Keller @ Large: Is Massachusetts spending too much money amid tax revenue shortfall?
BOSTON – Massachusetts tax collections have fallen short of projections for a seventh straight month as some companies have opted to take their business elsewhere. So are taxes to blame for Massachusetts falling behind other states?
Jay Ash, CEO of Mass. Competitive Partnership, a non-profit, non-partisan organization said that appears to be the case.
Ash said the Tax Foundation says Massachusetts ranks 46th in state tax climate, including 44th in personal income tax.
"We're just losing our competitiveness. We have states around the country that are cleaning our clock," Ash said. "We're no longer competitive when it comes to taxes. What the pandemic has done is showed us that business can take place away from the bricks and mortar that it was always tied to. So businesses, the people who run those businesses, investment, are all flowing to places where it's easy to do business, and that's not Massachusetts' calling card."
Ash was asked if Massachusetts is spending too much.
"We have, but that's human nature. There was so much money coming in during the pandemic. Many of us thought when the pandemic happened that we would be cutting budgets then. But the federal government just opened everyone's mouth and stuffed money down there," Ash said. "The trick now is you have to turn that spigot off. The spending spigot has to be turned off. Will they be able to do that and not hurt our economy? That means again, getting back to taxes and not raising the taxes, and balanced budgets."
Keller @ Large: Part 2