Seal of Massachusetts Massachusetts

Massachusetts has a statutory tax limit under MA General Laws Title IX Chapter 62F. in 1986, voters passed an initiative limiting state tax revenue to the growth of state wages and salaries, and any excess had to be refunded to taxpayers. This statute limits the growth of state tax revenues but does not apply to expenditures. This limit does apply to local governments as well so that the state cannot just push government programs onto local government budgets. Because this limit is statutory, the legislature can override the limit by a simple majority vote. Some stricter growth limitations were added in 2002, but these never took effect and were removed in 2012.

 
The base year represents the year the hypothetical Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR) would have been enacted. Selecting a base year changes how the state’s TABOR is calculated because the annual growth rates of inflation and population change depending on when TABOR is enacted.
  • Year Inflation-adjusted Actual Spending Inflation-adjusted TABOR Spending Difference
    1992 21,419,782,170 -- --
    1993 22,622,518,260 -- --
    1994 23,395,793,120 -- --
    1995 25,224,849,350 -- --
    1996 25,957,366,320 -- --
    1997 28,228,222,880 -- --
    1998 28,515,711,680 -- --
    1999 30,141,631,370 -- --
    2000 34,671,307,710 -- --
    2001 38,447,687,000 -- --
    2002 34,033,933,700 -- --
    2003 32,481,099,870 -- --
    2004 29,297,241,260 -- --
    2005 45,242,922,850 -- --
    2006 50,453,251,960 -- --
    2007 52,557,843,270 -- --
    2008 53,721,927,200 -- --
    2009 56,217,850,510 -- --
    2010 49,739,969,450 -- --
    2011 53,125,576,750 -- --
    2012 50,273,092,570 -- --
    2013 56,405,142,250 -- --
    2014 57,833,644,520 -- --
    2015 57,646,115,940 -- --
    2016 49,834,208,690 -- --
    2017 48,070,524,010 -- --
    2018 48,546,878,850 -- --
    2019 50,415,333,470 48,610,564,020 1,804,769,450
    2020 51,413,223,180 49,327,767,130 2,085,456,050
    2021 50,822,838,350 49,288,777,400 1,534,060,950
    2022 51,271,000,000 49,227,785,160 2,043,214,840
*All spending figures are in inflation-adjusted 2022 dollars.
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$7.5 billion
Total Massachusetts taxpayer savings with TABOR implemented in 2018
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$1.5 billion/year
Average annual Massachusetts taxpayer savings with TABOR implemented in 2018
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$1,072
Total savings per capita in Massachusetts with TABOR implemented in 2018
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$214/year
Average annual savings per capita in Massachusetts with TABOR implemented in 2018