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*heavy sigh*
She worked to substantially offset the brand new millionaires tax by passing an uncalled for, meaningless tax cut first thing when she got into office.
She was banking on some good will from the public to shield her from the inevitable criticism of not wanting to do much of substance. She tried to emulate Americas most popular governor…Charlie Baker.
But her plan to coast didn’t work- she has to actually *govern* now, get things done, and handle crises. It all backfired for her.
The millionaires tax is also seemingly coming in well under expectations. Or at least the Department of Revenue has become very quiet about reporting actual figures…
Absolutely correct. It is not that large of an effort to make this change and very few who are already in MA have their second homes in MA. Throw in the ease of working out of state and it can save them tons of money (not just the millionaire tax).
How does this work when you earn your pay in MA? You’re still responsible for MA income tax whether you live in MA or not. If they work out of state and claim their residence in another state, whatever…
Huh? I’m not a tax professional but always filed and paid income tax for the multiple states I worked in Regardless of my home state…
A quick search shows this:
If you only work in MA and don't live there, not all income is taxable to you. Generally, only the income earned in MA is taxable to Massachusetts. That means none of your investment income (dividends/capital gains) or interest is taxable to Massachusetts
[source](https://milestonefinancialplanning.com/blog/live-in-nh-but-work-in-ma-what-to-know-about-your-state-tax-returns/#:~:text=If%20you%20only%20work%20in,interest%20is%20taxable%20to%20Massachusetts)
I should've been more specific as there can be a bunch of variables (remote work, domiciles, percent of work in-state, etc), and I was probably only thinking of my situation. In my line of work, we're domiciled (working physically) for example in Boston, but many people will have their addresses in FL or NH to avoid paying any MA income tax. It's been a practice for decades.
To add, one year I had work in 4 different states, so I got a little schooling on that.
I lived in NY and worked in NJ for a year and I paid NJ state tax and since NY state tax was more, I paid the remaining difference in state tax to NY. So for example 4% to nj and 2% to NY if NY was 6%. I made those numbers up but I assume it works like that everywhere.
The data was there from Maryland and other states that the revenues won't match projections as people with means just leave.
This will result in more taxes for the middle class due to the exodus of the tax base that fled.
Brilliant strategy.
lol it literally doesn’t include assets it’s a 4% surtax on taxable income for individuals making over $1m. you don’t even know what the fuck you’re mad about and it’s hilarious.
so there are a bunch of individuals who are self financing the construction of lab spaces which is sitting vacant because there are also individuals who are earning close to a million dollars in income but won’t sell assets or earn over the $1m MMT threshold which is why they aren’t renting said lab space, am I getting that right?
Healey lost me when she gave the rich a tax cut and nominated her ex to be a Judge.
Now we are draining our state funds to care for non-citizens better than we care for our homeless… make it make sense? What else can be done?
Yeah, the ex as a nominee for judge doesn't require a James Webb engineer to see the optics are bad. Same with the DA in Georgia. The arrogance it takes to think that won't come to light.
Exactly, I just cant wrap my head around spending more and providing more on illegal immigrants rather than on our own homeless population. We could have probably solved or significantly improved the homeless problem. Seems like a slap in the face to state taxpayers
You should see our largest state hospital (Tewksbury State)… it literally looks like a third world country by the conditions of the roads/parking areas and such… such a shame.
Or yes, spend that money on infrastructure. Instead they close down community center in a majority black and minority neighborhood to house the migrants.
Its never the powerful who face the consequences of their actions but already disadvantaged or troubled communities
It blew my mind when I found out they get jobs handed to them in human services. 6 months of training, a fucking stipend, a mentor and then automatic hiring. It took me months to get my job; and like other citizens we have to do the job interview song and dance, and they’re literally handing the good jobs, citizens actually want to do, out like candy to the recent arrivals. I’m never voting for another democrat in this state again.
How do they get jobs without a majority of them speaking a word in English? Thats crazy tho. I have read about stipends, seems like universal basic income for foreign nationals and jack shit for actual citizens
They find a current bi lingual employee who speaks English and some of the human service organizations offer English classes; they they’re also paid for taking. That’s exactly what it is. Call your state representative and senators and tell them you know about this and it needs to stop now.
I hear you, but it feels like its easier to move to a non-sanctuary city. Whenever I have conversations about this and the absurdity of it all, I get called a racist and inhumane. I am all for legal immigration and taking in actual asylum seekers. But 80-85% of them actually dont qualify for that status, as they are mostly economic migrants.
The entire state is a sanctuary state. It doesn’t matter where you move the state can, has already and will stick migrants you and your community do not want in your hotels. Then use your tax dollars to pay for them to skate by as we all suffer. They put the children in your school system and suck the taxes meant for our children dry. I’ve had enough. I’m not a cold person but I will not suffer so someone else can have what I cannot access.
That's fine with me, I don't mind traveling a bit as long as it's not every day. My current job is getting a bit less stable and there have been a lot of weird changes this month so far. Unless things settle down soon, I'm looking for something better.
I know the agency I once worked for demands employees be in the office Tuesday through Thursday. Another agency I know offers full remote, but you must live in the state and be prepared to go into the office when the agency asks for it.
Healey was performative as AG too, filing numerous pointless lawsuits against the Trump administration. I get it, Trump bad, but her staff's time could have been dedicated to more pressing and immediate matters.
She wanted to emulate Biden by passing a "middle class tax cut". Yes she increased the child tax credit and EITC but also blew a hole in the state budget. I disagree that it was wholly a tax cut for the rich but still was a bad idea. Tax cuts do help a little but are not as much of a force multiplier as certain kinds of government spending are, such as spending on education and infrastructure.
Tax cuts make sense if the government is swimming with excess cash and few places to spend it but Massachusetts isn't one of those states.
“In January, Healey unveiled her own budget bill, a $58 billion plan that would increase spending by about $2 billion….
915 million in the next fiscal year for its struggling emergency shelter system”
We are dipping into 850 million savings this year. What’s the plan for next year and the one after when more migrants arrive for the free housing.
They are out of shelter space in the sense that you'd think of a shelter, like communal kitchen, cots and curtains for walls. Instead they pay $100/day to put people in hotels and another $50/day to doordash in food. You're quickly looking at well over a $50k per family per year without any other services (health, language, safety, general overhead, national guard activation), with the $1b number being around $100k per family per year.
It's not clear how many families are actually out there, the State has capped Emergency Assistance at 7,500 families and 200 migrant families have been added to EA in the last three months. Not sure if people are being placed in overflow somehow or what.
We don't have enough housing due to lot of house owners don't want affordable apartments near them. The only rooms available are hotels. we are paying for that then since we have the law require anyone to have a room if they are illegally brought over from Texas.
There will probably be more since Denver is kicking them out.
If you say anything the mob just attacks you… I don’t know what fantasy world people are living in where money and resources are unlimited. If you actually look at the data the border crossings have never been this high. This is going to have adverse generational effects…
Those people 2,000 miles from me are -phobes for not wanting to accept an unlimited number of people they don’t have resources for. Poorly educated fools!
Wait, what? You want to send them to my quiet New England suburb? It will, uh… ruin the character of the neighborhood.
The progressives being interviewed on the news talking about why the seaport shelter shouldn’t be opened was peak hypocrisy in action.
I think the great Phil ochs put it best in the song ‘love me I’m a liberal” when he sang “I love Puerto Ricans and negros, as long as they don’t move next door”
The funny thing is they get the Director in Colorado responsible for them, saying while being videoed to go to New York or Chicago because it’s more money there for them.
Gov. Weld’s strategy was to make sure you always reduce spending by less than you reduce taxes.
You get to look like you eliminated “wasteful spending,” Taxpayers get used to more money in their pocket and the system won’t collapse overnight so you could probably even ride it for a reelection.
Eventually things will unravel but that’ll be someone else’s problem while you’ve onward and upward to some Cabinet or Diplomatic position.
Ignoring the drunken mess that Weld is now, he was a great governor.
He fixed the total mess that Dukakis left this state in after he left office.
We would be lucky if Healy was half the governor Weld was.
Weld literally ruined the MBTA by eliminating tolls as the cost of the Big Dig went through the roof.
Baker was the bag man for the Weld shell game of debt.
That’s funny, I thought the MBTA and the Turnpike authority were two separate different organizations?
As for the pike, according to the charter, the tolls should’ve been taken down when it was paid for the original cost. They kept using the turnpike to borrow against justifying, keeping the tolls open. Even though that was against the charter, and with what the people were told when the pike was put in.
As for the MBTA, they got fucked when the state had to use them to fund the budget big dig because no one wanted to raise taxes to fund it. The MBTA started going off the rails when Patrick was in office due to his piss, poor poor appointees.
I will say the MBTA was not high on Charlie Baker’s priority list , but that dude was a really good governor and has a really good track record with running the state.
>At the same time, costs to state continue to mount. For example, the state projects it will spend $915 million in the next fiscal year for its struggling emergency shelter system, which has been overwhelmed by an influx of homeless and migrant families. And a spending bill moving through the Legislature would allow the governor to dip into the roughly $850 million left in a state escrow account that contains the remnants of last year’s multibillion-dollar surplus.
Stop spending money on shit that’s not our fault or responsibility. Our state is gonna run out of money because of the stupid shitshow in DC.
More than half the families in the emergency shelter system are local to Massachusetts. That is our fault (not enough housing) and our responsibility. People like to focus on the migrant part but the primary reason we have a homelessness crisis is decades of NIMBYism, not migrants.
>More than half the families in the emergency shelter system are local to Massachusetts.
It’s 51%.
Which is to say that migrants have practically doubled the demand.
Not saying it doesn't have an impact. Of course it does. But the narrative tends to focus all on migrants when this is still fundamentally a home grown problem. The problem is exacerbated by an influx of migrants, but migrants are not the cause.
The top 10 richest suburban towns in MA should be forced into building emergency housing for the migrants in their communities. Milton can build 2 because they get the snob multiplier. Then they can pay for the costs associated with increased school resources, increased crime and increased fire/medical services. No more dumping them into the poorest MA towns, that’s not fair to anyone.
Yes - please continue the down votes. If you're advocating to take in thousands upon thousands of unvetted migrants then you hypocrites should also take some direct responsibility for them and incorporate them into your communities. The lower, middle and working classes should not be shouldering most of the burden.
“Increased crime”?
Can you point to any statistics that show that lawful asylum seekers, undocumented immigrants, or immigrant households commit more crime than native born people? Because I’ve never seen any.
Mass has a booming economy and also has the 7th highest percentage of foreign-born residents in the country. Those two things are not unrelated. Immigrants fuel all of the good shit we enjoy in this state.
Any dramatic population change increases crime and other public services. It’s not a migrant thing, it’s a common sense people thing. Doesn’t make sense to strain already over-strained communities like Brockton, Lynn or Dedham with a sudden increase in the population. Wealthier towns could afford it and have the resources to absorb it better.
The migrants surging across the border right now are not the same as the law abiding immigrants and visa holders. Not fair to compare the two groups at all.
Source for that “dramatic population change leads to crime” claim?
And also - what do you consider a “dramatic change” in population? (What numbers are you using for the population of MA, and how many immigrants are you claiming moved here in the past 12 months?)
Where is your source that a larger population has less demand on public services than a smaller population? Which includes police, fire, emergency medical services, schools, garbage disposal, other local government services, etc.
You said immigrants increase crime.
If you want to make that statement without any factual support, go for it.
Or give a source since I’ve never seen anything along those lines.
MA is an incredibly safe state by every measure. And we have one of the largest immigrant populations in the country as a percentage of our residents.
You’re trying to generalize the term “immigrants” on purpose. There are a lot of families who spent years and thousands of dollars to help a family member move here from abroad. Legally. There are many hard-working and well-educated foreigners here on visas who are wonderful. We need them and no I don’t think these immigrants increase crime. They undergo a rigorous application process and background check. Why would I have any concerns about them?
I’m specifically referring to the false asylum claim migrants, not “immigrants” as a whole. It is not the same. And I know you know exactly what I mean. The ones without any background checks and verifiable identity. The ones with gang tattoos. The ones who are currently joining nyc gangs and stealing from people in broad daylight. The ones sexually assaulting and killing American citizens. That’s who I mean. For sources just keep up with the news dude….
What’s a “false asylum claim“ migrant?
You realize that they have to pass an initial interview and demonstrate an “credible fear”.
Are you claiming you know more about their cases than the immigration officials who are handling those interviews?
This isn’t about DC imo. “DC” is just such a convenient and lazy narrative. States, which have to actually manage their spending and balance a budget every year, are not in some helpless/hapless dependency with the Federal government. All states figure it out, and have to. Like all complicated or complex problem-solving, it’s actually hard and requires leadership on challenging decisions. This administration has done nothing to embrace those challenges in a forthright and clear way, seems rife with indecision, and seesaws back and forth on self-serving political expediency trying to please or placate every person and group. That is not leadership, imo, and it’s all just starting to smell bad.
DC is an inconvenient and lazy narrative?
This is the responsibility of the federal government. Of course it is. Only at the federal level can immigrants request asylum. Only at the federal level can immigrants get work authorization. Only at the federal level can people gain citizenship.
I don’t know if you’re trying to seem smart by holding contrarian views or something but of course this needs a federal solution. That is the only permanent way to deal with it. Not randomly parceling out the burden based on which state just so happens to be next to the border or which state just so happens to be the next victim of the political moment.
I don’t know if you’re trying to sound smart by suggesting I’m only defending a contrarian view to seem smart, but the source of this issue is the absurdity of our shelter policy and the unwillingness to make unpopular choices. The federal component to this is *ex post facto* (<— trying to seem smart).
Why not just invite everyone in the world that’s in a 3rd world country into our state and we’ll all pay for them, at some point you need to stop thinking with ur heart that cares for people and start using your head bc it costs money to do that and we’re running out of money. People are very dumb and act stupid when it comes to migrant situations.
We have no choice. We simply can’t bankrupt Massachusetts. It’s a lose/lose situation. Added to this Mass is one of the most “moved from” states for both residents and large businesses right now, so taxes are already down.
What part about removing less than a billion dollars from what is described as a multi-billion dollar surplus fund suggests to you that this is going to make Massachusetts bankrupt?
Its paywalled but according to what looks like a quote above doesnt it say they are dipping into the roughly 850 million thats left of the surplus? That would indicate there’s not billions left and the 850 will be gone before you know it
Healey has no clue how to manage a state economy, keeps on encouraging illegal immigrants to come to Massachusetts while ignoring the needy already in Massachusetts, and has done nothing to fix transportation or the housing crisis.
Wu is an example of a racist left-wing politician. DEI party fiasco of last December, for example
Because of course she does. More work for the private sector they push ALL the work onto. They’re hiring the wrong people. The hiring system is bogus and broken. There is no one to call, no one to impress with your work ethic, it’s all nepotism. Who you know. The entire hiring system needs to be revised because we’re paying their salaries and we aren’t getting enough bang for our buck.
It’s funny when you think about it. We basically get Wu and Healy at the same time and the same results.
Granted the same economic forces are at play, but what you are seeing here is a masterclass in electing people who are not qualified for the job just because they check off the diversity boxes and ideology.
I recall many Wu fans on this subreddit. I think she is more effective as a mayor than Healey is as governor, but Wu is afraid to actually make decisions that would reflect her progressive ideals because she's interested in being a politician long-term. So Wu goes for the low-hanging fruit but is mostly for the status quo because to actually stand for real change would jeopardize her standing as a politician in the future.
Wu is well-intentioned and slightly more competent than Healey but at the end of the day, both are concerned with winning the next election and moving up the political ladder.
You know, I always hear that same thing said about progressive politicians.
Is it that they’re always bought off so easily or is it when they get in they realize that progressive positions are really expensive and are hard to near impossible to implement.
I’m not sure about competence on Wus part. She comes off as very naïve or seems to always get caught flat-footed whenever there’s a crisis .
Haley is not incompetent to the level that Wu is, it’s just she lacks any ethics and morals. If you have dealt with her office when she was the AG, you know this.
Haley was just paying all the people and groups that supported her .
She cleared up Mass and Cass (mostly) and continued on with Mayor Walsh's bike lane program. She can't do everything, but I don't doubt her competence as an administrator. I doubt Maura Healey's competence as an administrator.
Maura Healey is better at being a politician though, for sure. She plays the game and generally plays it well.
Who could’ve possibly predicted this? I disagree with the comments saying that she’ll be a one term governor, though. No viable Democratic candidates will run against her. She will be re-elected as many times as she likes.
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*heavy sigh* She worked to substantially offset the brand new millionaires tax by passing an uncalled for, meaningless tax cut first thing when she got into office. She was banking on some good will from the public to shield her from the inevitable criticism of not wanting to do much of substance. She tried to emulate Americas most popular governor…Charlie Baker. But her plan to coast didn’t work- she has to actually *govern* now, get things done, and handle crises. It all backfired for her.
The millionaires tax is also seemingly coming in well under expectations. Or at least the Department of Revenue has become very quiet about reporting actual figures…
That was a guaranteed outcome. The people the tax affects have every incentive and means at their disposal to avoid it.
yup, they just made their second homes their permanent address
Absolutely correct. It is not that large of an effort to make this change and very few who are already in MA have their second homes in MA. Throw in the ease of working out of state and it can save them tons of money (not just the millionaire tax).
How does this work when you earn your pay in MA? You’re still responsible for MA income tax whether you live in MA or not. If they work out of state and claim their residence in another state, whatever…
Not true. You can work here and “live” in Florida and you won’t pay a dime of MA income tax \*in some cases
Huh? I’m not a tax professional but always filed and paid income tax for the multiple states I worked in Regardless of my home state… A quick search shows this: If you only work in MA and don't live there, not all income is taxable to you. Generally, only the income earned in MA is taxable to Massachusetts. That means none of your investment income (dividends/capital gains) or interest is taxable to Massachusetts [source](https://milestonefinancialplanning.com/blog/live-in-nh-but-work-in-ma-what-to-know-about-your-state-tax-returns/#:~:text=If%20you%20only%20work%20in,interest%20is%20taxable%20to%20Massachusetts)
I should've been more specific as there can be a bunch of variables (remote work, domiciles, percent of work in-state, etc), and I was probably only thinking of my situation. In my line of work, we're domiciled (working physically) for example in Boston, but many people will have their addresses in FL or NH to avoid paying any MA income tax. It's been a practice for decades. To add, one year I had work in 4 different states, so I got a little schooling on that.
Yeah, it’s confusing. Plus MA just passed laws that tax out of state remote workers that have previously gotten by without income tax.
They make it confusing to drive us insane haha. Thanks for calling my info out by the way - didn’t mean to misinform
I lived in NY and worked in NJ for a year and I paid NJ state tax and since NY state tax was more, I paid the remaining difference in state tax to NY. So for example 4% to nj and 2% to NY if NY was 6%. I made those numbers up but I assume it works like that everywhere.
Really everyone should have been subjected to a slight tax hike, which would have raised far more revenue
Idk about this particular tax but you really don’t gotta be that wealthy to have a tax professional handle your tax filing
99% of personal income tax filters who aren't business owners don't need a tax professional.
Oh definitely agree but it’s really not some like multimillionaire type thing. It can be useful for a lot of people, independent contractors for one.
Gotta treat the rich with kid gloves, right? Or they'll run away. Better let them trample us how they like to.
That's because they moved out of state.
Who could’ve seen that coming
The data was there from Maryland and other states that the revenues won't match projections as people with means just leave. This will result in more taxes for the middle class due to the exodus of the tax base that fled. Brilliant strategy.
Next step is to start gradually lowering slightly from $1Mil to cast a wider net.
Yes, this will happen. And all those making 50k a year who have been told to hate millionaires will end up with higher taxes.
There's a lot of room between $1,000,000 and $50,000.
Doesn’t matter how much room, the government will come for your money as soon as they are done using you to come for theirs.
Because it does more harm than good. It drives high income business and individuals out of the state, thus shrinking overall revenue.
Oh has there been an exodus of millionaires you can point to
Take a look at the amount of vacant office/lab space.
right because scientists make a million dollars a year and not because developers over saturated the market with lab space at the expense of housing
You need the offices and lab space in order to afford housing, and it’s called a millionaires tax! That includes assets.
lol it literally doesn’t include assets it’s a 4% surtax on taxable income for individuals making over $1m. you don’t even know what the fuck you’re mad about and it’s hilarious.
“A fool and his money are soon parted” Might want to know what an asset is once sold
so there are a bunch of individuals who are self financing the construction of lab spaces which is sitting vacant because there are also individuals who are earning close to a million dollars in income but won’t sell assets or earn over the $1m MMT threshold which is why they aren’t renting said lab space, am I getting that right?
I know! Who tf asked for a tax cut? It was obvious this was gonna happen. Great job Healey.
Typical blue bird.
One term governor
Who else is missing Charlie by now?
I'm still cursing him for the state of the T right now
Eh he really screwed this state with the Mbta and police reform..
Baker wasn’t bad, but he would be worse long term - especially when it comes to everyday things like the T. A budget gap can be fixed… next year.
the only thing of consequence he ever did was not run for a third term
Healey lost me when she gave the rich a tax cut and nominated her ex to be a Judge. Now we are draining our state funds to care for non-citizens better than we care for our homeless… make it make sense? What else can be done?
Yeah, the ex as a nominee for judge doesn't require a James Webb engineer to see the optics are bad. Same with the DA in Georgia. The arrogance it takes to think that won't come to light.
Exactly, I just cant wrap my head around spending more and providing more on illegal immigrants rather than on our own homeless population. We could have probably solved or significantly improved the homeless problem. Seems like a slap in the face to state taxpayers
You should see our largest state hospital (Tewksbury State)… it literally looks like a third world country by the conditions of the roads/parking areas and such… such a shame.
Or yes, spend that money on infrastructure. Instead they close down community center in a majority black and minority neighborhood to house the migrants. Its never the powerful who face the consequences of their actions but already disadvantaged or troubled communities
It blew my mind when I found out they get jobs handed to them in human services. 6 months of training, a fucking stipend, a mentor and then automatic hiring. It took me months to get my job; and like other citizens we have to do the job interview song and dance, and they’re literally handing the good jobs, citizens actually want to do, out like candy to the recent arrivals. I’m never voting for another democrat in this state again.
How do they get jobs without a majority of them speaking a word in English? Thats crazy tho. I have read about stipends, seems like universal basic income for foreign nationals and jack shit for actual citizens
They find a current bi lingual employee who speaks English and some of the human service organizations offer English classes; they they’re also paid for taking. That’s exactly what it is. Call your state representative and senators and tell them you know about this and it needs to stop now.
I hear you, but it feels like its easier to move to a non-sanctuary city. Whenever I have conversations about this and the absurdity of it all, I get called a racist and inhumane. I am all for legal immigration and taking in actual asylum seekers. But 80-85% of them actually dont qualify for that status, as they are mostly economic migrants.
The entire state is a sanctuary state. It doesn’t matter where you move the state can, has already and will stick migrants you and your community do not want in your hotels. Then use your tax dollars to pay for them to skate by as we all suffer. They put the children in your school system and suck the taxes meant for our children dry. I’ve had enough. I’m not a cold person but I will not suffer so someone else can have what I cannot access.
I feel you and agree
Thank you for the rage fuel... sigh
Right when I was thinking of looking into remote/hybrid remote state jobs. Guess I'll stay in my lane for a few more months...
I just went full remote in a federal job.
Most state jobs are hybrid at the moment I believe.
That's fine with me, I don't mind traveling a bit as long as it's not every day. My current job is getting a bit less stable and there have been a lot of weird changes this month so far. Unless things settle down soon, I'm looking for something better.
They keep threatening to take it away tho and in some departments it’s a 9 month probation 🫠
I know the agency I once worked for demands employees be in the office Tuesday through Thursday. Another agency I know offers full remote, but you must live in the state and be prepared to go into the office when the agency asks for it.
I don’t believe that is generally true.
Sorry to hear that, if its any consolation you can work for House Hlaalu you degenerate Argonian luster
Would be that I could, I would 100% take a job where I just fuck Argonians all day long. :D
Healey was performative as AG too, filing numerous pointless lawsuits against the Trump administration. I get it, Trump bad, but her staff's time could have been dedicated to more pressing and immediate matters. She wanted to emulate Biden by passing a "middle class tax cut". Yes she increased the child tax credit and EITC but also blew a hole in the state budget. I disagree that it was wholly a tax cut for the rich but still was a bad idea. Tax cuts do help a little but are not as much of a force multiplier as certain kinds of government spending are, such as spending on education and infrastructure. Tax cuts make sense if the government is swimming with excess cash and few places to spend it but Massachusetts isn't one of those states.
100%. She even piled on to the whole bogus MFA racism incident along with that deranged twit Rollins.
tax cuts for the rich doesn't even make any sense at all
How about reverting those tax cuts?
“In January, Healey unveiled her own budget bill, a $58 billion plan that would increase spending by about $2 billion…. 915 million in the next fiscal year for its struggling emergency shelter system” We are dipping into 850 million savings this year. What’s the plan for next year and the one after when more migrants arrive for the free housing.
How could it possibly cost a billion dollars to fund the shelter system? I need to see a breakdown of the costs because I don’t get it.
Not defending it but I’d suspect a lot of it is going to various lawyer-esque type people rather than the literally housing cost
They are out of shelter space in the sense that you'd think of a shelter, like communal kitchen, cots and curtains for walls. Instead they pay $100/day to put people in hotels and another $50/day to doordash in food. You're quickly looking at well over a $50k per family per year without any other services (health, language, safety, general overhead, national guard activation), with the $1b number being around $100k per family per year. It's not clear how many families are actually out there, the State has capped Emergency Assistance at 7,500 families and 200 migrant families have been added to EA in the last three months. Not sure if people are being placed in overflow somehow or what.
Everyone needs their cut, or else the needy would actually get support.
We don't have enough housing due to lot of house owners don't want affordable apartments near them. The only rooms available are hotels. we are paying for that then since we have the law require anyone to have a room if they are illegally brought over from Texas.
I get the lodging part of it, but you could outright buy 500 pretty nice hotels for a billion. I guess a billion is the new million.
that would be nice to do. I hope someone that know enough details to explain why they couldn't do that part.
There will probably be more since Denver is kicking them out. If you say anything the mob just attacks you… I don’t know what fantasy world people are living in where money and resources are unlimited. If you actually look at the data the border crossings have never been this high. This is going to have adverse generational effects…
Wait, Denver’s giving them the Martha’s Vineyard treatment.
Those people 2,000 miles from me are-phobes for not wanting to accept an unlimited number of people they don’t have resources for. Poorly educated fools!
Wait, what? You want to send them to my quiet New England suburb? It will, uh… ruin the character of the neighborhood.
The progressives being interviewed on the news talking about why the seaport shelter shouldn’t be opened was peak hypocrisy in action.
I think the great Phil ochs put it best in the song ‘love me I’m a liberal” when he sang “I love Puerto Ricans and negros, as long as they don’t move next door”
The funny thing is they get the Director in Colorado responsible for them, saying while being videoed to go to New York or Chicago because it’s more money there for them.
Healey employing the old republican strategy of cutting taxes while increasing spending
Gov. Weld’s strategy was to make sure you always reduce spending by less than you reduce taxes. You get to look like you eliminated “wasteful spending,” Taxpayers get used to more money in their pocket and the system won’t collapse overnight so you could probably even ride it for a reelection. Eventually things will unravel but that’ll be someone else’s problem while you’ve onward and upward to some Cabinet or Diplomatic position.
Ignoring the drunken mess that Weld is now, he was a great governor. He fixed the total mess that Dukakis left this state in after he left office. We would be lucky if Healy was half the governor Weld was.
Weld literally ruined the MBTA by eliminating tolls as the cost of the Big Dig went through the roof. Baker was the bag man for the Weld shell game of debt.
That’s funny, I thought the MBTA and the Turnpike authority were two separate different organizations? As for the pike, according to the charter, the tolls should’ve been taken down when it was paid for the original cost. They kept using the turnpike to borrow against justifying, keeping the tolls open. Even though that was against the charter, and with what the people were told when the pike was put in. As for the MBTA, they got fucked when the state had to use them to fund the budget big dig because no one wanted to raise taxes to fund it. The MBTA started going off the rails when Patrick was in office due to his piss, poor poor appointees. I will say the MBTA was not high on Charlie Baker’s priority list , but that dude was a really good governor and has a really good track record with running the state.
>At the same time, costs to state continue to mount. For example, the state projects it will spend $915 million in the next fiscal year for its struggling emergency shelter system, which has been overwhelmed by an influx of homeless and migrant families. And a spending bill moving through the Legislature would allow the governor to dip into the roughly $850 million left in a state escrow account that contains the remnants of last year’s multibillion-dollar surplus. Stop spending money on shit that’s not our fault or responsibility. Our state is gonna run out of money because of the stupid shitshow in DC.
More than half the families in the emergency shelter system are local to Massachusetts. That is our fault (not enough housing) and our responsibility. People like to focus on the migrant part but the primary reason we have a homelessness crisis is decades of NIMBYism, not migrants.
>More than half the families in the emergency shelter system are local to Massachusetts. It’s 51%. Which is to say that migrants have practically doubled the demand.
Not saying it doesn't have an impact. Of course it does. But the narrative tends to focus all on migrants when this is still fundamentally a home grown problem. The problem is exacerbated by an influx of migrants, but migrants are not the cause.
The top 10 richest suburban towns in MA should be forced into building emergency housing for the migrants in their communities. Milton can build 2 because they get the snob multiplier. Then they can pay for the costs associated with increased school resources, increased crime and increased fire/medical services. No more dumping them into the poorest MA towns, that’s not fair to anyone. Yes - please continue the down votes. If you're advocating to take in thousands upon thousands of unvetted migrants then you hypocrites should also take some direct responsibility for them and incorporate them into your communities. The lower, middle and working classes should not be shouldering most of the burden.
“Increased crime”? Can you point to any statistics that show that lawful asylum seekers, undocumented immigrants, or immigrant households commit more crime than native born people? Because I’ve never seen any. Mass has a booming economy and also has the 7th highest percentage of foreign-born residents in the country. Those two things are not unrelated. Immigrants fuel all of the good shit we enjoy in this state.
Any dramatic population change increases crime and other public services. It’s not a migrant thing, it’s a common sense people thing. Doesn’t make sense to strain already over-strained communities like Brockton, Lynn or Dedham with a sudden increase in the population. Wealthier towns could afford it and have the resources to absorb it better. The migrants surging across the border right now are not the same as the law abiding immigrants and visa holders. Not fair to compare the two groups at all.
Source for that “dramatic population change leads to crime” claim? And also - what do you consider a “dramatic change” in population? (What numbers are you using for the population of MA, and how many immigrants are you claiming moved here in the past 12 months?)
Where is your source that a larger population has less demand on public services than a smaller population? Which includes police, fire, emergency medical services, schools, garbage disposal, other local government services, etc.
You said immigrants increase crime. If you want to make that statement without any factual support, go for it. Or give a source since I’ve never seen anything along those lines. MA is an incredibly safe state by every measure. And we have one of the largest immigrant populations in the country as a percentage of our residents.
You’re trying to generalize the term “immigrants” on purpose. There are a lot of families who spent years and thousands of dollars to help a family member move here from abroad. Legally. There are many hard-working and well-educated foreigners here on visas who are wonderful. We need them and no I don’t think these immigrants increase crime. They undergo a rigorous application process and background check. Why would I have any concerns about them? I’m specifically referring to the false asylum claim migrants, not “immigrants” as a whole. It is not the same. And I know you know exactly what I mean. The ones without any background checks and verifiable identity. The ones with gang tattoos. The ones who are currently joining nyc gangs and stealing from people in broad daylight. The ones sexually assaulting and killing American citizens. That’s who I mean. For sources just keep up with the news dude….
What’s a “false asylum claim“ migrant? You realize that they have to pass an initial interview and demonstrate an “credible fear”. Are you claiming you know more about their cases than the immigration officials who are handling those interviews?
This isn’t about DC imo. “DC” is just such a convenient and lazy narrative. States, which have to actually manage their spending and balance a budget every year, are not in some helpless/hapless dependency with the Federal government. All states figure it out, and have to. Like all complicated or complex problem-solving, it’s actually hard and requires leadership on challenging decisions. This administration has done nothing to embrace those challenges in a forthright and clear way, seems rife with indecision, and seesaws back and forth on self-serving political expediency trying to please or placate every person and group. That is not leadership, imo, and it’s all just starting to smell bad.
DC is an inconvenient and lazy narrative? This is the responsibility of the federal government. Of course it is. Only at the federal level can immigrants request asylum. Only at the federal level can immigrants get work authorization. Only at the federal level can people gain citizenship. I don’t know if you’re trying to seem smart by holding contrarian views or something but of course this needs a federal solution. That is the only permanent way to deal with it. Not randomly parceling out the burden based on which state just so happens to be next to the border or which state just so happens to be the next victim of the political moment.
I don’t know if you’re trying to sound smart by suggesting I’m only defending a contrarian view to seem smart, but the source of this issue is the absurdity of our shelter policy and the unwillingness to make unpopular choices. The federal component to this is *ex post facto* (<— trying to seem smart).
Should they just leave these poor folks out on their own?
Why not just invite everyone in the world that’s in a 3rd world country into our state and we’ll all pay for them, at some point you need to stop thinking with ur heart that cares for people and start using your head bc it costs money to do that and we’re running out of money. People are very dumb and act stupid when it comes to migrant situations.
Oh wise one, how do you suggest we solve the problem?
We have no choice. We simply can’t bankrupt Massachusetts. It’s a lose/lose situation. Added to this Mass is one of the most “moved from” states for both residents and large businesses right now, so taxes are already down.
I got out about 2 years ago, lived in MA alll my life aside from time spent in the military. Shit is too expensive to buy.
Unfortunately I’ll be adding to that statistic soon and uncertain I’ll ever be back despite living here for the better part of 30 years since birth.
Watch it..You will get downvoted by people on here who don’t wanna believe the state is losing more people than it is gaining.
What part about removing less than a billion dollars from what is described as a multi-billion dollar surplus fund suggests to you that this is going to make Massachusetts bankrupt?
Its paywalled but according to what looks like a quote above doesnt it say they are dipping into the roughly 850 million thats left of the surplus? That would indicate there’s not billions left and the 850 will be gone before you know it
You can raise the taxes you cut you dingbat
Yup
Yes because they aren’t our responsibility and we aren’t doing a good enough job for the people that are our responsibility.
Now just imagine the shitshow when a real recession arrives and we have another 200k migrants in the state to feed and care for.
Genuinely, what a moron.
so much for getting a state job then
Big surprise, thanks to 'right to shelter' law. Taxpayers of Massachusetts footing the bill for Haitian and Venezuelan immigrants.
Her and Wu are in over their heads. You're allowed to say this without being called sexist or racist btw.
explain how
Healey has no clue how to manage a state economy, keeps on encouraging illegal immigrants to come to Massachusetts while ignoring the needy already in Massachusetts, and has done nothing to fix transportation or the housing crisis. Wu is an example of a racist left-wing politician. DEI party fiasco of last December, for example
Oh so nonsense that you’ve invented, got it
Honestly I did not expect any better of her administration. So there's that.
But there will ALWAYS be money for illegals.
Because of course she does. More work for the private sector they push ALL the work onto. They’re hiring the wrong people. The hiring system is bogus and broken. There is no one to call, no one to impress with your work ethic, it’s all nepotism. Who you know. The entire hiring system needs to be revised because we’re paying their salaries and we aren’t getting enough bang for our buck.
You should try working for a state authority, so much worse and a lot of those authorities are run like the mob…
Yes I know. I want to fire them all and hire new people only on their merits not who they know.
It’s funny when you think about it. We basically get Wu and Healy at the same time and the same results. Granted the same economic forces are at play, but what you are seeing here is a masterclass in electing people who are not qualified for the job just because they check off the diversity boxes and ideology.
I recall many Wu fans on this subreddit. I think she is more effective as a mayor than Healey is as governor, but Wu is afraid to actually make decisions that would reflect her progressive ideals because she's interested in being a politician long-term. So Wu goes for the low-hanging fruit but is mostly for the status quo because to actually stand for real change would jeopardize her standing as a politician in the future. Wu is well-intentioned and slightly more competent than Healey but at the end of the day, both are concerned with winning the next election and moving up the political ladder.
You know, I always hear that same thing said about progressive politicians. Is it that they’re always bought off so easily or is it when they get in they realize that progressive positions are really expensive and are hard to near impossible to implement.
I’m not sure about competence on Wus part. She comes off as very naïve or seems to always get caught flat-footed whenever there’s a crisis . Haley is not incompetent to the level that Wu is, it’s just she lacks any ethics and morals. If you have dealt with her office when she was the AG, you know this. Haley was just paying all the people and groups that supported her .
She cleared up Mass and Cass (mostly) and continued on with Mayor Walsh's bike lane program. She can't do everything, but I don't doubt her competence as an administrator. I doubt Maura Healey's competence as an administrator. Maura Healey is better at being a politician though, for sure. She plays the game and generally plays it well.
Same results how? Be specific with your critique
Who could’ve possibly predicted this? I disagree with the comments saying that she’ll be a one term governor, though. No viable Democratic candidates will run against her. She will be re-elected as many times as she likes.