Pioneer Institute

NEW: MassWatch IRS Data Discovery Tool

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If you want a window into taxation, to learn where Massachusetts residents move to and where new residents are coming from, Pioneer Institute has an innovative research tool for you. With Pioneer’s new Mass IRS Data Discovery Tool, you can now compare state-to-state or year-to-year tax data without downloading up to 2,000 IRS files in many different, cumbersome formats.

Since the early 1990s, the IRS has posted spreadsheets on its website that document aggregated and anonymized 1040 tax returns, including taxpayer migration and individual income tax data. Pioneer’s new IRS Data Discovery Tool has uploaded all of these files to a single database, ensuring consistency of format, and has connected the data to user-friendly applications for easy analysis and visualization.

The individual tax statistics show selected income and tax items classified by county, ZIP code and income bracket. The data are from the IRS’s Individual Master File, which includes a record of every Form 1040, 1040A, 1040EZ, 1040PC, 1040 NR and 8814 filed with the IRS. Additionally, our site allows you to research Massachusetts migration trends by county, both interstate and intrastate.

Migration data for the United States are based on year-to-year address changes reported on individual income tax returns filed with the IRS. They present migration patterns by state or by county for the entire United States and are available for inflows—the number of new residents who moved to a state or county and where they migrated from, and outflows—the number of residents leaving a state or county and where they went. The data are available for Filing Years 1993 through 2019 and include:

  • Number of returns filed, which approximates the number of households that migrated
  • Number of personal exemptions claimed, which approximates the number of individuals
  • Total adjusted gross income, starting with Filing Year 1995
  • Aggregate migration flows at the State level, by the size of adjusted gross income (AGI) and age of the primary taxpayer, starting with Filing Year 2011.

The IRS Data Discovery Tool is the latest offering from MassWatch, Pioneer’s suite of free data resources that promote citizen engagement in state and local government. It is near impossible to maintain a healthy democracy without public access key information. The free websites that make up MassWatch provide access to vast amounts of data with user-friendly queries to foster public particiaption in government.

Analysis from Pioneer’s Transparency Team:

Northwest Massachusetts’ Reliance on Industry Levies

Some towns in NW Massachusetts spend significantly more per capita than their neighbors, without using methods such as large state funding, deficit spending, and high taxes. These towns gain significant portions of their revenue from industry tax levies.

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Some people may assume that there is a correlation between how much a town spends on their police and the crime rates in that town. But for certain towns in Middlesex County, there does not seem to be a clear connection between police expenses and crime rates. When stacked up against other towns in the county, there is a mismatch between how much money these towns spend on their police and their crime rates.

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The Necessity of Transparent Tax Revenue Reporting: MA Provides a Shining Example

Revenue collections, predicted revenue, and expenditures are among the most important data points states report. Without accurate predictions and regular reporting, the legislature and governor's office may go over or under budget, potentially leaving citizens and policymakers in the dark about the fiscal health of the state. For this reason, all states regularly report those numbers and update estimates based on trends, overall economic conditions, and expected changes as a result of new state policies. However, even among the New England states, the transparency and accessibility of such reporting varies greatly and, as a result, limits analysts’ ability to meaningfully compare state revenues and judge performance in real time.

Changes to the Confounding Massachusetts Estate Tax

Policymakers on Beacon Hill have many visions of tax relief for this fiscal year, and all of them include changing the estate taxes. What are those changes, and what would their impact be?

 

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