Additionally, tax levels as a share of personal income have declined more in Massachusetts over the last two-and-a-half decades than in almost any other state. Between FY 1978 and FY 2004, state and local tax revenue as a share of personal income declined nearly 25% in the Commonwealth, the second largest decline over that time in the entire country.
Throughout Measuring Up, tax and spending levels are expressed as a share of state personal income. State personal income, in turn, is a measure that reflects the aggregate amount of economic resources available in each state. This approach is used since it accounts for each states capacity to finance its chosen level of taxes and spending. Other assessments of state tax and spending levels may use different approaches such as calculating taxes and spending on a per capita basis that result in higher relative rankings for Massachusetts, but that do not account for a states economic capacity in the way that measuring taxes and spending against personal income does.
“Tax and budget policy is ultimately about the people of our state deciding what share of our resources we want to spend to keep our neighborhoods safe, educate our children, protect of our environment, promote public health, and provide the other public services on which all of us, and our economy, depend. This report will help to put these choices in context by showing how the decisions that have been made in Massachusetts compare to those of other states,” commented Noah Berger, Executive Director of the MBPC.
The full report is available on MBPCs website, www.massbudget.org.
The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (MBPC) provides independent research and analysis of state budget and tax policies, as well as economic issues, that affect low- and moderate-income people in Massachusetts.
Noah Berger
Executive Director
E-Mail: nberger@massbudget.org
Phone: (617) 426-1228 x102
Mathew Helman
Communications Director
E-Mail: mhelman@massbudget.org
Phone: (617) 426-1228 x109
Therefore are you advocating that total taxes in general should be raised to 10.7% of personal income, the national average?
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I am still unclear as to how Gov. Patrick will link increases in local aid to a reduction in property taxes.
As you may know from reading this page, I think the state tax rate should be cut immediately to 5.0%. General safety advice for BMG: please make sure sources are in gear before keyboard is engaged.
Bob,
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Just a thought.
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*BMG encourages posters to disclose basic info.
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*BMG encourages pols to debate (chicken coop, endorsements).
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*I wonder if, as a third leg of the pro-transparency movement, BMG should also encourage organizations to be more transparent. Not sure how.
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For example, there are two organizations in Massachusetts which do budget analysis — MA Budget Policy Center and MA Taxpayer Foundation.
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I think each is a valuable organization. But their levels of transparency are different.
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The MTF has a board of business (and hospital) leaders. Their funding comes from companies which become members. That’s easy to discern from their website. From that, I guess a pro-business, lower spending gestalt (although interestingly, they opposed the immediate reduction to 5%).
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MBPC does not list their board on their website, so far as I could tell.
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So I looked up their 990 on Guidestar. The 2003 version (most recent) shows two teachers union officials, plus one AFL-CIO offiicial, etc. From that, I guess a pro-spending viewpoint.
MBPC shills for all liberal causes. MBPC used to be known as TEAM, but the organization changed its name to Mass Budget Policy Center because everyone thought TEAM stood for TAX EVERYTHING AND MORE (seriously).
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MTF never saw a tax it didn’t like. It’s Michael Widmer’s group. MTF is the same group that cobbled together from whole cloth the report that illegal aliens getting tuition actually saved the state money. That MTF is the favorite whipping boy of CLT tells you its bias.
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WWF Well, let me tell you, when King Booker talks taxes on Smackdown, he knows his stuff. Wrestling on WWF is at least as believeable as conclusions from MBPC and MTF.
the beliefs, perspectives, and experiences of people inform and shape their values and in turn their values shape thier positions on things. this could be construed as a bias and it’s inevitable. knowing that a bias is there one should attempt to identify it and work with it, or not.
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the state budget transparency project that MBPC is undertaking will be extremely valuable to public policy folks across the spectrum of biases. budget transparency is something most other states already have in place. i’ve often wondered why we in MA do not.
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learned about it at a recent Mass Public Policy Inst forum on understanding the state budget. very educational. more on this topic in digestable pieces would be great.