Urge your State Legislators to Reject Permanent Tax Breaks for the Ultra-rich

Over the coming weeks, a group of six legislators (3 from the House and 3 from the Senate) are negotiating the final details of a tax package.

Back in April, the House passed a fairly regressive tax package, filled with tax cuts for the ultra-rich and large corporations. The Senate, a few weeks ago, passed a more equitable tax package.

At a time when the state’s economic outlook is uncertain, and working families are struggling to get ahead, Massachusetts needs to prioritize spending on what will make our state truly affordable, equitable, and competitive: programs that ensure a labor force adequate to our economy’s needs, not tax cuts for the ultra-rich.

That group of six negotiators, called a “Conference Committee,” consists of Senate Ways & Means Chair Michael Rodrigues (D-Westport), Senate Revenue Chair Susan Moran (D-Falmouth), Senate Revenue Ranking Minority Ryan Fattman (R-Sutton), House Ways & Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz (D-North End), House Revenue Chair Mark Cusack (D-Braintree), and House Revenue Ranking Minority Michael Soter (R-Bellingham). And they need to hear from your legislators.

Can you write to your legislators today to ask them to urge the Conference Committee to reject permanent tax cuts for the ultra-rich and large corporations?


We’re joining Raise Up Massachusetts in support of five key demands for the Conference Committee.

  • Reject the proposed cut to the short-term capital gains tax, which would overwhelmingly benefit wealthy investors who are engaged in complex hedged investment strategies.
  • Reject the expansion of the corporate tax policy called ‘single sales factor apportionment,’ which gives a massive tax break to large, profitable multinational corporations that already don’t pay their fair share.
  • Minimize the budgetary cost of estate tax reform by limiting the benefits that are extended to estates above $2 million
  • Protect the revenue from the Fair Share Amendment by closing the “Single Filing Loophole,’ which could prevent Massachusetts from losing between $200 and $600 million in Fair Share revenue each year.
  • Make the outdated 62F tax giveaway system more fair by ensuring an even distribution of any future 62F rebates, rather than maintaining the current system that overwhelmingly benefits the ultra-rich, out of proportion with their contribution to overall state taxes.


Can you write to your legislators today to ask them to urge the Conference Committee to reject permanent tax cuts for the ultra-rich and large corporations?

TUESDAY: Rally & Hearing for the Prison Moratorium

Massachusetts is planning to spend $50 million to build a new women’s prison to replace MCI-Framingham. As of January 1, 2022, the population in MCI-Framingham stood at 179, with more than 20% held in pre-trial detention. In part as a result of sentencing reforms, Massachusetts’s incarceration rate has been falling, which raises the question: Why expand a system that costs $235,000 per person and only causes further harm?

Studies have repeatedly shown that society cannot incarcerate its way to safety, and the family separation of incarceration and the well-documented inhumane conditions in Massachusetts’s prisons and jails fuel the community instability that is detrimental to public safety. Instead, investments in housing, health care, economic opportunity, and other social supports have been shown to be the true foundation of public safety for all.

It’s clear: Massachusetts doesn’t need new prisons, not now and not ever, and the Prison Moratorium bill (H. 1795 / S.1979) is how we can achieve that.

Next Tuesday, the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight is holding a hearing on the Prison Moratorium bill at 11 am in Gardner Auditorium.

Can you show up on Tuesday and join Families for Justice as Healing for a rally before?

Not able to attend Tuesday’s hearing? You can still make a difference by contacting your state legislators in support.

Take Action: How to Support a Progressive Budget

In the FY 2024 budget, both the House and the Senate embraced the opportunity to include forward-thinking proposals that strengthen our commitment to equity, but, with differences between them, the work is not done.

In the coming weeks, a Conference Committee of three senators and three representatives will be finalizing the details for next year’s budget, and they need to hear from you in support of key provisions:

  • Tuition equity language, which would ensure that all MA high school graduates have access to in-state tuition at our Commonwealth’s public colleges and universities, regardless of immigration status, as 23 other states and DC provide
  • Permanent School Meals for All, which would ensure healthy nutrition for all students, increase educational performance, and support working families
  • No Cost Calls language, as outlined in the Keeping Families Connected/No Cost Calls Coalition’s letter, namely, making all communication services free in 2023, including a strong guarantee of access to calls, and laying out clear language to ensure successful implementation

Can you write to your senator and representative to ask them to fight for the inclusion of all three in the final FY2024 budget?

Mark Your Calendars🗓

State House Hearings This Week

  • Wednesday, 6/21 @ 9:30 AM: Energy Facilities Siting Reform
  • Wednesday, 6/21 @ 1:00 PM: Local option bills for teen voting, all-resident voting, and ranked choice voting
  • Thursday, 6/22 @ 1:00 PM: PILOT reform

If you are interested in testifying (written, in-person, or virtual) and have questions, just reach out!

Thursday, 6/22: Gun Violence Awareness Month Action at the Massachusetts State House @ 10am in front of the State House

The Mass Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence will be gathering on the steps of the State house with local and national partners including Stop Handgun Violence, Moms Demand Action, Giffords, and Brady, to honor June as Gun Violence Awareness month and to mark the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision. Join for a press conference featuring survivors, violence prevention workers, and others impacted by gun violence to address the impact of gun violence in the Commonwealth and call for continued action.

Sunday, 6/25: Progressive Mass Activist Afternoons Continues @ 3:30 PM

Join Progressive Mass for an Activist Afternoons series! We’ll be reaching out to members across the state to reach out to their legislators about key issues at the State House. On 6/25, we’ll be focusing on the Transfer Fee bill. RSVP here!

Tuesday, 6/27: Hearing at the State House for the Prison Moratorium Bill @ 11 am, Rally @ 10 am

Massachusetts does not need new prisons and jails: we need to be investing in communities, not in expanding the carceral system. So make sure that the Legislature hears loud and clear by showing up to support the Prison Moratorium in Gardner Auditorium on the State House and a rally before, RSVP here.

Thursday, 7/13: Common Start Rally at the State House

Please join the Common Start Coalition for a family-friendly rally at the State House on July 13 at 11:00 AM! As we head into the summer months, this is an incredible opportunity to keep up the momentum for high-quality, affordable, and accessible early education and care in Massachusetts.

Following a brief speaking program, children and their families will lead a march through the State House to demonstrate the power of our coalition and to highlight solutions to the child care crisis. Art and other activities for children will be a part of the event.

Common Start Family-Friendly Rally for Child Care

Time: Thursday, July 13 at 11:00 AM
Location: Grand Staircase, Massachusetts State House, Boston
Travel: There will be buses from across the state. More info to come.
Interpretation: There will be Spanish interpretation for the event.
Make sure to RSVP here: https://bit.ly/csrally7-13

What to Say to Your State Senator about Today’s Tax Vote

Since last year’s Fair Share victory, our state’s super-rich and their allies in the media have been pushing a myth that we need to cut taxes on the rich to prevent people from leaving Massachusetts. Even though this has been widely debunked, Governor Healey heeded such demands by proposing a tax reform package skewed toward the very rich. The House, back in April, followed suit.

The Senate is taking up its own tax package this afternoon. So take some time this morning to email your state senator about protecting the Fair Share victory and better responding to our housing crisis — then read on for more.

Saying No to Tax Cuts for the Super-Rich and Large Corporations

Let’s start with some good news:

  • The Senate bill rejects the proposed $117 million tax cut for day traders and speculators proposed by Gov. Healey and passed by the MA House in April. Notably, both chambers rejected this idea last year when Governor Baker proposed it.
  • The Senate bill rejected a $79 million corporate tax giveaway that the House back in April with no public debate.
  • The Senate bill offers a less expensive and less regressive cut to the estate tax than either Governor Healey or the MA House. Unfortunately, every estate tax proposal includes tax cuts for the largest estates rather than limiting them to more modest estates subject to the tax.

Voters last year were clear that they wanted the super-rich to pay more so that we can invest in our schools and infrastructure, so it’s important that senators hold the line here in today’s vote and in negotiations to come.

Housing: The Real Reason Why People Are Moving out of MA

High-ranking senators have rightly noted that the reason people are moving out of MA is not taxes–it’s the high cost of housing. However, the Senate’s proposals on housing are mixed. Although the expansion of the low-income housing tax credit can help our state address a growing housing crisis, increasing the Housing Development Incentive Program (HDIP) without accountability or affordability measures is a false solution.

The HDIP program provides millions in state tax credits and local tax breaks for developers of market-rate housing in Gateway cities. However, the units built through these incentives can be shockingly expensive, and incentives often go to areas that are already attractive to developers. Moreover, the program lacks basic monitoring and oversight to ensure that it is achieving desired ends. Only with affordability and accountability requirements can the program be part of the solution to our housing crisis.

How Your Senator Can Make the Bill Better

Your senator can better protect Fair Share and better respond to our housing crisis by supporting these three amendments:

  • Amendment #16 (Sen. Eldridge): Improve HDIP to create affordable housing, which would ensure that HDIP funds support badly needed mixed income housing by requiring developments funded under the program to have at least 20% permanently affordable housing.
  • Amendment #19 (Sen. Eldridge): Improve transparency of HDIP program, which would establish regular reporting on the awarding of such tax incentives
  • Amendment #26 (Sen. Lewis): Reducing high income tax avoidance, which would protect the revenue raised by the Fair Share Amendment by ensuring that couples who file jointly on their federal taxes do so in Massachusetts as well.

Can you email your state senator this morning about supporting these three amendments?

Take Action: The MA Senate is Voting on a Budget This Week

The MA Senate will be voting on a budget this week. Though there are clear reasons to celebrate (such as the inclusion of in-state tuition for all Massachusetts high school graduates and robust funding for regional transit authorities, including funding for fare-free bus pilots), there are ways to make it better.

Take a moment to contact your state senator in support of Amendments #819, #856, and #941 to the Senate budget this week.

These amendments would protect the Fair Share victory, build on past progress on juvenile justice reform, and strengthen No Cost Calls language.

Want to be quick? Call their office and just say “Please co-sponsor Amendments #819, #856, and #941 to the Senate budget this week. These amendments would protect the Fair Share victory, build on past progress on juvenile justice reform, and strengthen No Cost Calls language.”

Prefer to email?



Amendment 819 (Sen. Jason Lewis): Reducing high income tax avoidance

Amendment #819 would require that couples who file jointly at the federal level also file jointly at the state level, as other states do. Right now, Massachusetts is the only state that has a separate income tax rate for high-income filers without either designating lower tax rate thresholds for single filers than married filers or requiring federal joint filers to file jointly on their state taxes. As a result, under current law, some high-income couples who file jointly at the federal level may be able to avoid up to $40,000/year in Fair Share tax by filing singly at the state level. This loophole creates an incentive for illegal misattribution of income between the two members of the couple, necessitating additional tax audits and causing a loss in vital state revenue.

Amendment #856 (Sen. Adam Gomez): Youth Bail Fees
This amendment eliminates the $40 administrative bail fee imposed on justice-involved youth, paying the bail magistrate fee from state indigency funds. The Senate already passed this last session, so this is an opportune moment to do so again.

Amendment #941 (Sen. Liz Miranda): No Cost Calls

I was grateful to see that the MA Senate’s budget proposal includes “No Cost Calls” language that would end the practice of private corporations charging incarcerated people and their families huge fees to make phone calls to and from jail and prison.

This amendment strengthens the language to guarantee access to voice communications for people and ensures that technology like tablets, if they’re already equipped for phone call, can be used under the new law.

It’s Time to Make Polluters Pay

Tomorrow, the Massachusetts Legislature is hosting a hearing on a new bill to address the climate crisis: the Polluters Pay bill.

This bill, modeled on legislation filed in other states and nationally, embodies a core principle: those who created the climate crisis should have to pay for cleaning up the resulting damages.

At the same time that communities across the Commonwealth are facing the growing costs of climate adaptation — costs that will grow significantly in the coming decades — fossil fuel companies are making record profits.

The Polluters Pay bill would require companies that have contributed significantly to the buildup of climate-warming greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere to bear a share of the costs of needed infrastructure investment. By doing so, it would would raise an estimated $75 billion over 25 years from the 20 largest polluting companies to provide funding for climate resiliency efforts such as restoring coastal wetlands; upgrading roads, bridges, subways, and transit systems; preparing for and recovering from hurricanes and other extreme weather events; installing energy efficient cooling systems; upgrading the electrical grid; and expanding green spaces and urban forestry.

Moreover, the bill understands that our sustainability transition must be a just one, with key provisions to ensure that sufficient funds go to environmental justice populations and that the funding goes to the creation of good-paying jobs.

Can you email your state legislators today in support of this bill?

You can find out if your legislators are already co-sponsors here.

Already emailed? Then call!

Make Polluters Pay

Details for tomorrow’s hearing:

  • 12 pm: Rally on the State House steps with 350 Mass / Better Future Project and allies
  • 1 pm: Hearing
  • Sign up for either here.

Mark Your Calendars: What’s Coming Up

Thursday, May 18 @ 11 am at the State House: No Cost Calls Lobby Day — RSVP here

The Keeping Families Connected / No Costs Calls coalition will be having a Senate advocacy action day to ask Senators to co-sponsor budget amendment #941, which will create a stronger guarantee of no cost calls in the state’s budget. The coalition will be meeting at the fourth floor cafe.

Keep Families Connect: Senate Advocacy Day at the State House

Wednesday, May 24 @ 9:30 am at the State House: Thrive Act Lobby Day —RSVP here

This is an exciting opportunity for students, families, educators, staff, and community activists to come together and connect with legislators about the Thrive Act, new legislation that would create a system of school assessment and improvement that considers the whole child, and focuses on giving students and educators the tools and resources they need to succeed.

Thrive Act Advocacy Day

Tuesday, May 30 @ 10 am at the State House: Healthy Youth Act Lobby Day –RSVP here

An Act relative to healthy youth (S.268/H.544) is a common sense bill that reflects the consensus of the vast majority of MA residents. The bill’s core provision is simple: it will require any public school that already chooses to teach sex ed to provide a medically accurate, age-appropriate, comprehensive sexual health education.

Healthy Youth Act Lobby Day 2023

Wednesday, June 7 @ 2 pm at the State House — Youth Justice Lobby Day — RSVP here

Join activists across the state to advocate for bills that would end the school-to-prison pipeline and ensure better outcomes for our youth. The lobby day will focus on bills to keep 18-to 20-year-olds out of the adult criminal justice system, expand opportunities to expunge criminal records, create opportunities for diversion, and more.

Countdown to Youth Justice Lobby Day 2023

Let’s really value mothers on Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day!

What would our Legislature be doing if it truly valued the work of mothers (and all parents)?

They would be strengthening our child care infrastructure with the Common Start bills so that all parents can access affordable child care.

They would be requiring health insurance plans to cover all pregnancy care without any kind of cost-sharing.

They would be addressing the stark racial disparities in maternal health outcomes in our Commonwealth.

They would be pausing the expansion of prison and jail construction because a new women’s prison would only continue cycles of family separation and trauma.

Can you write to your legislators about the importance of passing these policies this session?

Donate to #FreeBlackMamas National Bail Out

Our carceral system separates families and destabilizes community. We all have a role to play in changing the system.

Each year, the National Bail Out, a Black-led and Black-centered collective of abolitionist organizers, lawyers, and activists building a community-based movement to end systems of pretrial detention and ultimately mass incarceration, coordinates the Mama’s Day Bail Outs, where they bail out as many Black mothers and caregivers as they can so they can spend Mother’s Day with their families. Can you make a donation to their work in honor of Mother’s Day?

Thank you for all that you do to make Massachusetts a place where everyone can thrive.

In solidarity,

Melanie O’Malley
Outreach and Operations Director

Celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week by Supporting the Thrive Act

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week. It’s a great time to recognize and honor the hard work of our teachers across the Commonwealth as well as to advocate for policies that support teachers, students, and communities in realizing a shared vision of high-quality public education for all (well, we should be doing this year-round).

Our teachers understand the foundations of student success, and they understand what doesn’t work.

The state has been using two interconnected strategies – state takeovers of schools and districts and standardized testing – both in high-stakes ways that have worked against teachers, students, and communities. High-stakes standardized testing harms all students by narrowing the curriculum and, for some students, disrupts their future lives. State takeovers disrupt whole communities’ educational programming and school-to-community connections. Both are political strategies, not education strategies, and they’re based in part in distrust of teachers and undermining of the teaching profession.

The Thrive Act (H.495/S.246), filed by State Representatives Jim Hawkins and Sam Montaño, and State Senators Jo Comerford, Liz Miranda, and Adam Gomez, offers an alternative vision. It replaces the failed receivership model with comprehensive support and improvement plans that address root causes with a whole child approach and clear accountability and benchmarks. And while MCAS would still be used as part of a larger accountability process, the Thrive Act makes graduation dependent on successful completion of coursework, which is a more effective predictor of future learning and life success than standardized tests.

Thrive Act

Here are two things that you can do to help realize this better vision for public education:

(1) Write to your state legislators today in support of the Thrive Act. If you want to see if they’re already on board, you can look them up here.

(2) RSVP for the Thrive Act Advocacy Day at the State House on Wednesday, May 24.

Thrive Act Advocacy Day

“Senators Should Treat This Report as a Red Light”

Earlier this week, Massachusetts reported April state tax revenues $1.6 billion short of what officials originally projected.

As Raise Up Massachusetts said in a statement, “Senators should treat this report as a red light. Rather than cutting taxes for the wealthy, they should focus on making sustainable investments in affordability for working families.”

In the face of a possible economic downturn and a debt-ceiling showdown (and possible looming government shutdown) on the federal level, continuing to move forward with tax cuts for the ultra-rich and large corporations isn’t just inequitable — it’s reckless, setting our state up for deep cuts to necessary programs and services.

Can you write to your state senator today about opposing tax cuts for the ultra-rich and large corporations?

Even better: Make a call! You can find your senator’s phone number here and a phone script at https://raiseupma.us/script.

And when you’re done: Can you think of three friends to reach out to as well?

Legislate Every Day Like It’s May Day

Happy May Day! May 1st marks International Workers’ Day, a day commemorating the struggles and gains made by workers and the labor movement.

Labor organizing in the US was behind the achievement of the weekend, of workplace safety laws, of the minimum wage, of the social safety net, of paid leave, and of so much more and has been crucial to any campaign for a fairer economy and a more robust political democracy.

And the fight continues.

Here are just a few things the Massachusetts Legislature could do this session to strengthen workers’ rights:

  • Raising the minimum wage to $20 per hour to bring it closer to a living wage, and then indexing it to inflation so that its value doesn’t erode over time
  • Strengthening enforcement of wage theft laws and holding companies accountable for wage theft committed by subcontractors
  • Extending collecting bargaining rights to State House staff
  • Requiring employers to publicly report their wage data, to provide information essential to measuring our progress toward racial and gender wage equity

Can you write to your state legislators today about the importance of such a pro-worker agenda this session?

Legislate every day like it's May Day