Massachusetts residents will not be getting income tax rebate checks this year, State Auditor Diana DiZoglio announced Wednesday.
The auditor’s office conducted a review of net tax revenues and allowable state tax revenues, in line with a state law known as Chapter 62F, for fiscal year 2023, which ended this past June 30. The auditor’s review found that the state collected $36.9 billion in tax revenue for the fiscal year. That was about $4.24 billion below the $41.16 billion necessary to trigger income tax rebate checks, according to DiZoglio’s office.
“I am grateful for the work of our audit team alongside the collaboration from the Departments of Revenue and Administration and Finance, as well as the Comptroller’s Office, to help ensure we received accurate and detailed information to assist in completing this review,” Auditor DiZoglio said in a press release her office emailed to NewBostonPost.
About $3 billion went back to taxpayers under Chapter 62F of the Massachusetts General Laws after the Commonwealth took more in taxes in 2021 than a state cap allows. Bay Staters received a rebate check worth about 14 percent of the state income taxes they paid in 2021. Illegal immigrants who filed income taxes in 2021 were among those who received these checks, as NewBostonPost previously reported.
The income-tax-rebate law surprised state legislators when it resurfaced in July 2022 after 35 years of not being a factor in state budgeting. In 1986 the state’s voters approved a referendum capping the amount of tax revenue the state government can collect relative to increases in wages and salaries in the state.
Supporters of the law say it guarantees taxpayers in Massachusetts a much-needed tax cut that voters approved years ago.
Critics of the law argue that it’s wasteful. They say it’s regressive and that the overwhelming majority of the benefits go to the ultrawealthy — and that those people don’t need a new tax cut.
Other than fiscal year 2022, the only other time the law has been triggered came in fiscal year 1987. That time, Bay Staters received $29.22 million back from the state.
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Diana DiZoglio 
