Nearly three quarters of Massachusetts residents support a new 4% surtax on incomes over $1 million, according to a poll commissioned by the Massachusetts Teachers Association.
The results are being touted by a campaign to raise taxes on the wealthy to fund education and transportation projects.
"The public already strongly supports investments in transportation and public education and strongly supports the idea that the wealthiest among us should pay more to make those critical investments," said Andrew Farnitano, a spokesman for Raise Up Massachusetts, which wants a constitutional amendment allowing the tax to go before voters next year.
After being disqualified from the ballot in 2018, supporters of what they call the "Fair Share Amendment" would alter the state constitution to allow the new 4% surtax and stipulate that new funds be dedicated to public education and transportation.
Opponents like Mass Fiscal Alliance spokesman Paul Craney said that when voters start to look into the issue more closely before the 2022 election, support for the measure will drop.
"You'll hear some of the pundits say, 'Oh, it's easy to go after millionaires', and that's true," Craney said. "But when voters start to think about this in a more thoughtful way, they'll realize that all we're doing is sending money to the State House so that they can spend it in an irresponsible way."
The poll, conducted by Echo Cove Research & Consulting, asked 600 Massachusetts residents, "How much would you favor or oppose adding a 4% additional tax on annual income over $1 million?" The firm found 73% support and 27% opposition. The margin of error was 4%.
A study from the right-leaning Pioneer Institute found that the tax wouldn't be applied to just individual higher earners but would also affect 13,000 small businesses that pay taxes through the owner's personal income returns. The think tank also predicts high earners would move out of Massachusetts to avoid the new tax burden.
"The suggestion that the wealthy do not leave high-tax states is wishful thinking and demonstrably false," Pioneer Institute leaders told the Legislature's Revenue Committee in April, noting that Massachusetts has seen billions of dollars of wealth move to states like Florida or neighboring New Hampshire, two states without income taxes.
Lawmakers could approve the measure this summer or fall, meaning the question should appear alongside the gubernatorial race and other state offices on the November 2022 ballot. To appear on the ballot, lawmakers must pass the measure in two successive two-year legislative sessions. The amendment passed its first approval vote by 147 to 48 in June 2019.
Amendment sponsor Rep. James O'Day, D-West Boylston, said he expects that the Legislature, acting in its role as a constitutional convention, will likely approve the measure for a second time once the state budget process has concluded.
"I have heard nothing to lead me to believe that it's not going to happen," O'Day told GBH News. O'Day expects a similar timeframe for a summer vote and a similar nearly three-to-one approval when the time comes.
Both Senate President Karen Spilka and House Speaker Ron Mariano intend to bring the matter to a vote this year.
