No 62F tax rebates for Massachusetts residents this year

Leaders on Beacon Hill last met for a formal session in July, even though the August recess is long over. 22 News reporter Ellen Fleming has where tax relief stands and whether it will reach the governor's desk by the end of session. Tax relief has been a topic of discussion here on Beacon Hill since last session. And the governor recently said that lawmakers' jobs weren't complete until tax relief made it over the finish line. But as of right now, it's unknown where the conference committee stands. Tax relief was first proposed last session, but that was scrapped due to Chapter 62F payouts. Chapter 62F is a 1986 voter-approved law that has only been triggered twice in state history. It caps allowable state tax collections at a level that is tied to annual wage and salary growth. When revenue goes above said cap, it needs to be returned to taxpayers. However, we recently learned that there will be no Chapter 62F payouts this fiscal year. The auditor announced on Wednesday that the state brought in around $4.2 billion less than the cap. One would assume this means tax relief is moving forward. However, when asked about it this week, Senate President Karen Spilka did not get into any details. The chairs are working hard and they are making progress, so we will continue to work on that. The first meeting of the conference committee working on the tax relief proposal was on June 26. Governor Healey signed off on a budget that left a $581 million hole for tax relief. Healey also made tax relief a large part of her campaign. However, competing interests in the House and Senate may be slowing things down. Add that to an economic landscape where new costs have emerged with the migrant crisis, and it's unknown what a compromise package could look like. Now conference committee negotiators only have until November 15th to get the tax relief package over that finish line before the end of session. Working for you at the Statehouse in Boston, Ellen Fleming, 22 News.