At the request of the House Speaker and House Ways and Means Chair, MTF President Michael Widmer made a presentation for the full House of Representatives on the state's large and growing deficits. ...

As health care costs continue to consume more of the state budget each year, Governor Baker's most recent budget proposal includes several bold policy provisions to curb this trend. This brief summarizes the Administration’s proposal, and highlights...

The MBTA’s fiscal and structural problems are so severe and pervasive that marginal reforms will no longer suffice. The MBTA has reached the end of its line and needs a comprehensive rescue plan before there is any discussion of new revenue.(Governor...

This analysis describes the steps taken by the governor to balance the budget compared to MTF’s initial projection of an $880 million gap between revenue and spending in fiscal 2021. It also describes ten tough choices confronting legislators as they...

The FY 2016 budget has been hampered by a large structural gap that is the result of $1.2 billion in one-time funds used in FY 2015 and $1.5 billion in spending growth for non-discretionary accounts. That $2.7 billion total shortfall is offset by tax...

Appearing before the Joint Committee on Public Service, MTF President Michael J. Widmer testified in support of the Governor's pension reform bill, which would save an estimated $2 billion over the next 30 years by making modest changes in the...

Controlling health care costs is a hugely complicated undertaking. In our collective frustration with the complexity of the challenge, let's not take actions that will only make the problem worse. Arbitrary price controls have a superficial appeal,...

BOSTON – On March 10, 2020, Governor Charlie Baker declared a state of emergency in Massachusetts regarding the Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and has ordered sweeping measures to slow the outbreak. ...

Massachusetts cities and towns have reached nearly $80 million in first-year savings from municipal health care reform and are on pace to exceed by far the initial estimate of $100 million, according to the most recent data compiled by the...

The Governor’s proposed sales tax on computer and data processing and custom software would have very serious ramifications for major sectors of the state’s economy. ...