About The Fair Share Amendment

In November 2022, Massachusetts voters passed the Fair Share Amendment, choosing a fairer tax system and guaranteeing that the richest one percent will pay more to fund our public schools, colleges, roads, bridges, and public transit.

The Fair Share Amendment established a 4 percent tax on the portion of a taxpayers’ annual income above $1 million (increased annually for inflation — the threshold in 2026 is $1,107,750), and constitutionally dedicates the funds to be spent only on transportation and public education.

Nearly four years later, the Fair Share Amendment is an unqualified success that’s serving as a model for other states that want to invest in quality public services with a fairer tax system. The new tax generated $2.46 billion in its first full fiscal year, $3.05 billion in its second full year, and $3.38 billion in Year 3. That’s more than double the state’s initial expectations, and more than even proponents predicted. Here's what's changed as a result:  

Fair Share-funded investments are making Massachusetts more affordable, competitive, and equitable, and helping build a stronger economy that works for all of us. Since the Fair Share Amendment was passed by popular vote on the ballot, Massachusetts saw its largest population increase in 60 years. We were ranked the strongest state economy in the country, as well as the second-best state in the U.S. to start, grow and operate a business. Greater Boston was recently named the top U.S. city for international business and the third-best destination for recent college graduates and early career professionals, and for the last two years, Massachusetts has been ranked the nation’s best state to live in.

The skeptics who said multi-millionaires would flee for other states rather than pay their fair share are being proved wrong; the ultra-rich are clearly staying in Massachusetts and paying more in taxes, leading to the tax’s massive overperformance relative to initial projections. Massachusetts now has 1,010 more CEOs than we did in 2021, and of the 21 Massachusetts residents listed on Forbes’ 2022 billionaire list, none—not even the most wealthy—have moved out of the state. And a recent study found that the number of millionaires and ultra-wealthy individuals rose significantly in the two years after the Fair Share Amendment was passed.

Massachusetts now has a much fairer tax system. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s “Who Pays?” report, Massachusetts is now the seventh most “progressive” state tax system in the country, moving up 10 spots from before voters approved the Fair Share Amendment. Finally, the state’s richest one percent are paying closer to the same share of their income in state and local taxes that the rest of us already pay. Now, the Fair Share Amendment is serving as a model for other states, including our neighbors in Rhode Island and Maine as well as Washington and Hawai’i, that want to invest in quality public services with a fairer tax system.

The following text is the exact language that is now part of our state constitution:

To provide the resources for quality public education and affordable public colleges and universities, and for the repair and maintenance of roads, bridges and public transportation, all revenues received in accordance with this paragraph shall be expended, subject to appropriation, only for these purposes. In addition to the taxes on income otherwise authorized under this Article, there shall be an additional tax of 4 percent on that portion of annual taxable income in excess of $1,000,000 (one million dollars) reported on any return related to those taxes. To ensure that this additional tax continues to apply only to the commonwealth’s highest income taxpayers, this $1,000,000 (one million dollars) income level shall be adjusted annually to reflect any increases in the cost of living by the same method used for federal income tax brackets. This paragraph shall apply to all tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2023.