Boston’s commercial landlords can thank the Massachusetts State Senate for saving them from a bigger tax bill.
Mayor Michelle Wu’s proposal to temporarily raise commercial property taxes failed to move forward with the state legislature this week, Bloomberg reported. Senate president Karen Spilka declined to bring the bill up for debate, effectively killing the proposal. It did skate through the state’s House of Representatives twice, only to stall in the Senate.
“I have heard clearly that there currently is not sufficient support for this proposal,” Spilka stated.
“Many in the Senate believe that this proposal tips the scales too far in one direction, with a stalled economic recovery in Boston as an unfortunate potential outcome,” Spilka added.
Wu, who’s made no bones about suggesting residents should blame the state senate when their taxes increase, said the average homeowner will see a 10.5 percent increase in their annual tax bill, compared to the previous fiscal year. Her proposal was set to slash that increase to roughly 5 percent.
The average annual increase for homeowner tax bills in the past five years has been 9 percent. There was initial concern that Boston would need to raise taxes on residents by as much as 30 percent to fill the gaps.
In the spring, Wu pitched a temporary increase of the tax-rate ceiling for commercial properties relative to residential levies. The onus of filling the city’s looming budget shortfall would shift from homeowners to office and other commercial landlords.
The temporary adjustment would’ve been phased in over three years. As it stands, commercial properties in Boston are taxed at a rate of about 2.5 percent, while residences are taxed at 1.1 percent, according to Tufts University’s Center for State Policy Analysis and the Boston Policy Institute.
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