Press Release: 12/1/2025
Governor Healey's Latest Tax Hike Proposal Threatens Massachusetts Families
My name is Marc Lombardo and I am the State Representative for Billerica, serving in the Massachusetts House since 2011. While in the legislature, I've worked to rein in wasteful spending and protect the taxpayers. Throughout my time in office, I have fought for lower taxes, greater accountability from government, and I am often one of only a few votes against the wasteful and bloated state budget every year. I am honored to serve, but I am also deeply grounded in what is happening in our state. I have a family and I have a private sector career outside of government. I am one of very few people serving in the legislature who also works in the private sector!
I’m sending you this message today to sound the alarm on Governor Healey’s latest tax hike proposal, which is poised to stretch local families and businesses to the breaking point. I am helping MassFiscal with this email because I think this issue is so important and MassFiscal’s work is the most important taxpayer advocacy organization in the state.
The Governor’s plan is, without question, one of the most egregious I have seen in my career, and it threatens to burden Massachusetts families and small businesses with a plethora of new, unnecessary local taxes. Instead of addressing runaway state spending, the Governor is trying to pass the buck by letting cities and towns pile on even more local taxes.
The Governor’s so-called “local option” bill gives municipalities the green light to raise:
• The meals tax by over 30 percent, from 0.75 percent to 1 percent.
• The lodging tax up to 7 percent, or 7.5 percent in Boston.
• A new 5 percent surcharge on your annual vehicle excise tax bill, which would essentially triple what many taxpayers already pay.
That is on top of the taxes you already pay, all because Governor Healey and the Legislature refuse to control spending.
This proposal does nothing to address the root problem. Instead of reprioritizing state spending and shifting tax dollars away from costly policies like subsidizing illegal immigrants and inadmissible migrants, the Governor is letting municipalities become the bad guy and squeeze taxpayers for more. The Governor is proposing this all while keeping local aid flat and adding layers of new NetZero by 2050 climate mandates to local municipalities.
Earlier this month, the Revenue Committee in the Legislature heard testimony on the Governor’s local option tax plan. Fortunately, MassFiscal has been working to hold Beacon Hill accountable, mobilizing taxpayers across the state through calls, emails, and public awareness campaigns. Thanks to that pressure, legislators heard a loud and clear message: taxpayers have had enough of Beacon Hill’s endless appetite for more revenue.
Governor Healey proposed the same tax hike plan two years ago and MassFiscal helped put pressure on the State House that resulted in the Governor’s abandoning her costly idea. She’s trying again and MassFiscal is there fighting back, just like it did two years ago.
But the truth is, we are up against a powerful machine of special interests, big-government activists, and mainstream media, all of which want one thing: to spend more taxpayer money.
That is why I am asking for your help. Every day, MassFiscal digs through legislation, reports stories ignored by the mainstream media, and alerts taxpayers to what is really happening on Beacon Hill. They rely entirely on voluntary contributions from people like you to keep going.
If you believe Massachusetts deserves better than endless tax hikes and insider deals, please consider supporting the important work of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance today.
You may donate online at: https://www.massfiscal.org/contribute. I feel strongly that MassFiscal is the best taxpayers ally outside the State House and I will continue to try to be the best taxpayers ally inside the House of Representatives in the State House. We are a team advocating for the taxpayers interest but MassFiscal need your help today to continue putting the pressure on Governor Healey.
Together, we can keep exposing bad fiscal policy, hold our leaders accountable, and remind Beacon Hill that taxpayers have the most important voice.
After you have donated online, please make sure to take part in MassFiscal’s Call to Action campaign by clicking here to send an email to your lawmakers and the Governor, opposing this sweeping tax hike proposal. You can post the Call to Action link to your social media pages and share it with your contacts.
Donating to MassFiscal, and having your voice heard through their Call to Action page, are very effective ways to help the taxpayers of Massachusetts and hold our leaders accountable.
Thank you for standing with me and supporting the important work MassFiscal does. We need their important voice to be heard at the State House.
Sincerely,
Rep. Marc T. Lombardo
22nd Middlesex District
P.S. Taxpayers have a great advocate with MassFiscal. Please make sure to donate to them, and take their Call to Actions. If you don’t follow them on social media, please check them out on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X (Twitter) and LinkedIn.