BOSTON – A proposal to cut the state income tax rate from 5 percent to 4 percent over three years would have provided the median Massachusetts household with $1,095 in annual tax savings, grown the state economy by $14.5 billion, created 43,000 new jobs, increased total wages by nearly 2 percent and reduced the state unemployment rate by 0.3 percent, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.
“An error by the state Attorney General’s Office caused the Supreme Judicial Court to deny Massachusetts voters the chance to vote on the tax cut in November, but this issue isn’t going away,” said Pioneer Executive Director Jim Stergios.
The tax cut could have also reduced the tide of departures from Massachusetts. The Commonwealth lost 324,000 residents, or 4.5 percent of its population, to out-migration from 2015 to 2024. The present value of lost adjusted gross income was $28 billion over 10 years – and $4.18 billion in 2023 alone.
