As the Mass. March Madness tournament heats up, MassFiscal is launching our latest advocacy campaign themed “Gov. Healey’s March Madness,” which compares the competitiveness of Massachusetts to the top states our residents flee to: New Hampshire and Florida.

Specifically, the campaign is highlighting that fact that Governor Healey is not doing enough to give Massachusetts a competitive edge against the country’s most economically competitive states.

MassFiscal’s campaign cites decreasing state revenues, increased state borrowing and debt per capita, higher outward migration of taxpaying residents, major increases in the cost of living, and concerns from industry leaders and small business advocates over the declines in the state’s economic competitiveness ratings as reasons why Governor Healey is “missing the basket” on keeping Massachusetts competitive.

The mailer showcases how Massachusetts has the most aggressive estate tax in the country, while New Hampshire and Florida do not have an estate tax. Massachusetts has the sixth highest capital gains tax while New Hampshire and Florida do not have a capital gains tax. Massachusetts has the second highest debt per capita while New Hampshire and Florida do much better. Massachusetts is ranked 46^th in the nation for its ‘business tax climate’ while New Hampshire is 6^th and Florida is 4^th. 

A recent Tax Foundation report shows that Massachusetts was the only state in the country to increase its income tax in 2023, and the top two destinations for Massachusetts taxpayers fleeing the state are New Hampshire and Florida—both states without any income tax whatsoever. The mailer calls for bold action by Beacon Hill lawmakers to help Massachusetts compete with these more competitive states, help stop the outflow of taxpayers, and prevent Massachusetts from getting “eliminated” in the first round.

To download a copy of MassFiscal’s mailer, please click here. The campaign will also be featured in social media and email ads. Nearly every elected official in will receive this mailer, including the State House and other state government buildings, lawmakers at their home, city councilors, Mayors, and Board of Selectmen. Our state’s political class will hear our message loud and clear.

This campaign aims to get State House leaders to think about Massachusetts tax policies and compare them to the most economically competitive states in the country, New Hampshire and Florida. The Commonwealth needs to get into the game and start to get into the business of competing. States like New Hampshire and Florida are taking our best players and paying them more by taxing them less or not at all. Governor Healey’s tax package will not be enough and legislative leaders need to do a lot more if they want to avoid seeing a continued hemorrhaging of our taxpaying residents to other states.

The narrow passage of the income surtax ballot question, which represented an 80 percent increase for some small businesses, retirees, home sales and high-income earners, put Massachusetts at a distinct disadvantage. However, as our mailer points out, there are several other taxes which also contribute, and if we ever want to be competitive, we need to eliminate these taxes.

If Governor Maura Healey, Speaker Ron Mariano, and Senate President Karen Spilka want to keep our state in the game economically speaking, we need to do more. The current thinking on Beacon Hill is not going to be enough. It will take broad tax cuts and tax eliminations to compete.