Since 2000, Mass Had Twice as Many Tax Hikes as Tax Cuts

On September 3, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell certified a “record breaking” 44 petitions that may reach voters on the 2026 ballot. One – an MOA-inspired measure to reduce the individual income tax rate from 5% to 4% – is breaking the mold in Massachusetts on its own: the last time the state enacted income tax relief was back in 2000.

How have Massachusetts’ various tax rates changed over the last 25 years? We scored the Bay State’s tax hikes and cuts since 2000, and found twice as many tax increases as tax cuts over this timeframe.

Twenty five years of Bay State taxes

According to historical Tax Foundation Facts & Figures state reports, Massachusetts has seen at least 10 tax rate hikes since 2000 that are directly paid by individuals (rather than businesses). This includes the sales tax, various excise tax hikes for gasoline, cigarettes, and the new 9% tax rate on income over $1 million implemented in 2023.

In contrast, the state has seen just 5 individual-facing tax rate cuts over this period, including the original individual income tax cuts passed by voters in 2000 and a 2023 tax package that cut short-term capital gains, some alcoholic beverage excise taxes, and the exemption threshold for the state estate tax. The state has also implemented numerous tax-related changes such as new and amended tax credits and deductions.

This tally is likely conservative: These figures don’t include taxes that have crushed businesses such as corporate income or unemployment insurance taxes, or local collections such as property and meals taxes.

What happened to individual income tax rates after voters passed a cut in 2000?

The measure approved by voters would have reduced the 5.95% rate over three years to 5% by 2003. But in 2002, state lawmakers deferred implementation of the full cut until 2020. As a result, MOA recognizes the implementation of the ballot measure as a single tax cut in this list as approved by voters.

But it hasn’t just been income tax savings since 2000. In 2022, Massachusetts voters approved a ballot measure to create the state’s first-ever graduated income tax system with a new 9% tax rate on income over $1 million, which went into effect the following year.

The state general sales tax rate has jumped 25% since 2000

While the Tax Foundation ranks Massachusetts among the worst overall in the nation for many of its high tax rates, the Bay State ranks 20th best in the nation on sales tax burden. Despite this ranking, Massachusetts taxpayers still saw a 25% increase in the sales tax rate since 2000.

In 2009, Massachusetts lawmakers approved a sales tax hike from 5% to the current rate of 6.25% in an attempt to address a budget deficit. At this time, the state also subjected alcohol products to general sales taxes. This was reversed on the ballot in 2010, effective in 2011, so that alcoholic beverages were no longer subject to general sales taxes but only subject to alcoholic beverage excise taxes.

Mass taxpayers shouldered various excise tax hikes since 2000

The category with the greatest number of rate hikes or new taxes over the last 25 years was in excise taxes, which includes sales of gasoline, cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, and recreational vapor and marijuana products.

The state legislature passed an increase to the state’s gas excise tax from $0.21 per gallon to $0.24 per gallon, which went into effect in July 2013. Originally, this rate was set to increase annually based on inflation, but voters repealed the automatic increases immediately the next year. Yet other state-collected taxes and fees (such as environmental fees, storage taxes, and others) have risen several times over the years.

Cigarette taxes have exploded over the last 25 years, rising from $0.76 in 2000 up to $3.51 per 20-pack in 2025 – more than a 360% increase over the years.

Massachusetts has also introduced new excise taxes on vape products (75% of wholesale price starting in 2021) and marijuana, which became legal for retail sales in 2018.

Conclusion

In the last several decades, the scorecard on tax changes is clearly one-sided: there have been more than twice as many hikes as cuts since 2000.

In a year marked by record-breaking ballot petitions, Massachusetts taxpayers could get the chance to approve their first income tax cut in nearly a quarter of a century. This development demonstrates taxpayers’ decades-long frustrations with high tax burdens and signals it may be time to change course and provide relief.

DATA NOTE: Individual income tax cuts stemming from the original 2000 ballot measure are counted as one cut, despite being deferred out longer than originally planned by the state legislature.