Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Comparing revenue proposals & the investments they fund

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Our state budget describes not only what we want to do together as a Commonwealth in the coming year but also longer-term investments to strengthen our communities, create high-wage jobs, and ensure the future vibrancy of our economy.

In recent months, the Senate, the House, and the Governor have all committed to raising various amounts of new revenue to support some new investments. “Comparing Revenue Proposals for Transportation, Education, and Other Investments” outlines the differences between their plans—both for next year and for FY 2018, when the plans are fully phased in.

  • The House and Senate proposals focus largely on transportation, particularly in later years. This is in contrast to the Governor’s plan, which raises significantly more revenue to increase funding for college scholarship programs and to expand access to high-quality early education & care, among other things.
  • By FY 2018, the House and Senate would devote less money to fixing and repairing our roads, buses, bridges and other transportation networks than the Governor’s proposal.
  • The House and Senate proposals would raise comparable amounts of new revenue, and both count on similar funding support from transportation agencies (likely including user fee increases). The two proposals differ in that: 1) the Senate version includes an additional $38 million in new revenue and; 2) the Senate dedicates $77 million to transportation that the House would leave unrestricted.

“Comparing Revenue Proposals for Transportation, Education, and Other Investments” is part of a series of MassBudget briefs analyzing key elements in the budget proposals for FY 2014.

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Comments

  1. I considered the Senate transp. bill a slight improvement over the House bill, but a disappointment nonetheless. Your right-hand chart showing the lack of investment outside the transportation realm makes me much more disappointed than I was to begin with.

    We have a real revenue/investment shortage in the Commonwealth. I fear it will be hard to extricate ourselves from that as long as we have our Article 44 problem, but I hope we can start to change the political conversation in Massachusetts sooner than that.

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