With hefty residential increases in sight, Boston’s tax shift battle returns

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As the weather grows colder and the State House gets decked out for the holidays, some fires are returning to Beacon Hill. 

A welcome back is in order for the fanfare over Boston Mayor Michelle Wu's property tax shift proposal, after she announced that the city projects its average single family homeowner will see a 13% increase in property taxes next year. 

Her revamped pleas for Beacon Hill and business leaders to sign off on the city's proposal fell on skeptical ears, akin to the ones that killed her old plan in December 2024. Wu's bill also hasn't been permitted to even enter the legislative pipeline — the House in March referred Wu's expanded proposal (HD 4422) to the Committee on Revenue. The Senate has let the bill idle without a committee assignment and unable to get a public airing.

But people have plenty to say about the legislation.

Senate President Pro Tempore Will Brownsberger called into question the home rule's potential to "upend" the structure of Proposition 2 ½. NAIOP Massachusetts said it is "not going to have a conversation about this" because the proposal is the "wrong strategy." And Sen. Nick Collins, who Wu blames for killing the proposal last year, said he opposes "the city's effort to circumvent Prop 2½, which would remove the people’s right to vote on local tax increases. That is wrong and I will continue to support and defend people’s right to vote."

In response, Wu said: "Senator Collins is either badly misinformed or purposely misleading voters and residents."

On Friday, Wu's office said the Department of Revenue backed up their figures. "Now that the valuations for Boston’s 180,000+ parcels have been confirmed, we can say with certainty that unless the state legislature takes action on Boston’s residential tax relief home-rule petition, the average single family homeowner’s tax bill will go up by another 13% next year, with many households having even higher increases than the average," Wu spokesperson Emma Pettit said. 

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As that battle revved again beneath the golden dome, so did ballot question proponents carrying boxes filled with tens of thousands of signatures. 

The state elections division is making its way through the "significant amount" of certified signatures it received from at least ten different ballot question campaigns. Among those proposals include the fight for rent control, a push for single all-party primaries, and a measure that would set aside some of the state's sporting goods sales tax for conservation and restoration.

Once the signatures are counted and qualifying measures filed with the House clerk by Jan. 7, lawmakers will face a series of serious decisions: Will they choose to take action on any arguably controversial measures to prevent them from going before voters in November? Or will they bypass bargaining and let the voters decide?

There's another sort of test in question, as news came this week that Massachusetts high school students may have to take "end-of-course assessments" tied to new graduation standards. Under initial recommendations from the K-12 Statewide Graduation Council, students would take tests designed, administered and scored by the state. Those would be paired with capstones or portfolios designed, administered and scored locally.

While students wouldn't have to explicitly pass the tests in order to receive a diploma, the Massachusetts Teachers Association argues the proposal "defies the will of the voters" who passed a 2024 ballot law that eliminated the MCAS passage graduation requirement.

If that's not enough déjà vu, Massachusetts could be staring down another Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) conflict, after the Trump administration said that it may withhold funds from Democratic-led states unless they provide certain information about people who receive the assistance, like names and immigration status. Gov. Maura Healey argued that Massachusetts already verifies eligibility for SNAP beneficiaries, and that the federal request is unnecessary. 

On Friday, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted to recommend delaying when most newborns begin to be vaccinated against hepatitis B to two months after birth. Department of Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein called the move "reckless."

"Removing the newborn hepatitis B vaccine from the routine schedule is a decision driven by ideology – not science – and it ignores decades of irrefutable evidence that this dose saves lives," Goldstein said. DPH issued a recommendation last week to maintain universal hepatitis B vaccines for newborns, keeping Massachusetts on a different vaccine track than the feds. It will be up to parents to decide which advice to follow.

Staying on her same track is Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, who this week announced she is turning down a potentially winnable U.S. Senate campaign in favor of running for reelection in 2026. 

State tax collections remain on a relatively stable track, as well. The Department of Revenue's haul of $2.562 billion last month is $89 million or 3.6% above the state's benchmark, marking an increase of $107 million or 4.4% in state tax collections year-over-year in November. 

Joint Rule 10 Day is on a new track. It passed on Wednesday, Dec. 3, as opposed to the old early-February deadline. While Senate members of joint committees had to report bills by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, House joint committee members under House Rule 27 may have until the third Wednesday in March (March 18, 2026) to make decisions on most bills that were filed on-time and had a hearing before the third Wednesday in December. The new wrinkles rose to a level that this session required some guidance.

A track having a bit of trouble: The Green Line, which shuts down for 15 days starting on Dec. 8 so crews can replace a 19th century wooden overhead-catenary "trough." In place of a smooth morning commute, join the crew trying to determine whether the T will be selling pieces of that trough.

IN MEMORY: More than 1,600 people gathered this week at Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante's funeral at St. Anne's Church in Gloucester. The visitation and funeral were held on Thursday for Ferrante, who was elected to the House in 2008 and died on Nov. 27 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Gov. Healey and Sen. Bruce Tarr were among those who eulogized Ferrante.

KELLER AT LARGE: 8:30 a.m., WBZ-TV. The station is running an encore edition of the show hosted by political analyst Jon Keller. The guest is Mike Kennealy, Republican candidate for governor. They discuss his candidacy and qualifications, his solutions for the housing crisis, the cost of the recent surge in migrants coming to Massachusetts, and the future of the state Republican Party.

@ ISSUE SIT DOWN: 9:30 a.m., NBC 10. Reporter Matt Prichard interviews Rep. Bill Keating.

ON THE RECORD:11 a.m., WCVB. The guest is GOP candidate for governor Michael Minogue.

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