Trump’s corporate tax cuts are going to cost Massachusetts nearly half a billion dollars this year alone — on top of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and other federal programs we rely on.
Here’s the context: States use the federal tax code as a starting point to calculate how much people and corporations owe in taxes. Trump’s changes to the federal tax code cut taxes for the rich and large corporations (by more than $3 billion/year in MA alone). So, unless we act now, these cuts will be baked into our state’s tax code, meaning big tax cuts for the rich and large corporations.
Other states across the country have already taken action, but we’re still waiting on Massachusetts.
As we face looming cuts already due to Trump’s Big Ugly Bill, we can’t afford even more cuts to health care, food assistance, education, and other essential public services.
“At the start of the new legislative session, the state Senate promised a new day for legislative transparency, and senators have stressed that affordability is a top issue for their agenda. But to this point the Senate’s approach to Mayor Michelle Wu’s home rule petition to temporarily shift the tax burden from homeowners to commercial properties has belied both promises (“Property taxes set to jump again: Wu sees another double-digit rise for homeowners,” Page A1, Dec. 4).
The Legislature approved a new, earlier deadline to report bills out of committee, and as a result of new rules, we get to see how legislators voted. But not in the case of Wu’s proposal. The Senate has not allowed the bill to even have a hearing, despite the requirement that committees hold hearings on every bill assigned to them.
Moreover, as Democrats across the country, including here, talk about affordability as a key goal, Wu’s proposal addresses exactly that. It asks the commercial sector to shoulder more of the tax burden than the city’s residents, who are facing high costs and are suffering from the disastrous economic policies of President Trump.
Boston residents are looking at the state Senate, especially vocal opponents of the proposal such as Senator Nick Collins, and asking: Whose side are you on?”
“On a political level, passing Fair Share was a Herculean effort that squeaked by at 52% yes-vote, even in deep-blue Massachusetts. This might present a challenge for those seeking to replicate the strategy elsewhere. I spoke with Jonathan Cohn, policy director at Progressive Mass, as well as Enid Eckstein who served on the steering committee for the organization Raise Up that led the fight for Fair Share. According to them, Raise Up created a winning coalition for the amendment, backed by service worker, building, and teacher unions, even the AFL-CIO. The campaign survived a Supreme Court objection by finding a runaround through constitutional convention. Raise Up came out early on TV ads, canvassed nearly a million doors, and had disciplined messaging on earmarking funds and the home-selling issue.”
The wealthy were caught off guard by the amendment’s passage. Cohn told me that right-wing interests, having realized that repealing the millionaire surtax is a losing battle, are now collecting signatures to reduce state income taxes as a whole. According to Eckstein, the task ahead is not just staving off relapse to a more regressive tax structure but extending progressive gains to a corporate fair share tax on excess profits concealed offshore. Finally, as the People’s Policy Project has argued, further inroads against inequality and poverty will require plans to socialize capital income and fund generous welfare states.
It’s raining! Federal budget cuts are already devastating Massachusetts families, and the worst is yet to come.
This month, more than 1 million Massachusetts residents — overwhelmingly children, seniors, people with disabilities, and veterans — have faced hunger and fear because of the Trump Administration’s cruel attacks on SNAP benefits during the federal shutdown. More than 337,000 residents are facing skyrocketing health insurance costs due to the loss of federal subsidies beginning in January.
And that’s just the start. Up to 350,000 people in Massachusetts risk losing their Medicaid coverage, and up to 104,000 risk losing access to SNAP food assistance altogether, due to massive cuts to Medicaid and SNAP in the OBBA tax bill passed this summer. Federal cuts to PreK-12 schools, colleges, and childcare could hurt more than 1 million students. And Massachusetts is set to lose as much as $3.5 billion in annual federal aid once cuts to Medicaid and SNAP are fully phased in — blowing a massive hole in the state budget.
Cuts to healthcare, food assistance, and education threaten all of us, but we are not helpless. We need Beacon Hill to prioritize the people of Massachusetts over multinational corporations’ profits and prevent the worst of these devastating budget cuts.
Join Raise Up this week to take action:
☔ RAINY DAY ACTION ON THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13TH: Please join the Raise Up Massachusetts Coalition for a rally where we ask state legislators to use just 15% (~$1.2B) of the state’s reserve fund (a.k.a. the ‘Rainy Day Fund’) to offset devastating federal cuts to SNAP, education, and healthcare. RSVP HERE PLEASE.
PHONE BANK ON THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13TH: Can’t join us on Thursday in person? We got you covered! Join us to for a phone bank to help drive calls and emails to legislators to pass Corporate Fair Share and use the Rainy Day Fund! RSVP HERE PLEASE.
CLICK TO EMAIL ACTION TO LEGISLATORS: Got some extra time before and after the Thursday actions? Take 2 minutes to email the Governor and your legislators in support of Corporate Fair Share and using the Rainy Day fund here. In solidarity,
Witches, vampires, ghosts–they are all scary in movies. But the threats faced in real life are much scarier.
🎃Threats to Health Care and Food Assistance: Massachusetts faces deep cuts in health care access, food assistance, and more due to the Big Ugly Bill passed this summer, and we face looming cuts to SNAP given President Trump’s illegal decision not to spend emergency resources. Massachusetts has a higher GDP than Sweden: we are a rich state with ample resources, and we should be raising new revenue and tapping into our flush rainy day fund. (When it’s raining, you take out the umbrella.)
🎃Threats to Privacy Rights:As Big Tech behemoths like Facebook and Google become accomplices to Trumpist authoritarianism, we need to rein in their ability to buy and sell our personal data in an unregulated market place. The State Senate took action last month, but the House needs to as well. And the clock is ticking.
But we can prevent these frights with good policy.
When you watch a horror film, you know that one of the scariest things can be inaction. That sense that the outcomes were not inevitable at all, that opportunities were missed, that voices were unheeded, all of them empowering whatever villains lurk.
We have seen far too much inaction from Beacon Hill this year.
On the last day of the 10th month, only 49 bills have been signed into law. Of those 49, 21 were home rule petitions for one city or town, 13 were personnel matters about individual people, and 8 were budgets and supplemental budgets.
Editor: The recent cuts and shutdown at the federal level threaten essential programs that Cape Cod families rely on — everything from food assistance to housing support. While Washington retreats, our state must step forward. The Massachusetts Legislature has a responsibility not just to cushion these blows, but to act boldly and proactively to ensure no resident is left behind. We cannot wait for federal funds that may never come back. Massachusetts has the resources and ingenuity to protect its most vulnerable communities, but it requires the political will to prioritize people to do so. A more aggressive response — through targeted state funding, innovative partnerships, and stronger safety nets — is not optional; it is a moral obligation. If we fail to act decisively, the burden will fall hardest on our children, seniors and working families already struggling to make ends meet. This is not the time for incrementalism. Massachusetts should lead by example, proving that even when Washington pulls back, we move forward.
Chair Eldridge, Chair Madaro, and Members of the Joint Committee on Revenue:
I am writing today on behalf of Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide, multi-issue, grassroots membership organization focused on fighting for policy that would make our Commonwealth more equitable, just, sustainable, and democratic. We urge you to give a favorable report to H.3110/S.2033: An Act combating offshore tax avoidance.
Massachusetts residents have been feeling hopeless this year in light of the never-ending barrage of chaos, cruelty, and corruption in the second Trump administration, and they are also looking to you in the State Legislature for leadership.
Fortunately, you have wide latitude for action. For example, although Trump and Congressional Republicans passed disastrous legislation this summer that could lead to up 350,000 people in MA losing health care, 104,000 losing access to food assistance, and harmful cuts to our schools, we do not need to accept these cuts as inevitable.
Massachusetts has a higher GDP than the country of Sweden, a place known for its generous welfare state. It is clear that we can do more than we are, and we will need to in the coming years. These bills offer a sensible and popular way to raise additional revenue in order to prevent these looming cuts.
Massachusetts loses hundreds of millions of dollars each year to offshore corporate tax dodging — money that would otherwise support local families and communities here in Massachusetts. That’s because billionaire global corporations like Apple, Amazon, McDonald’s, and Walmart conceal their profits in offshore tax havens to avoid paying their fair share in Massachusetts taxes. These bills would ensure that such corporations pay our state’s corporate income tax on a greater share of these offshored profits, raising essential new revenue. They would correct the grave error when Massachusetts chose to leave this revenue on the table several sessions ago as a result of backroom negotiations and no public discussion.
Let’s do right by the name of “Commonwealth” that our state has and ensure that we are fighting for the common good of all when that is under attack each day. Your constituents depend on it.
The Trump administration is taking away healthcare from working families and seniors so they can put more money into the pockets of billionaires and big corporations. Here in Massachusetts, we could lose as much as $3.5 billion in federal aid that pays for health care, education, and food access for hundreds of thousands of people. We simply can’t afford the harm that will cause.
That’s why we’re supporting Raise Up Massachusetts’s Corporate Fair Share campaign. The Corporate Fair Share bill would raise critical new revenue by requiring large multinational corporations like Amazon and Walmart to pay our existing corporate tax rate on more of the profits they hide overseas.
The bill has a hearing tomorrow at the State House at 10 am in Gardner Auditorium and a press event at 9:30 am right before. Can you join us?
Date: Friday, October 3, 2025 @ 9:15 AM (Action); 10 AM (Hearing)
Location: Massachusetts State House: Room 222 (Action); Gardner Auditorium (Hearing)
CAN’T MAKE IT TO THE STATE HOUSE? THERE’S MORE YOU CAN DO.
(1) Attend a Town Hall: Raise Up Mass coalition is holding a series of regional Protect Our Care Town Halls across the state to tell our legislators: it’s time to make big corporations pay their fair share in taxes—and stop the cuts. Chances are we’re holding one near you!
FIND A TOWN HALL NEAR YOU
(2) Email your state legislators: Whether they have co-sponsored or not, they should be hearing from you about the need to take action.
EMAIL YOUR LEGISLATORS
(3) Submit testimony: Let the Joint Revenue Committee know why this is important to you with this testimony template courtesy of Raise Up Mass.
Massachusetts is facing a critical moment. Federal budget cuts are threatening to devastate essential services — Medicaid, SNAP, education, mental health care, and more. These cuts could strip healthcare and food assistance from up to 350,000 residents, blow a $3.5 billion hole in our state budget, and harm over 1 million students. We must act now to protect our communities.
A powerful solution is the Corporate Fair Share Act (An Act Combating Offshore Tax Avoidance, H.3110/S.2033), a proposal that would raise over $400 million in new annual revenue by closing a loophole that allows billionaire global corporations to hide profits offshore and avoid paying their fair share in Massachusetts taxes.
Right now, Massachusetts only taxes 5 percent of these offshored profits — far less than neighboring states like Rhode Island, Vermont, and Maine, which tax 50–60 percent. The Commonwealth even taxes a smaller share of offshored corporate profits than New Hampshire does. The Corporate Fair Share Act would simply bring us in line with these states and the federal government, increasing our share from 5 percent to 50 percent.
This isn’t a tax hike on small businesses. In fact, only 0.5 percent of all C Corporations report any offshore profits. Most small businesses — LLCs, S-Corps, sole proprietorships — aren’t affected at all. This bill targets the wealthiest multinational corporations that exploit tax havens while our local businesses and families pay their fair share.
And here’s the truth: Massachusetts voters (of which 50 percent are Republican) overwhelmingly support this change.
In an August 2020 poll by Echo Cove Research, 84 percent of likely Massachusetts voters supported closing the loophole that lets corporations slash taxes by hiding assets offshore.
In an August 2024 poll by Data for Progress, 75 percent of Massachusetts voters agreed that the state corporate income tax should be updated to prevent multinational corporations from using offshore tax havens.
In an April 2025 poll by Lake Research Partners, 78 percent of Massachusetts voters supported closing corporate tax loopholes for large, profitable, multinational corporations.
The message is clear: Massachusetts residents want fairness. We pay our taxes. Our local businesses pay their taxes. It’s time the mega-corporations do the same. The Corporate Fair Share Act will:
Level the playing field for local businesses
Protect essential services like healthcare, education, and mental health care
Ensure financial stability for future generations
Let’s stop leaving hundreds of millions of dollars on the table. Let’s prioritize the taxpayers of Massachusetts over multinational corporations’ profits. Say no to devastating cuts. Say yes to fairness. Tell the State House to close the loophole ad Support the Corporate Fair Share Act. For more information, visit raiseupma.org/corporate-fair-share.
The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress have been rolling back critical funding for climate initiatives at the state and local level. But the fact that they deny the realities of climate change to appease their billionaire backers doesn’t make the climate crisis any less severe.
With such federal retrenchment and sabotage, we need states to step up. Here’s one way: make sure the major polluters who caused the climate crisis start paying up to fund the solutions.
The very companies who lied to the public for decades about climate change are benefiting while all of us, especially the most vulnerable, bear the cost.
The Make Polluters Pay bill (H.1014 / S.588), which just had a hearing on Tuesday, would require these major polluters to pay a one-time fee based on their historic emissions to fund climate-resilient infrastructure upgrades.
That means more money for restoring coastal wetlands; upgrading roads, bridges, subways, and transit systems; preparing for extreme weather; energy efficiency upgrades and retrofits; supporting the creation of self-sufficient clean energy microgrids; and addressing urban heat island effects through green spaces and urban forestry.
New York and Vermont have already passed such a bill. Let’s make MA next.
Protect Our Care with Corporate Fair Share Town Halls
It’s time to Protect Our Care with Corporate Fair Share. The Trump administration is taking away healthcare from working families and seniors so they can put more money into the pockets of billionaires and big corporations. Here in Massachusetts, we could lose as much as $3.5 billion in federal aid that pays for health care, education, and food access for hundreds of thousands of people. We simply can’t afford the harm that will cause.
That’s why the Raise Up Mass coalition is holding a series of regional Protect Our Care Town Halls across the state to tell our legislators: it’s time to make big corporations pay their fair share in taxes—and stop the cuts. Chances are we’re holding one near you! Can you join us?
Here’s what’s at stake. Up to 350,000 people in MA could lose their health care and/or food assistance because of cuts to Medicaid and SNAP. More than one million students could be hurt by cuts to PreK-12, colleges, and child care. The money from these cuts to state funding is flowing directly to big corporations and billionaires, while our communities are stuck with the cost of hospital closures, hungry students, and long ER lines.
