Lawmakers and advocates are once again staking out sides on a controversial request from Boston Mayor Michelle Wu to temporarily tax commercial properties past the legal limit in order to ease the pain of residential property tax spikes.
The renewed debate comes one year after lawmakers in the state Senate, led by South Boston state senator Nick Collins, killed the measure despite a round of amendments forged through talks between Wu and business leaders. Those business leaders already pay property taxes at a higher rate than residents, and are still contending with commercial property devaluations brought on by the pandemic.
The compromise bill had support in the House chamber, but as Beacon Hill deliberated in the days after a hearing, property valuation data obtained by lawmakers showed that Boston’s residential tax bills would not rise as much as the Wu administration had predicted.
This week, Wu sent letters making the case for her proposal to both the Boston City Council and the cohort of business leaders who helped shape the failed 2024 legislation, including Jim Rooney, president and CEO of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Tamara Small, CEO of the commercial real-estate advocacy group NAIOP, and Doug Howgate, president of Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. Steve Poftak, who is president of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau and assumed office after the negotiations, was also a recipient.
“The City is awaiting Massachusetts Department of Revenue review and approval of our submitted property values for FY26, but we can project that overall residential property values will increase by 2% while overall commercial values will decrease by 6%,when adjusted for new growth.” Wu said to the city council. “These assessments continue to mirror national economic trends, but under Massachusetts state tax law, without legislative intervention, this will again result in residents shouldering double digit tax increases caused by declining commercial values.”
The mayor told the business group explicitly that Boston single family homeowners now face a projected 13% spike in 2026.
Earlier this year, Wu refiled the legislation through Boston area state Reps. Russell Holmes and Rob Consalvo. It advanced from the House Rules Committee to the two chambers’ Joint Committee on Revenue, where it has sat since March.
“I’ve never seen that,” said Rep. Consalvo when asked about the lack of action on the measure.
“I was a legislative aide for six, almost seven years. I’ve been a city councilor for 13 years, I’m now a state rep for five years,” he said, adding that the bill should at least advance to committee and receive a hearing and public testimony.
A Beacon Hill operative pointed to the bill’s filing nearly a month after the Jan. 17 legislative deadline as part of the reason the bill is stalled. It now requires an additional procedural vote to advance to a hearing.
A spokesperson for Senate President Karen Spilka said in a statement Thursday that she is planning to discuss the bill with members.
“The Senate remains committed to working with stakeholders across Massachusetts to find solutions to increase housing affordability and drive down costs for residents and families,” the statement said.
Consalvo noted the measure’s expanded senior tax relief program for Boston, its expanded pool of businesses that qualify for personal property tax exemption, and its expanded ability to provide rebates to people negatively impacted in the current fiscal year.
“It’s a much more improved bill. It provides a wider range of tax relief across the board for small businesses, for seniors, and at the same time, the need is just as great, as evidenced by the info that the mayor put out,” Consalvo said.
In a statement late Wednesday, Collins said he remains opposed to an increased levy on commercial properties while supporting more targeted homeowner relief measures like rebates.
“I hope the City will support these common sense solutions that provide relief to homeowners without putting our economy at risk,” his statement said.
Collins also accused the Wu administration of “once again withholding critical valuation data” to inform the debate.
That lack of data is also a sore point for Small Property Owners Association Vice President Amir Shahsavari, a vocal opponent outside the legislature. His group represents commercial and residential landlords of various sizes and claims to provide over 60% of the rental housing in Boston and Massachusetts.
“Whatever figure [Wu administration officials] come up with, I think it has to be studied and monitored and rechecked, and then rechecked again quite closely,” said Shahsavari, noting that the group’s opposition to the measure hasn’t changed.
Boston State Rep. Russell Holmes is one of the tax plan’s backers. He represents the city’s Mattapan and Dorchester neighborhoods and argues the shift would be fair given that Boston’s commercial property owners are projected to see a drop in their tax bills despite the proposed increase in tax rates.
“Do we want to levy more money on communities like where I live over on Blue Avenue [and] put more tax burden on a very challenged community, or do we want to have that tax burden a little bit more shared on some of these very wealthy people?” Holmes asked in a recent interview in his financial planning office in the Seaport. “As I look out, I say I think these folks over here can handle that burden a little bit more than the poor people in the neighborhood that I live in.”
