors losing access to long-term care.
In the face of these threats, the Raise Up Massachusetts coalition of community organizations, faith-based groups, and labor unions — the spiritual successor to the coalition that won new revenue in 2002 — has another clear demand: over $1.5 billion in new revenue or reserves that must include taxing billionaire global corporations.
Massachusetts is one of the richest per-capita places in the world. We have the wealth to weather this storm, and maintain the state’s fiscal strength, by tapping a portion of the state’s rainy day fund and raising significant new revenue from the world’s largest, most profitable corporations.
The law establishing the state’s rainy day fund explicitly lists “the state and local loss of federal funds” as one of the scenarios in which legislators can pull from reserves. Our work to build up a healthy rainy day fund was meant to prepare for a day exactly like this — when circumstances outside our state’s control are threatening to harm Massachusetts families.
We also have the tools to raise new revenue by taxing the biggest winners in Trump’s rigged economy: billionaire global corporations like Apple, Amazon, McDonald’s, and Walmart, who conceal their profits in offshore tax havens to avoid paying their fair share in Massachusetts taxes. Raise Up Massachusetts’s Corporate Fair Share legislation, filed as H.3110 by state Rep. Carlos González and S.2033 by state Sens. Jason Lewis and Liz Miranda, would raise hundreds of millions of dollars annually by combating offshore tax dodging.
Both Massachusetts and the federal government use a formula known as global intangible low-taxed income, or GILTI, to tax the excess profits that large global corporations stash in offshore tax havens. But Massachusetts currently only includes 5 percent of GILTI when calculating these corporations’ state taxes, while the federal government and most New England and Mid-Atlantic states, including New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Maine, include 50 percent of GILTI in their calculations.
The Corporate Fair Share legislation would simply increase the share of GILTI that is taxed by Massachusetts from 5 percent to 50 percent, bringing us in line with the federal government and other states.
Increasing taxes on these large multinational corporations would also help level the playing field for local businesses, which can’t hide their profits offshore. This legislation has gained the support of more than 60 state legislators since being filed this January, and could be incorporated into the state’s FY26 budget to start generating new revenue as soon as this summer.
This approach to the state’s budget crisis — raising revenue owed from multinational corporations and judiciously tapping the rainy day fund — is fiscally responsible, it’s politically popular, and it’s proven to be effective by history.
Harris Gruman is executive director of the SEIU Massachusetts State Council and a co-founder of the Raise Up Massachusetts coalition. He was co-chair of the Coalition to Stop the Cuts in 2002. Patricia Jehlen is a Democratic state senator from Somerville and vice chair of the Joint Committee on Revenue.
Town Hall with Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley
WHAT: Town Hall with Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley
WHO: Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley
WHEN: Wednesday, April 23rd, 7:00PM. Doors open at 6:00PM.
WHERE: Address provided to constituents upon RSVP. RSVP here.
Bad news: paying taxes can be dangerous
The Washington Post reported that "The Social Security Administration this week entered the names and Social Security numbers of more than 6,000 mostly Latino immigrants into a database it uses to track dead people, effectively erasing their ability to receive benefits or work legally in the United States." This is only the first group of undocumented immigrants to be classified as dead and therefore losing all benefits including Medicaid, unemployment benefits, and student loans. It will also keep them from holding jobs. Hundreds of thousands of residents could be affected, and (as we know) there are likely many mistakes being made. The acting IRS commissioner resigned over the decision.
This action reveals how many undocumented workers - contrary to public accusations - are working and paying taxes, though they are ineligible for Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, unemployment benefits, food stamps etc. This includes DACA holders, as well as green card holders and asylum seekers in their first five years.
Bad news: ICE breaks car window to seize couple
This video from the New Bedford Light (thank you, local news!) shows immigration agents breaking a car window to grab a man with no criminal record, rather than wait for his lawyer to arrive.
Good news: Bipartisan Statement by Tufts Democrats and Republicans about Rumeysa Ozturk's "arrest"
I was glad to see bipartisan agreement by these student groups in support of due process and free speech:
Good news: Harvard and other universities resist
Over 1000 people turned out in the rain for a Stand Up Harvard rally last Saturday, organized in part by the Cambridge City Council. On Monday, Harvard president Alan Garber announced that the university would not comply with the Trump/Musk demands. Cambridge Day reported that the order said, "It is not hyperbole to draw a parallel between the current administration’s demands and the appeasement policies of the 1930s, when several European nations conceded to the demands of Hitler, contributing to the horrific rise of the Nazi regime and World War II."
Courage can be contagious, and the same day several universities sued the federal government to block the Trump administration from reducing government spending in support of "indirect" research costs by $405 million.
Good news: Medford Councilors speak out
Councilor Kit Collins wrote for Commonwealth Beacon about the abduction of Rumeysa Ozturk and standing up against bullies. Councilor Matt Leming wrote about how to resist, including Medford's adoption of a sanctuary city ordinance and the need for the Democratic party to "present a simple, long-term vision rooted firmly in closing the wealth gap."
Good news roundup
Chop wood carry water's listing of positive developments for the week. Maybe it's good for morale?
Song of the week:
At the risk of being "woke," which the Trump/Musk team sees as very very bad, try Wake Up Everybody by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. Thanks to one of our visitors from Cambridge chapter of Mass. Senior Action for suggesting this. Other suggestions welcome!
Movie of the week:
The Laundromat on Netflix. It's not about GILTI, but it is about offshore shell corporations and tax shelters, and it has Meryl Streep.
So much news, so many opinions, so little time.
Stay in touch,
Pat Jehlen