As a student at Boston Latin School, I learned that numbers tell a story. Our math teachers at BLS didn’t just teach us algebra, calculus and geometry. They also taught us accountability and understanding the real picture behind numbers.
As a state senator representing South Boston, Dorchester, the South End, Chinatown, Bay Village, parts of Roxbury, Back Bay and the Harbor Islands, I’ve dedicated the last 14 years to serving our communities with
integrity and transparency. These qualities are imperative in leading Boston through the challenging times ahead.
Earlier this year, when a study produced by Tufts University’s Center for State Policy Analysis suggested Boston re-evaluate how it finances government services, City officials pushed back initially dismissing concerns and defending exponential spending increases. That defensiveness, though, quickly shifted to panicked claims of a
dire economic scenario and prompted City officials to seek legislative approval to raise taxes on struggling businesses more than state law allows. Such an abrupt and dramatic about-face was notable to say the least.
City officials then went on to suggest that residents would see a 33% increase in their taxes and risk losing their homes if this new tax increase did not pass the city council and state legislature. For months, city officials
escalated their rhetoric, while refusing to share official data that would, in fact, show that Boston’s fiscal issues were not unmanageable. Alternatively, City officials committed that even if their tax increase passed, they would still plan to raise residential taxes by 9 percent in 2025, just as they did in 2024. Residential relief was never on the table.
After withholding official valuation data until after the legislation passed the city council and House of Representatives, I called for a pause in the Senate until the city disclosed the facts. Upon its release,
the information revealed that although transitions were happening in our local and regional economy, the sky was not falling. It further showed that we did not have to accept the false choice of having to risk cratering the Boston economy to mitigate a spike in residential property taxes.
Ample due diligence is required to make informed public policy decisions. Matters of consequence that impact residents and businesses must be debated based on objective data and facts – not guesswork, fuzzy math or
political agendas.
When this matter came before the Senate at the end of our formal session this summer, I made my concerns known in both August and September. It was clear downtown businesses were not the only entities that would have suffered disproportionately under the city’s proposed tax increase. Small businesses on our neighborhood main streets – owned by and employing Boston residents – would have suffered just as much, if not more.
The Lincoln Institute for Land Policy highlights on its website a Department of Revenue study on Tax
Classification commissioned by the Legislature in 2004. It states, flatly, that raising commercial tax rates beyond the current state limit is “not good public policy.” Doing so raises “constitutional issues” and poses “an
impediment to attracting and retaining business.” The report instead supports other tax relief options, such as increasing exemptions for homeowners, low-income residents and seniors. Working together with Governor
Healey, the Legislature did exactly that this session by passing the largest tax relief package in a generation along with sweeping housing and economic development legislation. The tax relief package includes significant
increases to the Family & Child Tax Credit, the Earned Income Tax Credit and Senior Circuit Breaker Tax Credit.
We did this collaboratively while also increasing wages for state employees, improving our bond rating and
managing a 2.7 percent growth in our budget while providing record levels of local aid to Boston. Boston, on the other hand, grew its budget 8 percent year over year – a total of $350 million – and 21 percent over the last 3
years.
What this 10-month process has shown is that City Hall must be more transparent, look inward, and demonstrate fiscal restraint – not pile more costs onto residents and businesses. To provide residential tax relief, the mayor and city council should increase the maximum residential deduction from 35 to 40%.
The city could pay for this by:
- Drawing from the surplus “rainy day” fund without impacting the city’s bond rating, per the recent Moody’s report;
- Redirecting funds generated via the Article 89 process from the Blue Bike program to residential relief;
- Cutting redundant external programs; and
- Executing other prudent but targeted cuts like the Governor did in mid-FY’24 to balance the state
Whether taxes go up on Boston residents or by how much is strictly up to the mayor and the city council. Like the state, the city can provide relief for taxpayers, stimulate economic growth and balance a budget. But it requires
being data driven and fiscally responsible. There’s still time to do so.
For the sake of Boston’s taxpayers and its fiscal health, I hope they take the time to get it right. Our collective future depends on it.
Nick Collins is state senator for the 1st Suffolk District in Boston.