JALSA in Worcester Telegram & Gazette on Protecting Support Services and Strengthening Tax Fairness Through Corporate Fair Share

Full op-ed column, co-authored by Raise Up Massachusetts coalition leaders Dave Foley (president of SEIU Local 509), Shanique Rodriguez (executive director of the Massachusetts Voter Table), and Cindy Rowe (president and CEO of JALSA), at this link.

Opinion/Guest column: Tax big biz to offset 'Big Beautiful Bill'
Dave Foley, Shanique Rodriguez and Cindy RoweWorcester Telegram & Gazette

Weeks after its passage, the devastating impact of President Trump and Congress’ massive tax and spending cut bill on Massachusetts is becoming clearer.

State health officials estimate that 300,000 people could lose their health coverage over the next decade; 230,000 residents will be at risk of losing some or all of their SNAP food benefits. Without state action, hospitals, community health centers and nursing homes could be forced to close their doors. Children, families and seniors will go hungry and postpone needed medical care.

Massive federal cuts to Medicaid funding and SNAP food assistance also threaten to knock a huge hole in the state’s budget. With uninsured patients flooding emergency rooms after delaying needed care and hungry families lining up at food banks, the need for state spending on our commonwealth’s social safety net will be greater than ever. But because Massachusetts must balance its budget, a major increase in state costs, even as federal revenues shrink, will force painful budget decisions.

As Massachusetts prepares to address this catastrophe, it’s important to recognize why these terrible budget cuts are happening: to offset the bill’s enormous tax cuts for the ultrarich and large corporations.

According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the richest 1% of Americans will receive tax cuts totaling $1.02 trillion over the next decade — more than the bill’s $930 billion in cuts to Medicaid over the same period. In Massachusetts, the bill cuts taxes for the state’s richest 1% by $3.36 billion in 2026 alone.

Large multinational corporations made out like bandits as well, receiving hundreds of billions of dollars in new tax breaks over the next 10 years — more than the bill’s $186 billion in SNAP food assistance cuts over the same period. And that’s after they received the largest corporate tax cut in history during the first Trump administration, when Congress permanently cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%.

Taken together, the impact of the legislation on Massachusetts is clear: lower taxes for the ultrawealthy and multinational corporations, and devastating cuts to programs serving Massachusetts children, families and seniors.

Luckily, we aren’t helpless in the face of this federal cruelty. Massachusetts has the wealth to protect our children, families and seniors from the most harmful budget cuts. If our state were a country, we’d be one of the wealthiest nations in the world, trailing only Monaco, Bermuda, Lichtenstein, Norway and Switzerland in per capita income.

And by doing the opposite of Congress, we can preserve access to health care and food for Massachusetts families.

The solution starts with the commonwealth’s $8 billion rainy day fund, established for emergencies just like this, including “to replace the state and local loss of federal funds.” Tapping a reasonable portion of this savings fund — say, 15%, or roughly $1.2 billion — would still leave a large balance for future economic downturns and would allow Massachusetts to protect access to critical public services through 2029, when a new president and Congress could reverse the federal budget cuts.

Of course, relying on one-time reserves can only get you so far. That’s why Massachusetts should raise permanent new revenue by taxing one of the major beneficiaries of recent tax cuts: large multinational corporations that conceal their profits in offshore tax havens to avoid paying their fair share in state taxes.

Right now, billionaire global corporations like Apple, Amazon, McDonald's and Walmart pay the state’s 8% corporate tax rate on a smaller share of their profits than local businesses do. That’s because these large multinational corporations use sophisticated accounting measures to shift the reporting of profits that are earned in Massachusetts and the rest of the United States to low-tax jurisdictions like Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Luxembourg.

Luckily, the federal government has created a system to tax the U.S.-generated profits that large global corporations stash in offshore tax havens. But while Massachusetts has already adopted this provision of the federal tax code, we only apply our state corporate tax rate to one out of every 20 dollars that global corporations shift offshore.

By including just half of multinational corporations’ shifted profits in our state corporate tax calculations, as the federal government and most New England and Mid-Atlantic states already do, Massachusetts can raise over $400 million in new annual revenues — entirely from profitable multinational corporations.

Ensuring that large multinational corporations pay their fair share would also help level the playing field for local businesses that can’t shift their profits overseas. Why should a local hardware store pay more of its profits in taxes than Amazon does?

When faced with the threat of damaging cuts to health care and food assistance, using the rainy day fund and taxing billionaire global tax-dodging corporations are low-hanging fruit. State leaders should pursue these solutions before even beginning to contemplate spending and benefit cuts, or other potential tax increases.

In a state as wealthy as Massachusetts, we don’t have to stand by and let Trump take away our neighbors’ health care and food. We can flip the script and tax wealthy multinational corporations to protect the sick and hungry here at home.

Dave Foley is president of SEIU Local 509. Shanique Rodriguez is executive director of the Massachusetts Voter Table. Cindy Rowe is president and CEO of the Jewish Alliance for Law & Social Action. All are leaders in the Raise Up Massachusetts coalition of community organizations, faith-based groups and labor unions.