The proponents of last year’s Ballot Question 1, which narrowly passed and implemented a 4 percent income tax surcharge on all incomes over $1 million dollars, ran slick TV ads funded by some of the state’s largest unions making such claims as “anyone who makes less than a million dollars a year, doesn’t pay an extra cent.” Feel free to watch their ads on YouTube and see for yourself.

During last week’s tax reform package deliberations, Senate President Karen Spilka and the state senate passed an amendment to implement a “marriage penalty” in our state tax filing system, so that couples who have a combined income over $1M will be wacked by this tax hike. Marriage penalties are bad policy and offering ways to avoid one is not a loophole. It’s only been six months since the surtax amendment passed and lawmakers are already trying to get the new tax applied to taxpayers who don’t earn a million dollars, and in ways they did not make the case for during their campaign.

With the blessing of the Senate President, State Senator Jason Lewis (D-Winchester) successfully passed his amendment to the senate “tax reform package” which would implement the marriage penalty. To see how your senator voted, please click here. Only in Massachusetts does the state senate pass a marriage penalty during their tax reform package.

For more information, please visit the MA Fiscal Alliance.