Distribution of Spending

Massachusetts State Budget Distribution of Spending Where Does the Money Go? Local Aid to Cities & Towns 5.6% Debt Service 6.3% ER INC 1871 REVERE Interest Due $ Other 13.6% Examples: Environmental programs Pensions Running the government Education 23.0% Public Safety 8.5% Medicaid 23.6% Human Services 19.4% Fiscal Year 2003 Total Spending: $23.2 billion Every year, the Governor and the Massachusetts Legislature decide how to spend the money in the budget. The largest categories of state spending are education, Medicaid, human services, public safety, debt service, and aid to cities and towns. (See Appendix for details of spending in these categories.) 1

Massachusetts State Budget Distribution of Revenue Where Does the Money Come From? Federal Aid 18.9% Miscellaneous & Charges 12.5% $ Examples: Driver s license fees Lottery College charges Income Taxes PAY STUB Earnings $1,386.54 TAXES: Fed. Withholding -154.00 Social Security - 85.96 Medicare -20.11 Massachusetts Withholding -62.23 NET PAY $1,064.24 Taxes 68.5% Corporate Taxes Sales Taxes Special Sales Fiscal Year 2003 To pay for services such as schools, health care, public safety, transportation, and social services, the state collects revenue from a variety of sources. Over two-thirds of the revenue comes from individual and corporate taxes. The next largest portion comes from federal aid, and the remainder from a variety of other charges, such as the lottery, drivers license and professional fees, and college charges. (See Appendix for a breakdown of the Taxes category.) 2

Types of State and Local Taxes Income PAY STUB Earnings $1,386.54 TAXES: Fed. Withholding -154.00 Social Security - 85.96 Medicare -20.11 Massachusetts Withholding -62.23 NET PAY $1,064.24 Sales Special Sales Corporate Property 3

The Massachusetts Budget is $1.4 Billion Short Budget Shortfall: $1.4 billion { Total Spending: $23.2 billion When the state takes in less money (revenue) than it spends, it s in a budget deficit. As anyone knows from trying to balance a family budget or checkbook, when there s a deficit, there are basically three main choices on what to do: 1) raise more money, 2) cut spending, or 3) borrow money. 4

Some Big Budget Busters Over the Last 10 Years 1992: Mass. Estate tax reduced $253 million 1995: Raytheon Corp. tax cut $61 million 1996: Fidelity Corp. tax cut $130 million Total Annual Impact of these tax cuts: $1.43 billion 1998: Dividend & Interest tax cut $130 million 2000: Income tax cut $700 million (once phased in) Source: Massachusetts Budget & Policy Center Over the last 20 years, Massachusetts reduced its tax bite more than any state in the nation except Alaska. Between 1979 and 1999, state and local taxes in Massachusetts fell by more than percent. In contrast, the national average rose 3% percent during the same period. While nearly all states were increasing the tax bite relative to income, Massachusetts experienced the steepest drop in the nation, other than Alaska. We re hardly Taxachusetts anymore! Over the last 10 years, the Legislature passed a number of tax cuts that take huge chunks of money out of the budget each year. Some of these tax cuts benefitted low and middle-income people and we support those cuts. But most benefit only big businesses and wealthy people. Low and middleincome people get almost nothing from these tax cuts. This give-away to wealthy people and big business drains huge amounts of money out of the budget (the bucket ) that should be in there. Next year, officials think the state will bring in $1.4 billion less money than it needs to pay for the budget. 5

Who Gets Hurt from Budget Cuts? Child Care School Programs Dental Care Prescription Drugs Affordable Housing Layoffs in Depts. of Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Social Services 6

Change in Income in Massachusetts Late 1980s (1988-1990) to Late 1990s (1998-2000) Middle and Low-Income Massachusetts Families Didn t Share in the 1990s Boom +18% 15% +14% 10% 5% +4% 0% -0% -5% -10% -7% -7% up to $26,200 $26,200 - $49,800 $49,800 - $72,200 $72,200 - $106,900 $106,900 and up $188,000 and up Bottom Second Middle Fourth Top Top 5% Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Economic Policy Institute, Pulling Apart, A State-By State Analysis of Income Trends, Jan. 18, 2000. Researchers used three-year averages to enlarge the sample size, resulting in more valid data. During the last decade of economic growth (the late 1980s to the late 1990s), there was a lot of growth in income, but the distribution of that growth was very uneven. The wealthiest of Massachusetts families did very well while low and middle income families lost income or stayed the same. The biggest winners were the wealthiest 5%. 7

Percent of Income Paid State and Local Taxes in Massachusetts Middle and Low-Income Massachusetts Families Have a Higher Tax Rate Than Wealthy Families 11.6% 10.7% 10.5% 10.3% 9.9% 9.3% 8.7% Bottom Second Middle Fourth Top Top 5% Top 1% Source: Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy Lower income people pay a higher percentage of their income in state and local taxes than high-income people do. In other words, Massachusetts places a greater tax burden on low and middle-income families than it does on wealthy families. This is pretty shocking since the previous chart showed that the wealthiest were the big winners over the past decade. 8

Types of Tax Systems Regressive: Washington When less well-off people pay a higher percentage of their income in tax than more welloff people do, it s called a regressive tax. Flat: Oregon When all people pay roughly the same percentage of tax on their income, it s called a flat tax. Progressive: Delaware When better-off people pay a higher percentage of their income in tax than less welloff people do, it s called a progressive tax. 18% 17% 16% 14% 12% 10% 10% 8% 6% 4% 4% 2% 0% Bottom Middle Top 14% 12% 10% 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% 14% 12% 10% 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% 11% Bottom Middle Top 6% 10% 10% 7% 8% Bottom Middle Top 9

Percent of Income Paid in Mass. State and Local Taxes Excluding the Income Tax The Tax Burden is Reduced for Wealthy Families Far More than for Middle and Low-Income Families when the Income Tax is Excluded 8.6% when the Income Tax is Excluded 6.2% 5.6% 5.2% 4.5% 3.7% 2.7% Bottom Second Middle Fourth Top Top 5% Top 1% Source: Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy The state would have to cut at least $9 billion worth of programs, services and jobs from education, health care, police & fire protection, the environment, roads and public transportation. EVERYTHING we care about would be cut, because there s no way to cut over $9 billion without major damage to virtually every program. Not only would low and middle income people lose many of the programs and services they care about because of all the budget cuts, but they would also shoulder four times more of the tax burden than the wealthiest 1%. 10

Reviewing the Key Points Massive budget shortfall. In the 1990s, Massachusetts gave billions of dollars to wealthy people and corporations in tax cuts. Wealthy people still pay a smaller percentage of income in state and local taxes than do middle and low-income people. 11

What is the Stop the Cuts! Campaign Doing? Grassroots organizing Lobbying legislators Public education: workshops Your Tax Cuts at Work Sticker Campaign Because of this work and the efforts of all the people who became active on this issue, we got a progressive tax package passed that prevented over $1 billion in cuts. This is a HUGE accomplishment and shows that good things can happen when people organize together to make change! 12

The Tax Package Passed by the Massachusetts Legislature Tax Package Item Value in millions of dollars * (in 2003) Tax Capital Gains the same as wages...$240 Delay the Income Tax Rollback...$230 Raise the Cigarette Tax 75 a pack... $150 Eliminate the Charitable Deduction...$185 Cut the Personal Exemption by 25%... $258 TOTAL: $1.063 billion * These are estimates provided by the House Taxation Committee Supported by the Stop the Cuts! Coalition The main thing to notice is that three out of the five proposals are progressive, meaning that they fall more heavily on people who can afford to pay. Unlike most other states, Massachusetts did not use many gimmicks and accounting tricks to solve its budget problems. We used a mix of raising taxes, cutting spending, and borrowing from the rainy day fund to close the budget shortfall. Despite this large tax package, which raised $1.7 billion, cuts were also made to important programs and services because the budget gap was $2.6 billion. These cuts are hurting many people and we would have liked to see more revenue raised so that there would have been NO cuts. 13

What You Can Do Join the Stop the Cuts! Coalition Call and write your legislators Be sure to include the message Raise Revenue! when advocating for your issue Become a workshop trainer Write letters to the editor 14

The Massachusetts Budget Crisis: Who Hurts? Who Pays? September 2002 PARTICIPANT PACKET A Workshop produced for the Stop the Cuts! Campaign by and

Appendix 1. Breakdown of FY 2002 State Spending (from Chart 1) 2. Breakdown of FY 2002 State Revenue Sources (from Chart 2) 3. Total State and Local Taxes as a Share of Personal Income (1979-1999) 4. Big Budget Busters Explained (from Chart 5)

Massachusetts State Budget FY 2002- Distribution of Spending Spending in Human Services Percent of State Spending Dept of Mental Retardation 4.3% Dept. of Mental Health 2.7% Dept. of Social Services 2.6% Cash Assistance 2.4% Other Health and Human Services programs 2.4% Dept. of Public Health 2.3% Child Care 1.8% Elder Affairs 0.8% Senior Pharmacy Program 0.4% Spending in the Other category Pensions 4.2% Administrative costs 3.3% Group Health Insurance 3.2% Environmental Affairs 1.0% Transportation 0.6% Housing & Community Development 0.5% Labor & Workforce Development 0.3% Consumer Affairs 0.2% Attorney General 0.2% Economic Development 0.1% Examples of Public Safety programs State Police Prisons system Court system District Attorney General s office Executive Office of Public Safety Local Aid to Cities and Towns Money that goes to cities and towns that they can spend freely (some of this money comes from the lottery)

Massachusetts State Budget FY 2002 - Sources of Revenue Breakdown of Taxes Percent of State Revenue Income tax (individual and corporate) 59.0% Sales tax 21.0% Gas tax 4.7% Tobacco tax 1.8% Estate tax 1.3% Room occupancy tax 0.9% Deeds tax 0.8% Alcohol tax 0.4%

Total State and Local Taxes, FY 1979 and FY 1999 (as a share of personal income) FY 1979 FY 1999 RANK STATE SHARE OF PERSONAL INCOME RANK STATE SHARE OF PERSONAL INCOME 1 Alaska 20.2% 1 New York 13.8% 2 New York 14.8% 2 Maine 13.6% 3 Wyoming 13.2% 3 Wisconsin 12.4% 4 Massachusetts 13.2% 4 Hawaii 12.2% 5 Minnesota 12.4% 5 Minnesota 12.0% 6 Hawaii 12.0% 6 New Mexico 12.0% 7 Vermont 11.9% 7 Vermont 11.9% 8 Wisconsin 11.8% 8 Connecticut 11.8% 9 Arizona 11.8% 9 West Virginia 11.5% 10 Rhode Island 11.6% 10 North Dakota 11.4% 11 New Mexico 11.2% 11 Utah 11.4% 12 Montana 11.2% 12 Rhode Island 11.3% 13 Delaware 11.1% 13 New Jersey 11.2% 14 Maine 11.0% 14 Wyoming 11.1% 15 Michigan 11.0% 15 Delaware 11.0% 16 Maryland 10.9% 16 California 11.0% 17 New Jersey 10.7% 17 Arkansas 11.0% 18 Louisiana 10.7% 18 Idaho 11.0% 19 Utah 10.7% 19 Michigan 10.9% 20 Nebraska 10.7% 20 Kentucky 10.9% 21 Oregon 10.6% 21 Mississippi 10.9% 22 Colorado 10.6% 22 Washington 10.8% 23 West Virginia 10.6% 23 Ohio 10.8% U.S. TOTAL 10.5% US TOTAL 10.8% 24 Washington 10.5% 24 Montana 10.7% 25 Pennsylvania 10.4% 25 Louisiana 10.7% 26 Nevada 10.3% 26 Iowa 10.6% 27 Kansas 10.2% 27 Kansas 10.6% 28 California 10.2% 28 Nebraska 10.5% 29 Iowa 10.1% 29 Massachusetts 10.5% 30 Illinois 10.1% 30 Arizona 10.5% 31 Mississippi 10.0% 31 Pennsylvania 10.5% 32 Kentucky 9.9% 32 Georgia 10.4% 33 Idaho 9.9% 33 Oklahoma 10.3% 34 Connecticut 9.9% 34 Illinois 10.3% 35 Georgia 9.8% 35 North Carolina 10.3% 36 South Carolina 9.7% 36 Indiana 10.2% 37 North Carolina 9.7% 37 South Carolina 10.2% 38 South Dakota 9.6% 38 Maryland 10.2% 39 Virginia 9.4% 39 Alaska 10.1% 40 Oklahoma 9.3% 40 Missouri 9.9% 41 North Dakota 9.2% 41 Colorado 9.9% 42 Tennessee 8.9% 42 Virginia 9.8% 43 Missouri 8.8% 43 Oregon 9.8% 44 Indiana 8.8% 44 Florida 9.8% 45 Florida 8.8% 45 Nevada 9.8% 46 Alabama 8.7% 46 Texas 9.3% 47 Ohio 8.7% 47 South Dakota 9.3% 48 New Hampshire 8.6% 48 Alabama 8.8% 49 Arkansas 8.4% 49 Tennessee 8.6% 50 Texas 8.4% 50 New Hampshire 8.6%

Big Budget Busters Explained Estate Tax Cut An estate tax is a tax on the property of a person when he or she dies. Massachusetts used to have a state estate tax beyond the amount that could be deducted from the federal estate tax, meaning that estate taxes were higher here than in most states. The estate tax cut in 1992 lowered the state s estate tax to the level that would simply be offset by the federal deduction. Dividend & Interest Tax Cut Massachusetts used to tax income from dividends and interest from out-of-state banks at a rate of 12 percent. This rate was almost twice the tax rate on income from a job (then 5.85%). In 1998 Massachusetts voters passed a ballot initiative to lower the dividend and interest tax rate to the same rate as income. Raytheon and Fidelity Tax Cuts (officially called the Single Sales Factor for Manufacturers and the Single Sales Factor for Mutual Fund Companies ) These two laws changed the way corporate taxes are calculated to lower taxes dramatically on companies that are based in Massachusetts, but have substantial presence in other states or countries. (To be precise, the laws changed the double-weighted sales factor apportionment formula to a single-weighted sales factor formula.) The reason these tax cuts are referred to as the Raytheon and Fidelity tax cuts is because Raytheon was the lead lobbyist and beneficiary of the cut for manufacturers and Fidelity was the lead lobbyist and beneficiary of the cut for mutual fund companies. Income Tax Cut In 2000, Massachusetts voters passed a ballot initiative to gradually reduce the personal income tax from 5.85% to 5.6% in 2001; 5.3%; in 2002; and finally 5.0% in 2003. Working and middle-income people receive only a fraction of the benefit that wealthy people receive from this tax cut.

The Massachusetts Budget Crisis: Who Hurts? Who Pays? Participant Packet September 2002 A Workshop produced for the Stop the Cuts! Campaign by