Timing issue with ballot question would regularly return money to taxpayers whether revenues are strong or weak
FOR RELEASE: March 26, 2026, 10 am
CONTACT: Robin Smyton, Assistant Director, Media Relations
robin.smyton@tufts.edu | 617-627-5392
A report released today by the Center for State Policy Analysis (cSPA) at Tufts University's Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life assesses the likely impact of a proposed 2026 state ballot question that would change Massachusetts’ rules for providing automatic tax refunds under a law called 62F.
"Automatic refunds have been quite rare," said Evan Horowitz, executive director of cSPA. "This ballot question would make them routine, with haphazard results that violate the basic premise that refunds should only happen when revenues outperform."
Key findings of the report include:
- This ballot question would dramatically increase the frequency and scale of automatic tax refunds under 62F, triggering 3–5 times as many refunds and returning 5–15 times as much money to taxpayers.
- One reason refunds have been rare under current law is because the state has cut its tax rates over time, effectively swapping policy-driven refunds for automatic ones.
- By increasing the size and frequency of 62F refunds, this ballot question would reduce revenue as much as an income tax cut of roughly 0.4 percentage points.
- The ballot question has a timing problem that creates a risky feedback loop in the tax system, encouraging refunds every other year and triggering 62F actions even in periods of weak revenue growth.
- Under the ballot question, “millionaires tax” revenue would newly count towards 62F, but this would have a negligible effect on actual refunds.
This report also provides background on 62F, along with a detailed discussion of how the approach embodied by the ballot question would have operated in the past — and how it’s likely to affect the commonwealth’s fiscal future.
READ THE FULL REPORT
cSPA provides expert, nonpartisan analysis of legislative proposals and ballot questions in Massachusetts. It is based at Tufts University and supported by Tisch College along with a diverse group of funding sources from across the political spectrum.
|