Proposed tax on high earners gets warm reception on Beacon Hill
A measure to revive a statewide tax on high earners received a glowing reception on Beacon Hill Thursday, suggesting an easy path ahead despite staunch opposition from business groups.
“We are in desperate need for revenue for our districts,” said Senator Michael D. Brady of Brockton, one of the proposal’s more than 100 sponsors and a member of the Joint Committee on Revenue, which convened a hearing on the proposal Thursday. “We’ve got to move as swiftly and as responsibly as we can on this.”
The hearing kicked off Round Two for progressive activists and legislators pushing to create a new income tax on the state’s highest earners. Years of work on a previous ballot initiative were dashed at the eleventh hour when the Supreme Judicial Court ruled the measure was unconstitutional because it combined multiple subjects that were not related.
The goal remains the same: generate much-needed cash — supporters say $2 billion annually — to plow into education and transportation with a surcharge of 4 percentage points on the state’s income tax for earnings above $1 million.
Read more: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/04/11/proposed-tax-high-earners-gets-warm-reception-beacon-hill/rPEzthU2cUNAYyXR089HcP/story.html