Mayor Michelle Wu wants to keep from having to tax Boston’s residents more to pay for a shortfall in the city’s budget caused by more people working from home, all by temporarily bumping commercial tax rates — but she’ll need the Massachusetts Legislature’s OK,
Mayor Michelle Wu is sharing details about her proposal to balance Boston's budget and the need to shore up decreasing revenue from commercial property taxes.
Wu's proposal involves a three-year tax increase for commercial properties. She says this is an alternative to increasing residential property taxes.
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"If our residents were to have a sudden shock or increase in housing costs, that would be incredibly disruptive," Wu said.
Evan Horowitz, leader of Tuft University's Center for State Policy Analysis (CPA), says the popularity of work-from-home has weakened commercial property values.
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"Basically, every office building is less valuable than it used to be, which means it generates less tax revenue for the city," Horowitz said.
The City of Boston has relied heavily on property taxes to fund the city in recent years.
"Boston is more reliant on tax from commercial buildings, office buildings, particularly than any other [major] city in the country," Horowitz said.
Wu says that without an increase in commercial property tax revenue, homeowners could face a 30% property tax increase.
But others like Greg Maynard with the Boston Policy Institute argue that the city needs to restructure the budget.
"Boston needs to find new sources of growth, or it needs to be a really public conversation about how the city’s budget is going to change," Maynard said.
But the mayor told Boston's Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday that budget cuts would wipe out critical services.
"Believe me, if I didn't have to ask for this, I would, I would be trying to pursue a different method," Wu said.
It's now up to the Senate whether they will greenlight the proposal.
A spokesperson for Senate President Karen Spilka sent NBC 10 a statement saying, “Today’s meeting was a convening of stakeholders. The Senate President has long believed that, in dealing with complex issues, it is important to get the interested parties together in a room and listen to each other. It is the Senate President’s hope that the City of Boston and the stakeholders continue these conversations going forward."
