What’s in the Massachusetts new tax relief plan?

BOSTON (WWLP) – A long-awaited tax relief proposal has finally reached the Governor’s desk.

This week, after over a year of talks, a tax relief and reform package sailed through the legislature and has made it to the Governor’s desk for signature. The package will provide $561 million of tax relief for fiscal year 2024 and up to over $1 billion by 2027.

Governor Maura Healey made tax relief a large part of her campaign and she will now finally have the opportunity to review it. Healey seemed supportive of the plan releasing a statement Thursday that said:

“This is a comprehensive package that delivers relief to families and businesses…and I look forward to reviewing the details.”

Gov. Maura Healey

This was a largely bi-partisan effort, with the only two dissenting votes in each chamber coming from progressive democrats.

Although she voted in favor of the package, Senator Rebecca Rausch raised concerns over the affordability of the tax package, questioning what the state will do if they don’t raise its revenues.

“My point is, we are going to have a billion dollars less, and our only options are to either recoup that billion dollars, and then some, right? Because we already don’t have enough money for all the infrastructure investments that we need, or cut. Those are the only two options. We have to either have the investment or we have to cut a billion dollars,” said Rausch.

Components of the bill include raising the estate tax threshold to $2 million, doubling the senior circuit breaker tax credit to $2,400, and cutting the short-term capital gains tax to 8.5 percent.

The Governor now has until October 8th to review the package.