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Understanding Property Tax, Property Value, and Tax Levy Trends in Massachusetts
/0 Comments/in Blog, Economic Opportunity /by Emily DonovanAccording to Pioneer Institute’s MassAnalysis tool, single family property tax bills in Massachusetts increased dramatically between 2003 and 2020. In 2003, the average single family property tax bill was $3,094. By 2020, the average property tax bill had nearly doubled to $5,969. In general, property taxes represent the largest source of revenue for Massachusetts municipalities. Typically, differences in property values help inform tax rate discrepancies. For example, municipalities with low property values need higher tax rates to raise the same revenue as higher property value communities. Other factors, such as assessment rate and property tax exemptions or abatements also impact property tax bills. The five municipalities with the highest average property tax bills for a single family home in 2020 […]
Anita Worden Takes Immigrants’ Skills to the Next Level
/in Economic Opportunity, Featured, JobMakers /by Editorial StaffThis week on JobMakers, Host Denzil Mohammed talks with Anita Worden, renewable energy business entrepreneur, about her work to improve representation of women in crucial economic sectors like technology, a place where they can innovate and have real impact.
Employment trends in the Greater Boston Area and Touristy Massachusetts Counties during the COVID-19 Pandemic
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Economy, Blog: Transparency, COVID Economy, COVID Transparency, rCOVID /by Nathan BornsteinUsing MassEconomix, Pioneer Institute’s database on employment and the economy, county-level business concentration and employment trends can be observed. Thousands of Americans lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only was this drop in employment apparent in the Boston area, but also in less densely populated Massachusetts counties. Those reliant on tourism also lost jobs. Table 1 shows the total number of people employed in the Middlesex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Barnstable, and Berkshire counties over the past three years. In general, every county had an increase in its employee count from 2018 to 2019 but then a severe decrease from 2019 to 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Table 1 https://masseconomix.org/geography/filter-county Figure 1 https://masseconomix.org/geography/filter-county While counties […]
Mariam Memarsadeghi on Freeing Iran, Civic Ed, & Immigrant Portraits
/in Featured, Podcast, US History /by Editorial StaffThis week on “The Learning Curve,” co-host Cara Candal and guest co-host Derrell Bradford talk with Mariam Memarsadeghi, senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. Mariam shares remembrances from her early years spent in the Shah’s Iran, and emigration to the U.S. shortly after Ayatollah Khomeini’s revolution in 1979.
The COVID-19 Impact on Massachusetts Community College Enrollment & Success Trends
/in Better Government, Blog, Blog: Better Government, Blog: Education, Blog: Transparency, COVID Education, Higher Education, News, rCOVID, Transparency /by Jack LandsiedelEnrollment at Massachusetts community colleges has dropped 32.61 percent over the past decade. The trend was exacerbated by the pandemic, as Fall 2020 enrollment plummeted 11.32 percent from the previous year. According to a Massachusetts Department of Higher Education (DHE) report, this change was expected based on population and demographic shifts, but the COVID impact may have specifically impacted low-income students and students of color. Pioneer set out to describe time trends in enrollment and success trends alongside presidential salaries at the Commonwealth’s community colleges using data from Pioneer’s MassOpenBooks transparency tool and the DHE Data Center. DHE’s fall unduplicated student headcount includes all for-credit community college students regardless of full/part-time or degree-seeking status. In Fall 2020, that number was […]