Despite policymakers constantly exclaiming the state needs more money, when reviewing the Department of Revenues May 2026 Mid-Month report state coffers seem to be tracking $1.5 billion over 2025 collections. That means that year over year, the state is up $1.5 billion during the same time period.

Almost immediately following this announcement, members of the House and Senate that were hashing out the final details on a $1.5 billion supplemental budget deciding how to spend surtax revenue added provisions that would be harmful to taxpayers. In the supplemental budget bill, conferees included revenue triggers that would delay implementation of state conformity with aspects of the federal tax reforms under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Provisions on tax relief for 179 deductions, R&D, and business interest would all be delayed and require state revenue collections be at designated levels.

One of the more troublesome portions of this bill is the section that threatened to cancel state conformity with the federal tax code if the state income tax rate drops below 5%. This was a punitive approach by House and Senate leadership to dissuade taxpayers and the business community from advancing a referendum question to reduce the state income tax rate to 4%. Unfortunately, a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling has now removed this question from the 2026 ballot, denying Massachusetts taxpayers an opportunity for much-needed tax relief.