Massachusetts’ tax competitiveness index has barely improved over the previous yr, bumping as much as the tenth worst within the nation from the fifth worst, however watchdogs say it’s nonetheless far too low and inflicting folks to go away the state.
The Tax Basis, a nationwide watchdog group, elevated the Bay State’s taxation standing from forty sixth final yr to forty first this yr in its 2025 State Tax Competitiveness Index, a rating that compares state tax methods.
Rebranded from the State Business Tax Local weather Index, this yr’s report, launched Thursday, ranked particular person revenue taxes, company taxes, gross sales, use, and excise taxes, property and wealth taxes, and unemployment insurance coverage taxes.
“Overly burdensome individual income taxes, property taxes, and UI taxes” have left Massachusetts remaining within the backside 10 in the complete nation for competitiveness, the report’s authors wrote.
Like final yr, authors slammed Massachusetts voters for approving the Honest Share Modification, or the so-called “millionaire’s tax,” within the November 2022 election — incomes over $1 million are taxed an additional 4%.
The modification “(dismantled) the state’s formerly competitive flat income tax … making Massachusetts less attractive for productive households and businesses,” the report states.
Earlier than the millionaire’s tax went into impact, Massachusetts had already handled taxpayers fleeing at a excessive fee, at the price of billions in “adjusted gross income,” IRS knowledge has proven through the years.
Massachusetts had the fifth-worst revenue loss attributable to home migration in 2022, at a price of roughly $3.9 billion, in accordance with knowledge the Inner Income Service reported in July.
Chris R. Anderson, president of the Massachusetts Excessive Know-how Council, which advocates for a aggressive enterprise local weather, highlighted how a survey carried out in September revealed that 80% of residents agree state taxes are too excessive.
“Oppressive taxes aren’t just a business community concern,” Anderson mentioned in a press release on Thursday. “This is a quality-of-life issue for everyone in the Commonwealth. … The long-term consequences aren’t hypothetical: If we don’t turn the tide, we will continue to lose talented residents, families, and entrepreneurs to states with more competitive taxes.”
Massachusetts’ total tax system can be being hampered due to the shortage of first-year expensing, which the Tax Basis says is “discouraging in-state investment.”
The principle drivers behind the crumbling taxation are the nation’s tenth-worst revenue tax rating of 4.54%, the fifth-worst property tax rating of three.93%, and the third-worst unemployment insurance coverage rating of three.97%, Tax Basis figures point out.
New Hampshire is the one New England state to have ranked within the high 10 for greatest indexes, at 6, which the Tax Basis credited to lawmakers there “only imposing a narrow tax on interest and dividend income.”
Paul Diego Craney, spokesman for watchdog Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, identified how he believes the “poor grades are direct results of poor decisions being made at the State House” below Gov. Maura Healey.
“If Massachusetts wants the playbook for how to be competitive and affordable, look no further than New Hampshire and Florida,” Craney said. “These states don’t have the taxes Massachusetts applies to its taxpayers. The only way Massachusetts will find its way out of this economic mess is by eliminating some of these taxes.”
Florida got here in on the fourth-best index within the nation, which the Tax Basis report mentioned is because of its lack of particular person revenue tax. The examine additionally discovered an “absence of a major tax is a common factor among many of the top 10 states.”
Wyoming and South Dakota ranked first and second greatest respectively, with neither state imposing a company or particular person revenue tax.
Craney mentioned Massachusetts’ gross sales tax fee of 6.25% is the “only anchor keeping the state from sliding any worse.” The speed is the twentieth greatest within the nation.
Healey has tried to uplift the devastating tax system since she took workplace in January 2023. A $1 billion-a-year tax reduction invoice that went into impact because the calendar flipped to 2024.
The package deal lower the short-term capital features tax from 12% to eight.5%, a business-backed transfer that riled progressives who argued it gave a break to the rich. The compromise price the state $561 million in fiscal yr 2023 and $1 billion a yr beginning in fiscal yr 2027, in accordance with the invoice’s personal projections.
It additionally included boosts to the rental deduction cap, a tax credit score for a dependent baby, disabled grownup, or senior, and the statewide cap for a housing manufacturing program. The invoice excluded estates valued as much as $2 million from the property tax by permitting for a uniform credit score of $99,600.
However state leaders must do extra to decrease the price of dwelling and conducting enterprise for small employers, argued Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Affiliation of Massachusetts.
“High property taxes increase our housing costs,” Hurst mentioned in a press release to the Herald, “and high sales and income taxes hurt the disposable incomes for our working families, leading to lower sales on Main Street.
“Excessive regulations increase operating and employment costs for small businesses,” he added, “particularly on health insurance premiums and payroll taxes.”
