The governor of Massachusetts, Maura Healey, delivered her state of the commonwealth address last night. I found this passage newsworthy:
we passed a billion-dollar tax cut that will save money for everyone in our state.
That's right, we cut taxes in Massachusetts for the first time in 20 years.
You'll see the savings when you file your returns in April.
We now have the most generous child and dependent tax credit of any state in the country. And we got rid of the two-child cap!
For someone like my mom, it would've meant an extra $2200 every year. Mom, I bet you could've used that money.
For every family with a child, or an adult with disabilities – you will get dollars back to help with groceries, utilities, gas, and housing.
Renters and commuters will also get more money back, as will folks dealing with lead paint or septic systems.
Families will be able to pass on more of their hard-earned money, because we also cut the estate tax.
Great to see a Democratic governor boasting about cutting the estate tax and getting rid of the two-child cap on the child tax credit. However, it all seems a bit disingenuous, since Massachusetts just imposed by public-employee-union-backed ballot initiative a new millionaires tax that has chased people out of the state to the point where there is a billion-dollar gap in the state budget. Governor Healey didn't talk about that. Without that context, the "we cut taxes" talk, however welcome, comes off as at least a little bit phony.