Reginauld Williams

The virtual meeting began Thursday with presentations from Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center President Marie-Frances Rivera and Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President Eileen McAnneny, each of whom detailed the forecasts they provided earlier this week at a hearing designed to help state budget managers chart a path through the end of fiscal 2020 and into the uncertainties of fiscal year 2021. Rivera said she thinks eliminating the reintroduction of that deduction is "the lowest-hanging fruit" and that because the deduction does not already exist, she does not think people will be any less inclined to make charitable donations.

The virtual meeting began Thursday with presentations from Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center President Marie-Frances Rivera and Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President Eileen McAnneny, each of whom detailed the forecasts they provided earlier this week at a hearing designed to help state budget managers chart a path through the end of fiscal year 2020 and into the uncertainties of fiscal year 2021. Rivera said she thinks eliminating the reintroduction of that deduction is “the lowest-hanging fruit” and that because the deduction does not already exist, she does not think people will be any less inclined to make charitable donations.

https://www.lowellsun.com/2020/04/15/virus-leaves-economists-uncertain-about-its-final-toll/ Lowell Sun

“The required local contribution is basically a measure of how much local tax revenue a city or town can reasonably raise and dedicate to the operation of its schools,” according to the website of the non-profit Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center. It is related to the foundation budget, which “is designed to represent the total cost of providing an adequate education for all students.”

The tea leaves, when they can read them, will likely present a bleak picture – the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center's testimony contemplates a scenario where fiscal 2021 tax collections land $5 billion short of the estimates agreed to in January.

The tea leaves, when they can read them, will likely present a bleak picture – the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center's testimony contemplates a scenario where fiscal 2021 tax collections land $5 billion short of the estimates agreed to in January.

Despite the forecasts, or perhaps because of them, Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center President Marie-Frances Rivera told lawmakers and the administration it was “not the time to switch to austerity mode.” She urged them to close tax loopholes, use the state’s $3.5 billion “rainy day” fund and tap federal aid to preserve spending on critical human services.

Marie-Frances Rivera, president of MassBudget, said her think tank is estimating state tax collections could fall $5.0 billion to $5.7 billion in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. The analysis is based on the two prior recessions, in which state tax collections were 16.1 percent and 13.8 percent below projections.

“These are large numbers. And while I stress again that we are not saying this pattern necessarily will occur again now, we are noting that such declines are by no means out of the question,” Rivera said in prepared testimony. “Such sharp and persistent declines in tax collections have occurred in each of the last two recessions and very well could again.”

Rivera also noted estimates that nearly 500,000 Massachusetts workers will be laid off or furloughed by July. That equates to a 14 percent drop in employment in just five months. By comparison, during the worst five-month stretch of the Great Recession, employment declined by 78,000, or 2.4 percent.

“This is not a drill. This is a stormy time,” Rivera said. “We are in an unprecedented moment – a public health crisis that has catapulted us into an economic crisis.”