“It’s the first month that all the weirdness of COVID was flushed out of the tax system,” Horowitz said. The revenue drop, he added, is a “reminder that the unusual times we’ve been living through were quite unusual.”

“There are some tax cuts that help wealthy people that are also good for competitiveness. And then there are some tax cuts that just help wealthy people, and these are closer to the latter,” said Horowitz.

“Sometimes tax cuts that benefit wealthy people also are important for competitiveness. Sometimes they’re not — they’re just tax cuts that benefit wealthy people,” he said.

“It’s probably best to think of this as the beginning of a long, cat-and-mouse game of tax avoidance that high earners will be playing against the state for decades to come,” warned Horowitz.

Evan Horowitz, the executive director of the Center for State Policy Analysis at Tufts University, told lawmakers it would be “safe and sensible” to budget for $750 million to $1 billion in high income tax revenue next year.

"There aren't great big initiatives that he drove," Horowitz said. "And the ones where he really seemed to try to stamp with his imprimatur didn't thrive."

Radio Boston interviews Evan Horowitz about the gap between the minimum and living wage

When it comes to addressing inflation, lawmakers here in Massachusetts have an important role to play: they need to adapt.

Evan Horowitz, the executive director of The Center for State Policy Analysis at Tufts University, said the exemption was a “reasonable” move since much of the concern over the tax focused on its impacts on retired homeowners.

“It’s certainly a substantial cost, but I think it’s matched by the transformational impact,” Horowitz said of the benefits of universal rental assistance.