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Question 5

Question 5: Limiting State Tax Collection Growth and Returning Surpluses to Taxpayers Initiative

On the ballot

Massachusetts · November 2026 general election · Citizen initiative · Election day November 3, 2026
Topics: Government structure, Taxes and revenue

In plain language

Question 5 would change how Massachusetts calculates the annual cap on state tax collections set by Chapter 62F, the 1986 voter-approved law that requires collections above the cap to be refunded to taxpayers. The cap is now the prior year’s cap increased by the three-year average growth in Massachusetts wages and salaries. Under the measure, the cap would instead start from the tax revenue actually collected in the prior year and grow by that same wage measure. The measure would also count revenue from the 4 percent surtax on income above $1 million, approved by voters in 2022, toward the capped total.

Fiscal impact

No official fiscal note has been issued for this measure yet.

When the state publishes a fiscal analysis, it will appear here and be listed in the sources below.

What supporters and opponents say

These are summaries of arguments made by the named organizations, drawn from the sources listed below. They are their claims, not this site's, and this site takes no position on the measure.

What supporters say

  • Paul Craney, executive director of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, says exclusions in the current law, particularly the carve-out for surtax revenue, mean the cap has been triggered only twice in 40 years, and that the measure restores the taxpayer protection voters approved in 1986.
  • The Massachusetts Opportunity Alliance says that under the revised formula, taxpayers would have received refunds 24 times in the past four decades, amounting to nearly $19 billion.
  • Jim Stergios, executive director of the Pioneer Institute, argues that controlling state spending and returning money to residents is needed to keep people and businesses in Massachusetts.

Attributed to Massachusetts Opportunity Alliance, Massachusetts High Technology Council, Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.

What opponents say

  • Protect Massachusetts’ Future, the committee opposing the measure, says it and a companion income tax cut would strip billions of dollars from schools, hospitals and research and force layoffs of teachers, police officers and firefighters.
  • Phineas Baxandall of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center argues that basing the cap on actual collections creates a ratcheting effect, so any year of slow revenue growth permanently lowers the base for later years.
  • The American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts says the measure would undercut the 2022 surtax by forcing surtax revenue to be refunded during periods of high inflation and unemployment.
  • The Massachusetts Teachers Association, several SEIU locals, the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts and Senate President Karen Spilka (D) oppose the measure.

Attributed to Protect Massachusetts’ Future, Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts.

Official ballot language

The certified ballot text is not yet available for this measure. Once the state certifies it, the verbatim wording will appear here.

Sources

Everything on this page traces to these sources. Follow them to read the original documents.

Last updated . How this page is sourced and corrected is described in the correction policy.