Massachusetts has 351 cities and towns—a constellation of communities ranging from small towns like Gosnold to major metropolises like Boston. But drawing comparisons between communities and getting a sense of how different municipal governments stack up has traditionally been very difficult. With the MassAnalysis data tool, created by the Pioneer Institute, it's possible to gain...
A recent study from economist Evgenia Gorina, published in the journal State and Local Government Review, found a positive relationship between a local government's reliance on property taxes as a revenue source and how well-funded their pensions are. In other words, local governments that rely heavily on property taxes as funding sources tend to have...
State Senate President Karen Spilka is taking preliminary steps towards reforming the state’s tax code, assembling a group of policymakers, academics, and other specialists to look for ways to make the Massachusetts tax code more progressive and possibly raise revenue. One place that’s ripe for reform is Massachusetts’s film tax credit program. What is the...
Using Pioneer Institute’s MassAnalysis tool, one can find information on how municipal governments raise revenue to fund services. A majority of revenue comes from local taxes – mostly property taxes – but a significant portion comes from transfers from the state and from other governments. On top of taxes and transfers, local governments also finance...
The reach of occupational licensing laws has expanded greatly over the past half-century. In the 1950s, only 5 percent of the U.S. workforce needed a government-issued license to do their jobs. Now, almost 30 percent of workers require one. While everyone knows that doctors and lawyers have rigorous requirements, numerous jobs now require licenses. As...
If you live in or commute to Boston, chances are you’ve driven through the Storrow Tunnel, the east-bound section of Storrow Drive where the lanes run underneath the westbound lanes for a half mile stretch in the area between Back Bay’s Clarendon Street and the Hatch Shell. Nearly 60,000 drivers travel through it every day,...
Massachusetts is commonly ranked one of the most expensive states in to live in, and recent housing market data indicates that isn’t likely to change any time soon. In June, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors (MAR) reported that the median price for a single family home had reached $430,000, an all-time high. The condominium market...
Billerica, Massachusetts is a quaint town of 40,000 people in Middlesex County, the 25th richest county in the nation, right after Rockwall County, Texas, according to the 2016 American Community Survey. Billerica’s town government spends its time improving their Yankee Doodle Bike Path and protecting their local wetlands. Their Council on Aging even gives out...
Last week, the Town of Blandford’s police force resigned en masse, leaving the community without local police, and increasing the presence of state police. All four members of the Town of Blandford’s police, including the interim Chief Roberta Sarnacki, resigned last week, claiming they were working in unsafe conditions for unfair wages. Sarnacki said these...
It’s not a good time to be a dairy farmer in Massachusetts, and it hasn’t been for years. As of 2016, 90 percent of the Commonwealth’s dairy farmers reported enrollment in federal aid programs. Their economic situation became especially critical in 2009, when the recession pushed milk prices to record lows, and farmers sold their...
