Massachusetts's Millionaire Tax Going Very Well, Thank You!
Massachusetts's Millionaire Tax Going Very Well, Thank You!
Money for education and transportation — and an $800 million surplus!
In 2022, Massachusetts residents voted in favor of a Fair Tax ballot measure to extra-super-duper-tax those earning more than one million dollars a year and to spend the revenue from that on education and transportation initiatives.
Naturally, there were the naysayers. Those who warned that all of the state’s rich people would move away to their very own Galt’s Gulch or whatever, if they were forced to pay a four percent tax on anything they make over a million dollars. The implication there, of course, is that raising this tax would, ironically, lead to the state collecting less revenue overall.
That didn’t happen! In fact, the state has already raised $1.8 billion in revenue so far for this fiscal year — which is $800 million more than they expected, and they still have a few months to go. The vast majority of the surplus will go to a fund that legislators can use for one-time investments in various projects.
The revenue has already been invested in universal school lunches, in more scholarships to public colleges, in improvements to the MBTA, and to repair roads and bridges. These are all things that will improve the quality of life for everyone, including the “ultra-rich” who happen to live there. The fact is, it’s just nice to live in a society that is more civil, that takes care of its people and its children and that fixes things when they are broken.
Still, detractors are pointing to the fact that many “high-earners” left Massachusetts in 2021 and 2022, before the tax hike went into effect (or was even voted on) as proof that it is going to chase them off.
“Whatever short term financial benefit the state will receive from the income surtax will be outweighed by the long-term negative effect this tax is having on the state,” said Paul Craney, a spokesperson for the conservative-leaning Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance told the Boston Globe, without specifying what that negative effect is.
Here’s the thing — someone who makes over a million dollars a year isn’t going to notice a four percent tax on income over that million on an experiential level. It’s not like they can’t buy the fancy peanut butter anymore, you know? So if they’re leaving over this tax, it is out of sheer pettiness, not because they can have more money and a higher quality of life somewhere else.
I mean, it’s worth noting that many the states with the lowest taxes are also some of the least populated states. Wyoming has no income tax, is the size of 12 Massachusetts...es, and only has 581,381 people in it, compared to Massachusetts’s 6.9 million. Okay, but it’s really unpleasantly windy there. How about New Hampshire? New Hampshire also has much lower taxes, is right next to Massachusetts, and only has a population of 1.9 million. It’s almost as if higher tax rates contribute to a higher quality of life and that many people prefer that over just hoarding wealth.
Moving is incredibly annoying, starting a new life in a new area is not always something people want to do, and I’d have to say that anyone who would put themselves through all of that just so they don’t have to pay an extra four percent tax on what they make after they make a million dollars, in order to feed school children and improve public transportation, is probably a psychopath, and therefore maybe not someone you really want as part of your community. Good riddance!
Additionally, while it’s quite possible that a lot of these people work for themselves or work from home, I think we can probably assume that whoever is paying them $1 million a year to do their job will just hire another person and pay them $1 million instead.
Oh! And where is it that they would be going? Making over $650K a year puts someone in the one percent of top earners in this country, which I think means we can assume that there aren’t, actually, all that many million-a-year jobs to go around. Certainly not if we’re just counting jobs in states with low taxes.
Elizabeth Warren, Pramila Jayapal, and others have introduced bills in the House and Senate for a nationwide millionaire’s tax of two percent — two cents on the dollar for all wealth exceeding $50 million and six percent on all wealth over a billion dollars. This would bring in an estimated $3.75 trillion over 10 years, which we could use to improve the lives of all US citizens. We could have so many nice things!
It’s time to stop living in fear of what millionaires and billionaires — who have made their fortunes off of roads we’ve paid for and employees we’ve paid to educate — will do or where they will move if forced to pay their fair share. That’s no way to live. If they have some place better to go that won’t force them to contribute to improving their community? Let them. Other people will come along and be more than happy to pick up where they left off. But more than likely, they won’t do jack shit because they’re rich, and if they wanted to live someplace else, they’d be there by now.
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"Still, detractors are pointing to the fact that many “high-earners” left Massachusetts in 2021 and 2022, before the tax hike went into effect (or was even voted on) as proof that it is going to chase them off."
You say this is a "fact." Is there evidence? In CT, Republicans are always claiming rich people are fleeing the state without proving it.
Good state for sportsball fans, too!