Massachusetts
Many people in Massachusetts will pay less in taxes in 2024. Here’s a look at new laws this year. – The Boston Globe
For now, here are the new laws — and expiring ones — to watch:
More money (to come)
Come 2024 tax season, residents can start taking advantage of many of the cuts and beefed-up tax credits included in the state’s $1 billion tax package. That includes a bigger tax credit for low-income workers, a sizable tax cut for day traders who made short-term capital gains, and a bigger deduction for renters that translates into modest (about $50) savings.
But some parts of the law technically didn’t take effect until Monday, meaning residents can’t realize their full benefits until they file their 2024 taxes, likely in spring 2025. That includes an enhanced tax credit for parents of children or caretakers for disabled adults or seniors.
The law increased credits for child and dependent care from $180 to $310 per dependent claimed on an individual’s 2023 taxes, while also lifting the cap on how many dependents a caretaker can claim. In 2024, the tax credit then jumps $440 per dependent. That means a family with four children could eventually claim $1,760; before the changes, that same family would have been able to claim $360.
Another change going into effect will require all married couples who file joint federal returns to also file jointly at the state level, rather than individually. Some business leaders opposed the measure, but the goal, proponents say, is to prevent wealthy couples from avoiding the so-called millionaires tax, a 4 percent surtax on annual incomes over $1 million, by filing separately.
With the new year, the cap on credits awarded to developers through the Housing Development Incentive Program, or HDIP, also resets to $30 million — up from the $10 million allowed before the bill passed but a drop from the temporary $57 million cap the law set for 2023.
The credit aims to spur more market-rate housing in midsize and smaller cities, and the changes marked one of the first times state House and Senate leaders were in alignment on a major housing policy initiative in 2023. The increase chafed some Democratic lawmakers, who argued that the program’s focus on creating more market-rate housing does little to address a desperate need for more affordable units, too.
Pandemic policies
COVID-19 has not gone away. In some cases, neither have the laws it inspired, at least until early 2024.
The Legislature last March extended several pandemic-era policies, passing language allowing restaurants to sell cocktails to go with takeout meals and for expanded outdoor dining. But those laws — first passed during the depths of the public health emergency as a lifeline to restaurants — are currently slated to end April 1.
That is, of course, unless lawmakers move to extend them again. In the case of cocktails to go, an extension would be the fourth in as many years.
That measure was at a center of a fight between restaurant owners and liquor stores in 2023. Some lawmakers also hesitated, at least initially, to keep the law in place, particularly in the Senate, which greeted the prospect of another extension coolly before the chamber’s leaders ultimately agreed to it.
Steve Clark, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, said his group is already lobbying to extend both policies. Some restaurants, as well as the cities and towns where they operate, need more time to make permanent their plans to create outdoor dining spaces, particularly those in public spaces, such as sidewalks, he said.
Some restaurants, typically ones serving Asian or Mexican food, have also embedded specialty to-go drinks into their offerings, Clark said, arguing that an extension to the rule — or a permanent change — would benefit many establishments still struggling to catch up to pre-pandemic sales.
“If there was more of a sign that it’s going to last forever, people would be more inclined to utilize it,” he said.
Package stores, however, are likely to push back hard on any effort. Rob Mellion, executive director of the Massachusetts Package Stores Association, said that the advantage of selling to-go alcohol “must end” and argued that third-party delivery services are ripe for abuse by underage drinkers.
He pointed to the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission’s most recent annual report from 2021, which said in December of that year alone, every one of the more than two dozens deliveries it investigated went to someone underage.
Sticking with the minimum
One of the more notable developments of the calendar flip is what’s not happening: Those earning the minimum wage in Massachusetts won’t see a pay raise in January.
For years, hundreds of thousands low-income workers — who made $8 an hour a decade ago — could bank on earning more in the new year thanks to legislative changes, including a 2018 law known as the grand bargain. Under that measure, the state’s minimum wage rose each year starting in 2019, gradually increasing to $15 from $11. Minimum wages for tipped employees also steadily rose to $6.75 from $3.75, and the law also gradually phased out mandatory time-and-a-half pay on Sundays and holidays.
Those changes, however, took their final steps in January 2023. When the law passed more than five years ago, the eventual $15 wage floor matched the highest in the country. It still ranks among them, but Connecticut ($15.69), California and parts of New York ($16), Washington state ($16.28), and Washington, D.C., (which hit $17 in July) all have higher minimums.
All told, workers in nearly half of US states were slated to see some type of increase in the new year.
That Massachusetts isn’t among them has prompted calls from labor leaders and advocates to pursue another increase to keep up with the state’s escalating living and housing costs.
“We have an affordability crisis in Massachusetts, and it’s hitting low-wage workers the hardest,” said Chrissy Lynch, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO.
Whether Beacon Hill is prepared to pursue another increase is a different matter. Democratic lawmakers have filed legislation that would gradually raise the wage floor to $20 and then tie future increases to inflation.
But legislative leaders have not signaled they have an appetite to pursue it. In a statement, a spokesperson for Senate President Karen Spilka noted she would review any proposals to increase the wage floor “should they move forward in the legislative process.” Aides to House Speaker Ronald Mariano did not respond to a request for comment.
Healey has said the wage floor should be adjusted “over time” to keep up with the cost of living, but she did not advocate for raising it before the legislative session ends in July.
“Governor Healey is a strong supporter of paying workers a fair wage and will review any legislation that reaches her desk,” said Karissa Hand, a Healey spokesperson.
Matt Stout can be reached at matt.stout@globe.com. Follow him @mattpstout.
Massachusetts
Randolph woman wins $1M lottery prize, plans to use winnings for home improvements
RANDOLPH, Mass. (WWLP) – A Randolph resident has won a $1 million prize through the final drawing of the Massachusetts State Lottery “$4,000,000 Monopoly Doubler” instant ticket game.
Brenda Mellor of Randolph claimed the game’s tenth and final $1 million prize.
She selected the cash option and received a one-time payment of $650,000 before taxes. Mellor said she plans to use the winnings to pay for home improvements, including renovations to her roof and pool.
The winning ticket was purchased at The Variety Store at 2 Mazzeo Drive in Randolph. The retailer will receive a $10,000 bonus for selling the ticket.
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Massachusetts
Mass. is getting more granny flats. But it’s still hard to build them. – The Boston Globe
Massachusetts took a big step in 2024 when the Legislature legalized so-called “accessory dwelling units” statewide as part of an effort to rein in the state’s housing crisis. More than a year later, it’s clear that the law is working — but that it also needs tweaks before accessory units can meet their full potential.
These small units, nicknamed “granny flats,” can be constructed in someone’s backyard, or they can simply be renovated third floors, garages, or basements. They’re a popular option for seniors seeking to downsize and families looking for some rental income.
Prior to the state law, some communities allowed accessory units, but many did not. Even among those cities and towns that did tolerate accessory dwelling units, zoning often varied from one municipality to the next, making it difficult for builders who needed to decode each municipality’s rules. Some towns also included unreasonable restrictions, like requiring that only a homeowner’s family members could live in the accessory units.
Housing advocates viewed allowing accessory dwelling units statewide as a “low-hanging fruit” policy — a way to add housing that was relatively cheap and avoided some of the cost and political obstacles that housing measures often encounter. The state legislation also overrode some zoning restrictions, including those that limited accessory units to family, while leaving some other local rules intact.
One year after the law went into effect, this approach has proved fruitful: Towns across the state have approved 1,200 ADU permits and seen even more applications, in some cases up to a threefold increase from previous years.
A study published last week by Boston Indicators (the research branch of the Boston Foundation) and Abundant Housing Massachusetts found that forcing the hand of municipalities on accessory dwelling units accomplished more in one year than 50 years of zoning reform efforts at the local level.
The problem, though, is that municipalities retained too much power. As the study recommends, there should be clear, uniform state regulatory standards for ADUs, with minimal opportunities for municipal-level variation.
“A comprehensive agenda is needed to address regulatory barriers to housing production, spanning building, fire, energy, septic system, wetlands, and stormwater rules,” the study’s authors wrote. “The barriers include the fragmented complexity of the regulatory system itself.”
Making standards more uniform doesn’t have to mean lowering them — it just means moving away from patchwork rules that make it harder for companies to build accessory units at scale.
Chris Lee at Backyard ADUs, a company that designs and builds modular dwelling units in New England, says the report’s findings make sense. The inconsistent interpretations across 350 towns and cities cause builders and engineers to “struggle to design work for the town that will be accepted,” he said. (The state’s 351st municipality, Boston, isn’t covered by the law.)
The potential is significant. The report calculates that if just 2 percent of single-family homes in Massachusetts added an accessory unit, the state would see more than 30,000 new homes that advocates say are generally more affordable. Building an accessory dwelling unit inside a pre-existing house can cost between $75,000 and $100,000; and a detached unit usually runs between $250,000 to $350,000, making them much more affordable than purchasing a single-family home in most regions of the country.
“For developers of missing middle housing to benefit from an economy of scale, they have to undertake many projects, across jurisdictional lines,” according to the study. “The ADU case study has shown just how challenging this is.”
Lee estimated that he could reduce up to $30,000 of preconstruction costs such as surveying and architecture if his company could work with consistent regulations across towns, which he said could enable them to double their production.
Streamlining permitting for accessory dwelling units isn’t a panacea. Landlords still must be willing to actually build them and rent them to long-term residents. Retirees must believe it’s worth downsizing to one. But the fact that so many have been permitted over the last year point to the clear demand and makes the case for policy makers to keep refining the law.
There is precedent. California, for example, had an equally ambitious goal but has blown past it, going from only 1,300 permits approved its first year to more than 30,000 nine years later. “It is important to understand that California did not accomplish its ADU outcomes with one legislative reform,” the study’s authors wrote. “California’s success required sustained legislative attention.”
Massachusetts should be able to realize those kinds of results too. Conversely, if even the “low-hanging fruit” of zoning reform falters in the Commonwealth because of local red tape, then the state has bigger problems ahead to solve its housing crisis.
Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us @GlobeOpinion.
Massachusetts
Meteor over Massachusetts causes explosion reports, sightings from Delaware to Montreal
Reports of an explosion from people across New England Saturday afternoon sent police agencies and others scrambling to understand what caused a double boom that shook buildings in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
The American Meteor Society said that the booms heard about 2:30 p.m. were actually caused by a meteor about 3 feet (nearly 1 meter) wide entering the atmosphere around the New Hampshire border with Massachusetts, north of Boston.
Fire program monitor Robert Lunsford said the society received dozens of reports from Delaware to Montreal with people either hearing the double boom, feeling the ground shake or seeing the fireball — which he said looked like a shooting star in the daytime sky.
“It was definitely bigger than a normal fireball, about a yard wide,” he said.
But Lunsford said it’s unlikely the meteor struck the ground.
“We would need more information about the trajectory the speed and other aspects to know for sure if it hit the ground, but if it didn’t burn up, then it would have landed in the ocean,” he said. “Most of them do burn up before they hit the ground.”
People in a handful of states posted on social media about feeling the buildings they were in shaking. Several videos on the X platform captured what sounded like two quick booms, with no fire, smoke or other visual causes.
Several people filed reports with the U.S. Geological Survey, registering the shaking they felt with the National Earthquake Information Center, agency spokesman Steve Sobie confirmed.
The agency opened an event page, based on the number of “Did you feel it?” reports it received on its website. But Sobie said there was no event registered on the agency’s seismographs. meaning the shaking was not due to an earthquake.
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