Press
For Immediate Release
Wednesday, January 7
Contact: Andrew Farnitano, 925-917-1354, andrew@acfstrategies.com
As Legislature Returns to Face Mounting Crisis from Federal Budget Cuts, Community, Faith, & Labor Advocates Call on Legislators to Protect Mass. Families by Rejecting Trump’s Corporate Tax Cuts in MA, Combatting Offshore Corporate Tax Avoidance, and Tapping the State’s Rainy Day Fund
Raise Up MA Coalition Calls on State Leaders to Reject Expensive Federal Corporate Tax Law Changes, Pass Corporate Fair Share Tax, & Tap Rainy Day Fund as Federal Tax Bill Triggers a $4 Billion State Budget Gap
BOSTON – As the state legislature returns to formal sessions today, legislators and Governor Healey face a mounting crisis from federal budget cuts that are already undermining the state’s economy and its social safety net.
This month, more than 337,000 Massachusetts residents are experiencing skyrocketing health insurance costs due to the loss of federal healthcare subsidies. And another 34,000 lawfully present immigrants with incomes below 100% of the federal poverty level lost access to their state-subsidized Connector Care Type 1 plans entirely, leaving them without access to affordable healthcare coverage.
In addition, up to 350,000 of the state’s residents risk permanently losing healthcare & food assistance due to President Trump’s massive cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, included in the OBBA tax bill passed last summer. And the state is set to lose as much as $3.5 billion in annual federal aid as a result of the bill, plus another $664 million in lost state tax revenue as a result of associated federal tax changes this year alone — blowing a massive hole in the state budget.
In a letter sent to the entire legislature and Governor Healey today, the Raise Up Massachusetts coalition of community groups, faith-based organizations, and labor unions called on state leaders to take action to protect Massachusetts from these cuts by prioritizing local families over billionaires and corporate profits, and by “[raising] new revenue before cutting critical state programs and services or allowing federal cuts to harm our most vulnerable families.”
“We can’t afford to let Trump take away our neighbors’ access to healthcare, food, and education, and it’s not enough to sit back and point fingers at the federal government while our families go hungry and delay medical care,” said Dave Foley, President of SEIU Local 509. “Massachusetts must step up to the plate, stop the cuts, and protect our care. That means rejecting Trump’s corporate tax cut agenda here at home, and prioritizing Massachusetts families over billionaires and corporate profits.”
Advocates called on state leaders to take three actions before the end of the current legislative session, in order to prevent the worst of Trump’s devastating budget cuts:
Opt out of state-level adoption of the Trump corporate tax cuts, in order to preserve $463 million in state revenue in this year’s budget alone.
Pass the Mass. Corporate Fair Share legislation to raise as much as $400 million in new annual revenue by combatting the offshore tax dodging of billionaire global corporations like Apple, Amazon, McDonalds, & Walmart, as most neighboring states already do.
Tap a reasonable 15% of the state’s $8.6 billion rainy day fund this year — roughly $1.3 billion.
Together, these three changes would raise or protect more than $2 billion in essential revenue that will allow Massachusetts to safeguard our state’s families from federal attacks.
“Unless Massachusetts acts quickly, Trump’s corporate tax cuts will automatically take effect in state law for the current tax year, costing Massachusetts nearly half a billion dollars that will go straight to corporate shareholders. Even worse, these tax breaks will largely reward corporations for investments made in other states, and for investments already made as far back as tax year 2022,” said Jonathan Cohn, Policy Director of Progressive Massachusetts. “Rejecting Trump’s corporate tax cuts at the state level will ensure Massachusetts can protect more of the critical state-funded services—from education and healthcare to housing and transportation—that Massachusetts families and businesses rely on.”
“Federal budget cuts are already devastating Massachusetts families, and the worst is yet to come. Without state action, hospitals, community health centers, and nursing homes will be forced to close their doors, and children and families will go hungry,” said Cari Medina, Executive Vice President of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East. “But Massachusetts is one of the wealthiest places in the world, and we have the ability to protect each other. In this moment of crisis, we must prioritize the people of Massachusetts over billionaires’ profits — and raise new revenue before cutting critical state programs and services or allowing federal cuts to harm our most vulnerable families.”
“This situation is not only an economic outrage, it is a moral outrage. Our state leaders must step up to meet this moment with bold action and protect Massachusetts residents. How can we watch the federal government take food and health care away from the most vulnerable?” said Cindy Rowe, President & CEO of the Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action. “My faith-based values tell me that our Commonwealth cannot stand idly by while the federal government causes people to suffer. Even the most wealthy among us, who will be the beneficiaries of these cruel cuts, cannot want to see people starve just so they can get a little bit richer. Treating people with compassion and dignity is the strength of our state and country. It's in the hands of our state legislators to make the right choice here for our Commonwealth.”
“Massachusetts does not bow down to dictators, and we must not roll over and accept Trump’s attacks on our schools, our healthcare system, and our families,” said Max Page, President of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. “Let’s be clear: Massachusetts does not need to make budget cuts in this moment; we have the wealth to protect our people from a federal administration that is dead-set on destroying everything that make Massachusetts so great. Rather than responding to this moment with an austerity mindset or doubling down on Trump’s corporate tax giveaways, let’s be an example to the nation once again, and show how government can protect working people by asking the ultra-rich and large profitable corporations to pay their fair share.”
“Trump's attacks on our healthcare, food assistance, and public schools are creating enormous anxiety for Massachusetts families, who are facing higher healthcare premiums, threats to their SNAP benefits, and the potential for even more devastating cuts to essential public services,” said Deb Pimental, Executive Strategist of the Coalition for Social Justice. “Here on the South Coast, our families are fearful about what the next year will bring, and we need our state leaders to fight for us, not to protect the corporate profits of the billionaires who are lining their pockets with Trump's record tax cuts.”
“Massachusetts has the opportunity to be the leader we know it can be. The Trump Administration's unprecedented assault on public education and its campaign against working families and our most vulnerable residents will have grave consequences for generations to come. It is incumbent upon us, as a Commonwealth, to ensure this destructive agenda does not rob Massachusetts students of their right to a free and appropriate public education or to public services they and their families rely on. That means looking at new sources of revenue to fill gaps and using every tool we have to prevent what would be catastrophic cuts to our schools and libraries,” said Jessica Tang, President of the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts. “We must not allow a state known for its innovation and inclusion to acquiesce to the Trump Administration’s agenda to strip basic necessities from millions of Americans to pad the wallets of billionaires without using every tactic at our disposal to safeguard our working families and communities.”
Background on Raise Up MA’s Campaign to Protect Massachusetts Families — Not Billionaires and Corporate Profits
Massive federal budget cuts (to fund Trump’s tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations) are about to trigger a major healthcare, hunger, and education crisis in Massachusetts.
Up to 350,000 people in MA risk losing healthcare and food assistance over the next two years due to massive cuts to Medicaid and SNAP
MA is set to lose as much as $3.5 billion in annual federal aid — blowing a massive hole in the state budget.
Federal cuts to PreK-12 schools, colleges, and childcare could hurt more than 1 million students.
Massachusetts can prevent the worst of these devastating budget cuts by rejecting state-level adoption of the Trump corporate tax cuts, making billionaire global corporations like Apple, Amazon, McDonalds, & Walmart pay their fair share in state taxes, and tapping the state’s $8.6 billion rainy day fund. Together, these three changes would raise or protect more than $2 billion in essential revenue that will allow Massachusetts to safeguard our state’s families from federal attacks.
Rejecting Trump’s Corporate Tax Cuts in MA: The Raise Up Massachusetts coalition is calling on state leaders to opt out of, or “decouple” from, state-level adoption of the five most costly and regressive corporate tax provisions of the new federal tax law, in order to preserve $463 million in state revenue in the current FY26 budget alone, and an additional $990 million from FY27 through FY31. These specific tax changes are not an effective way to incentivize companies to invest in Massachusetts; instead, they would largely reward corporations for investments made in other states and for investments already made as far back as tax year 2022.
Only about half of states automatically adopt federal corporate tax changes into their own tax codes. Many of these “rolling conformity” states are moving to actively decouple from some or all of the corporate tax changes included in OBBBA. More than half a dozen states with rolling conformity already have opted out of some or all of the federal corporate tax changes in the OBBA, including California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island, as well as the District of Columbia. Massachusetts should join them.
Combatting Offshore Corporate Tax Avoidance: The federal government uses a system known as NCTI (formerly GILTI), to tax the US-generated profits that large global corporations stash in offshore tax havens. But Massachusetts is not taking full advantage of this simple, proven method of ensuring that billionaire global corporations pay their fair share in state taxes. Massachusetts currently only includes 5% of NCTI when calculating the total corporate income subject to the state’s 8% corporate income tax rate, while the federal government and most New England and Mid-Atlantic states, including New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Maine, include 50-60% of NCTI in their calculations. That means we’re vastly undercounting the profits that multinational corporations are artificially shifting overseas.
Raise Up Massachusetts' Corporate Fair Share proposal would simply increase the share of NCTI (the profits that multinational corporations have shifted to offshore tax havens) that are included in Massachusetts corporate tax calculations from 5% to 50%. This would align us more closely with the federal government and other states, and raise over $400 million in new annual revenues. The proposal is filed as legislation in the State House of Representatives by Representative Carlos González (H.3110) and in the State Senate by Senators Jason Lewis and Liz Miranda (S.2033), and backed by a majority of state legislators in the House and Senate.
Tapping the State’s Rainy Day Fund: Raise Up Massachusetts is also advocating for the state to tap a reasonable portion of its more than $8.6 billion rainy day fund in response to federal budget cuts, as the fund was built up for exactly this type of emergency. "To replace the state and local loss of federal funds" is explicitly listed as one of the three purposes of the Commonwealth Stabilization Fund, and while credit ratings agencies like S&P Global Ratings want states to maintain 8% of their annual budget in a reserve fund in order to receive the highest possible bond rating, Massachusetts’ $8.6 billion rainy day fund currently sits at more than 14% of our $60.9 billion annual state budget.
Tapping a reasonable portion of these reserves — say, 15%, or roughly $1.3 billion — would still leave a large balance for future economic downturns, and the coalition’s Corporate Fair Share proposal would also raise significant new revenue to help ensure the state’s financial stability in future years.
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Raise Up Massachusetts is a coalition of more than 100 community organizations, faith-based groups, and labor unions committed to building an economy that invests in families, gives everyone the opportunity to succeed, and creates broadly shared prosperity. Since our coalition came together in 2013, we have nearly doubled wages for hundreds of thousands of working people by winning two increases in the state’s minimum wage, won best-in-the-nation earned sick time and paid family and medical leave benefits for workers and their families, passed the Fair Share Amendment to invest in transportation and public education with a fairer tax system, and started to build an economy that works for all of us, not just those at the top.