Rhode Island
Rhode Island debates raising taxes on the rich – The Boston Globe
On Thursday, a group of progressive lawmakers joined the Working Families Party in announcing a set of four bills, branded the “Fair Share for Rhode Island Package,” that would go beyond McKee’s proposal to generate $650 million in annual revenue by boosting taxes on the wealthy.
Representative Brandon C. Potter, a Cranston Democrat, called McKee’s proposal “a strong step forward,” but said, “It simply does not do enough to meet the needs of working people in Rhode Island right now.”
Potter emphasized that President Trump’s “One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act” would provide about $1 trillion in federal tax cuts for the richest 1 percent over the next decade while slashing health benefits and food assistance for lower-income Rhode Islanders.
“We need to meet this moment,” Potter said. “In a state controlled by Democrats, we have the opportunity to demonstrate what it means to fight for working people and deliver on our values in the way that this moment calls for.”
The “Fair Share for Rhode Island Package” includes:
● A 1 percent tax “wealth tax” on a Rhode Island tax filers who have worldwide financial assets of more than $25 million. That would generate a projected $300 million per year.
Potter and Senator Tiara T. Mack, a Providence Democrat, are sponsoring that legislation, which would apply to financial intangible assets such as stocks, bonds, options, and annuities, and not to the value of houses or other real estate property, or nonfinancial intangible assets such as patents or brand recognition.
Mack said the tax would affect 1/14th of the state’s richest 1 percent. “And because wealth is so concentrated amongst this very small percentage, this small tax on the richest Rhode Islanders will raise $3 billion over the next 10 years,” she said.
● A 3 percent surtax on taxable income of more than $640,000. That would generate a projected $200 million a year.
Representative Karen Alzate, a Pawtucket Democrat, said this is the seventh year that she and Senator Melissa A. Murray, a Woonsocket Democrat, have sponsored the legislation, and in light of Trump administration cuts, she said it’s more crucial than ever.
Alzate said the Massachusetts millionaires tax has provided that state with billions in revenue to improve health care and schools and lure big business such as Hasbro, which is moving its headquarters from Pawtucket to Boston. ”There is no mass exodus,“ she said. ”Just stronger communities.”
● A 4 percent “wealth proceeds tax” that would generate a projected $144.4 million per year.
Representative Teresa A. Tanzi, a South Kingstown Democrat, and Senator Meghan E. Kallman, a Pawtucket Democrat, are sponsoring the legislation, which aims to equalize the tax treatment of earned and unearned income by taxing “passive income” such as capital gains, dividends, interest and annuities, along with certain kinds of rents, royalties and business income. It would not tax income derived from active participation in a business or a retirement income such as Social Security, pensions, 401(k)s and IRAs.
● A digital ads tax that would generate an undetermined amount of revenue.
Kallman and Representative Terri Cortvriend, a Portsmouth Democrat, are sponsoring legislation that would tax the revenue of major tech companies, such as Meta and X, that make money from digital advertising. Only businesses with $1 million in annual gross revenue from digital ad services in Rhode Island would be required to file the new digital advertising tax return.
Last year, McKee proposed a 10 percent tax on digital advertising revenues in the state, which would only apply to media companies with more than $1 billion in global revenues.
Apple, Meta, TikTok, and Microsoft hired local lobbyists in Rhode Island to try to kill the proposal, and it was not included in the budget passed by the General Assembly. House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, a Warwick Democrat, said the proposal was too speculative, noting only Maryland had tried such a tax and it was facing lawsuits.
The four tax proposals are facing strong opposition from business groups.
Laurie White, president of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce, criticized the proposals, saying increases in the personal income tax would hurt many small businesses.
Most of the state’s small businesses are organized as pass-through entities, meaning their business profits are taxed under the personal income tax, not a separate corporate tax, White said. Potter disputed the extent of the impact of a tax on income of more than $640,000.
But White said, “For thousands of small businesses, it is a direct tax on their operating income, and it ultimately affects employees through fewer opportunities and slower growth.”
White said the Working Families Party is supporting higher taxes while placing less emphasis “on ensuring accountability and measurable results from government.” For example, Rhode Island spends more per pupil on education than most states, and the outcomes are “mixed,” she said.
“Higher taxes alone do not necessarily lead to better public services,” White said. “We support the principle of reform before revenue and believe that Rhode Islanders deserve better accountability and quality government services for their tax dollars.”
She said state general revenue spending for fiscal year 2026 will reach $5.81 billion, marking an 11 percent increase in two years and outpacing inflation. “When spending grows at that rate, no narrowly targeted tax hike can meaningfully address the underlying problem,” she said.
White said the proposed digital advertising tax would hurt small businesses that use digital ads to grow their businesses, and raise prices for consumers. “It is also unclear whether or not it is constitutional,” she said.
On Friday, spokesmen for House and Senate leaders responded to the four tax proposals, saying, “When the legislation is introduced, it will undergo the usual thorough and public committee review process for consideration on its merits.”
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.
Patrol officers were dispatched to the bridge shortly before 11 p.m. Tuesday and found a 40-year-old man with stab wounds to his chest, Josh Estrella, the director of communications for the city of Providence, said in an email.
The Providence Fire Department transported the man to Rhode Island Hospital, Estrella said.
I think we may have found the most terrifying porta potty in New England. Here’s how it happened.
We were lucky enough to broadcast The MGM Show live from DeWolf Tavern in Bristol, Rhode Island this morning.
Why Bristol Is Worth the Trip
Aside from being one of the most patriotic towns in America, Bristol is also one of the most beautiful seaside towns.
There’s only one problem: the bridge that you need to use to get to Bristol scares me to death. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t scare easily with things like bridges, tunnels, or airplanes. However, the Mount Hope Bridge is one that makes me want to close my eyes and “hope” for the best. Maybe that’s where the name comes from.
What Is Happening With the Mount Hope Bridge Construction?
If you live in the area of the Mount Hope Bridge, you know all too well about the construction that has been happening over the spring and summer. I noticed the construction today and it got me wondering if any of them were afraid of heights.
The Porta Potty That Might Be Rhode Island’s Scariest
If heights bother you, there’s definitely one added feature that could make working construction on the Mount Hope Bridge even more difficult, if not impossible.
The porta potty that is perched on top of the bridge is the stuff nightmares are made of. I’m not sure how badly I’d need to have to use a bathroom before I succumbed to opening the door of this porta potty and climbing inside.
How can anyone get in there and not picture themselves slowly free falling in the smelly chamber as indelible blue goo leaves the toilet as you prepare for your humiliating doom?
Take a look at these pictures and ask yourself if you could ever use it. This might be Rhode Island’s most terrifying porta potty.
15 Busiest Places to Eat in New Bedford
Here is data from the past 12 months that ranks the food spots with the busiest foot traffic in New Bedford.
Gallery Credit: Michael Rock
Unwritten Rules For Living in New Bedford
Here are the rules you might not know if you don’t live in New Bedford.
Gallery Credit: Michael Rock
Gray’s Ice Cream has been scooping cones at a Rhode Island crossroads since 1923. That kind of staying power is what keeps these eight towns on national favorites lists year after year. Newport carries the Gilded Age mansions and a 3.5-mile shoreline walk past their lawns. Woonsocket holds a former church that Yankee Magazine named the Sistine Chapel of America. Tiverton trades on windsurfing beaches and a colonial village full of galleries. Each town here earns a full day, and several reward a whole weekend.
Newport
Newport faces the Atlantic from the southern tip of Aquidneck Island, and USA Today 10Best readers voted it the No. 6 coastal small town in America for 2024. The Cliff Walk runs 3.5 miles between Easton’s Beach and Bailey’s Beach, a National Recreation Trail since 1975, with surf on one side and Gilded Age lawns on the other. Along the way stands The Breakers, the 70-room summer home Cornelius Vanderbilt II completed in 1895, open for tours through the Preservation Society of Newport County. Downtown, Touro Synagogue, dedicated in 1763, remains the oldest synagogue building in the United States and still houses an active congregation. Bowen’s Wharf now stacks restaurants and galleries beside the docks. Newport fits anyone who wants beach days framed in marble.
Middletown
Middletown stretches across the center of Aquidneck Island, and its shoreline carries the day. Sandy crescents at Second Beach and Third Beach bookend a peninsula that ends at Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge. Those 242 protected acres host more than 200 bird species on migration, and snowy owls sometimes winter there. Inland, the Norman Bird Sanctuary keeps seven miles of trails across roughly 300 acres; the Hanging Rock route looks down on the refuge and the beach below. Newport Vineyards pours its tastings in Middletown, despite the name, an easy stop on the ride home. Middletown is the pick for visitors who measure a good day in shorebirds and sand.
Portsmouth
Portsmouth crowns the north end of Aquidneck Island and has been settled since 1638, second in age only to Providence among Rhode Island municipalities. Green Animals Topiary Garden clips more than 80 figures from privet, yew, and boxwood on a seven-acre estate above Narragansett Bay. The oldest topiary garden in the country stays in bloom through the warm months, roughly May into October. Glen Manor House, a town-owned French-style manor on the Sakonnet River, presides over the old Glen Farm estate, with the walking paths and picnic groves of Glen Park alongside. Greenvale Vineyards pours estate wines in a tasting room of former horse stalls beside 27 acres of riverside vines. Families head for the shallow water at Sandy Point Beach. Portsmouth works for anyone who likes a coastline with topiary elephants on it.
Tiverton
Tiverton lines the east bank of the Sakonnet River, where shore roads and stone walls funnel day-trippers toward Tiverton Four Corners. Galleries, antique shops, and the Four Corners Arts Center fill buildings dating to the 18th century. Gray’s Ice Cream has been scooping at the crossroads since 1923, with a summer line to prove it. Behind the village, Weetamoo Woods and the adjoining Pardon Gray Preserve spread hundreds of acres of oak forest, old mill ruins, and walking trails. Fogland Beach is a black-stone beach located on Fogland Point, where steady wind draws windsurfers and the views run across to Aquidneck Island. Tiverton makes the case for a slow afternoon that ends with a cone at the crossroads.
Warren
Warren gets introduced as the smallest town in the smallest county in the smallest state, and its few square miles hold an outsized food scene. Blount Clam Shack offers clam cakes beside the docks on Water Street, while the Hope & Main food incubator keeps hatching new food businesses a few blocks inland. The East Bay Bike Path is a 14.5-mile path between Providence and Bristol, dropping riders within a short walk of the waterfront. History holds the center of town too: the Historic Warren Armory still fronts a downtown that grew up on shipbuilding and marine trades. Warren belongs on this list for travelers who plan trips around lunch.
East Greenwich
East Greenwich climbs from Greenwich Cove in a district known as Hill and Harbor, with Main Street running the ridge a block above the water. The Greenwich Odeum opened on that street in 1926 at the tail end of vaudeville and reopened in the fall of 1994 as a performing arts mainstay. Sailboats crowd the cove below Scalloptown Park, named for the shellfishing grounds that once ran the local economy, with walking paths along the bay. The 1773 Varnum House Museum on Peirce Street preserves the home of Continental Army General James Mitchell Varnum. East Greenwich suits travelers who want dinner with a marina view and a show afterward.
North Kingstown
North Kingstown keeps its showpiece in Wickford, a harbor village holding one of the largest collections of 18th-century homes in the Northeast. The Old Narragansett Church was built in 1707 and moved to Wickford in the 1800s. It is also believed to be the oldest Episcopal church building in the northeastern United States. Just north of the village, Smith’s Castle dates to 1678, one of the oldest houses in Rhode Island, built near the site where Roger Williams ran a 1637 trading post. Each summer, the Wickford Art Festival, held since 1962, brings roughly 200 juried artists to Wilson Park. Kayaks trace the edges of one of the best-protected natural harbors on the East Coast.
Woonsocket
Woonsocket bends around the Blackstone River at the state’s northern edge, where mill-era fortunes paid for a cultural inheritance that still surprises first-timers. The St. Ann Arts and Cultural Center holds the largest collection of fresco paintings in North America. Guido Nincheri painted the former church interior over eight years, using hundreds of Woonsocket residents as models. Yankee Magazine later dubbed it the Sistine Chapel of America, and seasonal tours run on Sundays. On Monument Square, the 1926 Stadium Theatre survived the end of vaudeville and a long closure before a 2001 restoration; it now books national acts alongside community productions. The Museum of Work and Culture walks visitors from a Québec farmhouse into the mills that drew thousands of French Canadian families south. Autumnfest closes the season each Columbus Day weekend with carnival rides, craft booths, and fireworks. Woonsocket rewards travelers who like their art with mill-town history attached.
Eight Towns, One Small State
What links these eight towns is less geography than staying power. Newport has drawn visitors to its mansions for more than a century, and Gray’s has scooped at the Tiverton crossroads since 1923. Woonsocket’s frescoes and Wickford’s 18th-century streets reward an afternoon as readily as Newport’s Cliff Walk does. The reputations came from different sources, mansions in one town, a wildlife refuge in another, an art festival in a third, but each holds up to a close look. That is what keeps them on the lists.
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