← Election Series · Down-ballot coverage · Massachusetts
Our call — vote YES
The measure
This is a citizen-initiated law reforming Chapter 62F, the 1986 state revenue limit. It would cap state revenue in a year at the net revenue of the year before, increased by the average growth of Massachusetts wages and salaries over the most recent three years; revenue collected above the limit is refunded to taxpayers the following year. It also counts the surtax on incomes over $1 million toward the limit — revenue the Legislature later excluded from the calculation — closing that loophole.
What YES does
A YES vote tightens the revenue limit, ties government's growth to wage growth, counts the millionaire surtax toward the cap, and makes taxpayer refunds more frequent.
What NO does
A NO vote keeps the current calculation, under which 62F refunds trigger rarely — most recently nearly $3 billion in 2022 — and surtax revenue sits outside the cap.
The math
The Center for State Policy Analysis at Tufts University, as reported in the coverage cited below, projects refunds two to four times as often and two to seven times as much money returned, averaging roughly $200 to $250 per taxpayer per year across refund and non-refund years. The state fiscal office warns the change would squeeze the budget and the rainy day fund.
OUR CALL
Our call: YES.
This is the 1986 voters' own law, repaired. A revenue limit that excludes the state's fastest-growing tax is not a limit, and a limit indexed to wage growth is the honest test: government may grow as fast as the paychecks that fund it, and no faster. The excess already belongs to the taxpayers — 62F just returns it. YES.
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Sources
- Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, 2026 Information for Voters (Red Book) summaries, as reproduced in the League of Women Voters' 2026 ballot-question resources — https://my.lwv.org/massachusetts/concord-carlisle/article/2026-ma-ballot-questions-voter-resources
- All nine Massachusetts ballot questions explained, South Coast 360 — https://southcoast360.com/massachusetts-ballot-questions-voter-guide-overview-oct-21-2026.html
Result pending. No verified call (Associated Press or official) as of November 4, 2026. This page will be updated when the race is called or certified. The original article above is unchanged.
AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.