This Budget Brief examines the condition of state finances as the budget process begins for the fiscal year that starts on July 1, 2011. Walking readers through the steps involved in calculating a state budget gap, the brief projects a $1.78 billion preliminary budget gap facing the Commonwealth in FY 2012.
Like the rest of the nation, the Commonwealth is struggling to emerge from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Nationally the economy has lost a larger share of its jobs than in any downturn since the Depression, and it is taking longer to regain the lost jobs than in any of our recent economic recoveries. Massachusetts has not escaped this national crisis. But we have weathered it better than most states.
This Facts At A Glance describes methodological issues regarding the comparison of tax and spending levels between different time periods or different states.
Massachusetts has an income tax rate of 5.3 percent. The income tax is the single-largest source of revenue for the state, with collections totaling $10.1 billion in Fiscal Year (FY) 2010. Forty-three states have an income tax, several with rates as high as 11 percent. Of the states with an income tax, Massachusetts is one of only seven states that do not have a higher income tax rate for those with higher incomes.
This Facts At A Glance explains the basic structure of the state’s Chapter 70 formula for distributing education aid to local school districts.
This fall, Congress will debate whether to extend tax cuts adopted over the past decade. While there appears to be general agreement among policymakers that the major middle-class tax cuts should be extended — and significant debate about whether the tax cuts that benefit only the highest-income taxpayers ought to continue — there has been less attention paid to the fate of tax provisions that are targeted at lower-income working families.
In the coming weeks, the U.S. House and Senate may debate whether to extend (or make permanent) all or only some of the Bush-era income tax cuts. The Congressional debate most likely will focus on whether to extend the tax cuts that affect only the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans–those households with adjusted gross income (AGI) above $200,000 for single filers and $250,000 for married couples.
Today, the U.S. Census Bureau released its annual update of state-level poverty rates from the American Community Survey (ACS). It indicates no statistically significant change in the overall poverty rate in Massachusetts from 2008 to 2009.
Today, the U.S. Census Bureau released its annual update of state-level data on household income from the American Community Survey (ACS).
Health insurance coverage in Massachusetts far surpasses coverage nationally and in all other states, detailed statistics released by the Census Bureau today confirm.