Support WBUR
Boston's Morning Newsletter
The debate over the possible 2026 income tax ballot questions in Mass.
Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR's daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, sign up here.
We gave you Dickens earlier this week at CitySpace. Tonight, it's time for something different: the vocal ensemble Blue Heron returns for a Christmas celebration in the style of 16th-century Spain, featuring lots of music and a dash of comedy. Get tickets here, or check out our arts team's weekly events roundup for more local holiday-themed events happening tonight through Sunday.
But first, the news:
Ballot question battle lines: Rent control isn't the only bruising 2026 ballot fight shaping up in Massachusetts. As WBUR's Chris Van Buskirk reports, leaders on Beacon Hill are warning against a ballot campaign to lower the state's income tax at a time when the state's budget is already feeling a little shaky. Here's what to know:
- What it would do: The business-backed Massachusetts Opportunity Alliance is actually pouring money into two potential 2026 ballot questions. The first would gradually cut the state's income tax from 5% to 4% by 2029. The second would change the way the state calculates the limit on how much tax revenue it collects each year to lead to more tax refunds like what we saw in 2022.
- The case against it: As Chris reports in this story, state revenue officials said yesterday the proposed cut to the income tax rate alone could cost the state up to $5 billion — a sizable chunk of the annual $60-ish billion budget. Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, the House's top budget writer, called the proposal "irresponsible." "These questions would only benefit high-end earners and would require either dramatic spending cuts or other tax increases in order to maintain the commonwealth’s fiscal stability," Michlewitz said.
- The case for it: Supporters say the proposals would help address the high-cost state's affordability crisis and competitiveness. "With employers and workers facing a weakening business climate, this is a moment for the Legislature to partner with the public on policies that grow the economy, not shrink it,” Christopher Anderson, the president of the Massachusetts High Technology Council and a leader of the ballot campaign, said in a statement.
- What recent history tells us: Twenty-five years ago, Massachusetts voters approved a ballot question to cut the state’s then-5.85% income tax rate to 5% over three years. Two years later, as an economic downturn and subsequent state cuts resulted in local budget crises across the state, Beacon Hill stepped in and changed the law to let the state lower the income tax rate over a much longer time period. In 2008, another proposal to repeal the state income tax entirely made it to the ballot, but it was defeated with 70% of voters opposed.
- But first: The ballot questions are arguably not even the most pressing revenue challenge. State officials also estimated yesterday that it could lose nearly $1 billion over two fiscal years because of the big tax and spending bill signed by President Trump last summer. Chris has more on the projected losses here.
The latest: Police have yet to identify a suspect in the fatal shooting of an MIT professor at his home Monday night in Brookline. Nuno F.G. Loureiro, an acclaimed 47-year-old physicist and fusion scientist, was shot at his home on Gibbs Street and died at a local hospital on Tuesday, according to the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office. Loureiro, a Portugal native, had just last year been appointed to lead MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center, one of the university's largest labs.
- Meanwhile, the gunman in the mass shooting at Brown University over the weekend remains on the loose. However, officials released a new video timeline and a slightly clearer image of the suspect on Tuesday.
Uh oh: Another school in Medford is closed today because of a suspected norovirus outbreak. Officials at St. Joseph School, a private K-8 school, say classes have been canceled since Monday because of students out with a stomach bug. They plan to reopen Thursday after a deep clean.
- It's the second school in Medford to close because of a suspected outbreak of the highly contagious virus this month. Roberts Elementary was also closed for several days last week. (It reopened Monday.)
The next MBTA extension? State lawmakers want MassDOT to at least explore the idea of extending the Orange Line south. As State House News Service reports, both the House and Senate have given initial approval to a bill directing the state to study the costs and benefits of extending the Orange Line another mile and a half from Forest Hills to Roslindale Village along the existing commuter rail corridor.
- Meanwhile, some transit advocates want the state to go even bigger and convert the entire Needham commuter rail line to Orange Line rapid transit service.
P.S.— After the first leg of the Green Line Extension opened in 2022, we asked WBUR readers where the next MBTA extension should be. Here's what you said.
