By Christian M. Wade
The Salem News, Beverly, Mass.
(TNS)
BOSTON — Beacon Hill budget writers say revenue from the millionaires’ tax continues to surpass projections, which proponents claim is another sign wealthy households aren’t fleeing for other states to avoid the levy.
The state Department of Revenue said the 2022 voter-approved 4% surtax generated more than $3.1 billion in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year, a more than 20% increase over the amount collected at this point last year. Last year, the state reeled in a record $2.5 billion from the tax.
Under the law, proceeds from the surtax can only be spent on transportation or education.
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The group Raise Up Massachusetts, which backed the constitutional amendment setting taxing households with incomes above $1 million, said the newly released data shows the tax that—initially expected to generate about $2 billion a year—is “surpassing expectations” and defying doubters.
“The skeptics who said multi-millionaires would flee for other states rather than pay their fair share are being proved wrong; the ultra-rich are clearly staying in Massachusetts and paying more in taxes, leading to the tax’s massive over-performance relative to initial projections,” Raise Up spokesman Andrew Farnitano said in a prepared statement.
The coalition said while wealthy families “are doing just fine” the state’s high cost of living is “driving low- and middle-income residents into financial ruin or out of the state.” More needs to be done to address the actual drivers of our affordability crisis, like housing, childcare, and healthcare costs, it said.
Raise Up also pointed to a proposal inching toward the Nov. 3 ballot that would ask voters to cut the state’s personal income tax from 5% to 4%, which it says would disproportionately benefit wealthier households.
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“Reckless attempts to slash the state budget and fund tax breaks for the ultra-rich would only threaten our ability to make Massachusetts more affordable,” Farnitano said.
But more than three years after the measure was approved by voters, lobbyists, special interest groups, advocates and even elected officials are still wrangling on Beacon Hill over whether the new tax is driving top earners out of the state.
Supporters and opponents of the tax have sparred over studies of Internal Revenue Service reports, and other federal data purporting to show either a decline or a growth in the number of millionaires in Massachusetts since the tax went into effect.
Critics of the surtax argue that the levy is hurting the state’s competitiveness by siphoning away money from job creators and driving wealthy families to other lower tax states like New Hampshire and Florida.
But supporters say those claims are misleading and say the millionaires’ tax is helping the state plug gaps in transportation and education needs by asking wealthy households to dig deeper into their pockets.
Democratic Gov. Maura Healey and legislative leaders have focused on boosting the state’s competitiveness in response to previous reports showing an exodus of people from the state in recent years.
Healey argues that a lack of housing, among other factors, is affecting the state’s ability to attract and maintain businesses and families.
Photo credit: pikespice/Wikimedia Commons
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© 2026 The Salem News (Beverly, Mass.). Visit www.salemnews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.
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