12.09.2024/Breaking News
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It’s a goner: Boston mayor’s biz tax hike plan blocked again in state Senate, raising questions about its future
Looks like it’s time to give last rites to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s now sputtering drive to shove more of the city’s tax burden onto already struggling office buildings and other commercial properties.
State Sen. Nick Collins on Monday used a procedural tactic to block Wu’s proposal from moving forward - the third time in the last week the South Boston Democrat has prevented the mayor’s tax bill from advancing, State House News Service reports.
Collins’ stand now appears to have emboldened other senators concerned about the Boston mayor’s tax plan. Sen. William Brownsberger of Belmont, a top Democrat whose district includes part of Boston, is now calling for Wu’s proposal to be set aside.
Collins’ blocking action in the Senate comes as top business and fiscal watchdog groups call for a pause in consideration of Wu’s proposal, which would shift a greater proportion of the city’s overall tax burden onto office buildings and similar properties and raise commercial tax rates.
Wu has spent months wrangling with the Legislature over the tax shift proposal, meant to address a looming, $1 billion-plus city revenue gap over the next few years as office tower values crumble amid the shift to remote work.
In fact, Wu has repeatedly warned that without the shift, Boston homeowners would instead be forced to pick up the slack in the form of huge increases to their tax bills.
But the release in the last few days of new tax numbers by the Wu administration has called into question the need for the whole plan in the first place.
The Wu administration is now saying that without the tax shift, city homeowners would face a 10.5 percent jump - far lower than what the city had previously warned, and roughly in line with increases of previous years.
All of which has city business leaders questioning how the numbers could have changed in a matter of a few weeks - and whether they were sold a bill of goods back in October, when Wu and her aides had warned of a much more dire situation.
Meanwhile, members of the Boston City Council, which gave a green light to Wu’s tax hike plan based on earlier, more dire estimates, are starting to ask questions as well.
City Councilor Ed Flynn is calling for a meeting next week to reopen debate on the mayor’s proposed commercial tax hike plan, arguing the council previously voted on Wu’s plan on the basis of “inaccurate data provided to the body.”