Tumbling market values for office buildings are poised to cost Boston more than $1b in tax revenue over the next five years, as the pitfalls of the pandemic and hybrid work continue to reverberate through city budgets.
"The shift to remote work means fewer people are traveling to offices and there's no reason to expect that office work is going to come back, so this shortfall will continue," Horowitz said.
In a year when tax revenues are projected to grow only a little, the estimated $1.3 billion from the 4 percent surcharge on income over $1 million was the only area of the budget where policymakers could have some fun.
After revenues failed to hit benchmarks for six straight months, it was clear “the governor needed to do something like this,” Evan Horowitz told Playbook.
Expenses are piling up on Beacon Hill amid a string of disappointing tax revenue reports. Radio Boston talks with Evan Horowitz of the Center for State Policy Analysis at Tufts University.
Although the law requires that at least 10 percent of a community’s CPA funds go to each use, a report issued last year by cSPA and GBREB found that less than 1 in 20 CPA projects has been dedicated to the creation of new homes.
However, more than a third of the 190 communities that have joined the CPA have failed to invest the required 10 percent of CPA funds in affordable housing, according to a recent study by cSPA