Eileen McAnneny, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, predicted a $3.9 billion drop in state tax revenues, which would increase without federal relief. "Even if there is a fiscal aid package, the proposed funding may be insufficient, especially if it's not properly…

MTF President Eileen McAnneny testified last week at the Economic Roundtable convened by budget writers to help them determine the size of the revenue shortfall for FY2021. The state has been operating on an interim budget since the start of the fiscal year on July 1. Last week’s roundtable was…

MTF’s President Eileen McAnneny said, “while our revised tax revenue forecast has improved since MTF’s April projection, the improvement is due largely to unprecedented levels of federal financial assistance.  Numerous headwinds could slow the pace of economic recovery.”  McAnneny noted…

As Bay State officials stare at a $6 billion structural deficit amid plummeting tax revenue, adding this program would be quite difficult, said Eileen McAnneny of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. “The state would be hard-pressed to find that money,” she said, noting the numerous…

In May, the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a nonprofit think tank, said that state tax revenues in the current fiscal year were expected to be $6 billion less than anticipated. In July, the U.S. Department of Labor reported a 10.2% unemployment rate; the unemployment rate…

In Massachusetts, which has the highest unemployment rate in the country at 17.4 percent, the pool of money that funds unemployment benefits has already gone into the red by more than $350 million, said Eileen McAnneny, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. The state is…

"There's really no money for projects," said Eileen McAnneny, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "The Legislature is facing a what we've estimated to be a $6 billion shortfall, and they will be forced to make drastic cuts to existing programs if federal assistance doesn't come…

“I’m not sure what the magic of the three months is,” Eileen McAnneny, president of the Taxpayers Foundation, said of the interim budget. “It provides some of the folks who are getting the money at least some certainty in the short term. But it doesn’t allow for full year planning.”

Any sort of budget debate without knowing the level of help from the federal government would be only a hypothetical exercise, said Eileen McAnneny, president of the taxpayers foundation. And Brooke Thomson, head of government affairs at Associated Industries of Massachusetts, said her group is…

“These lower appropriation levels address the need for continuing government operations while adjusting for lower tax revenue collections, but even this reduced spending could prove to be overly optimistic should federal assistance levels fall short, the economic recovery is delayed or…