Why must businesses pay to be tax collectors?
Why must businesses pay to be tax collectors?
Have you been curious about that new building that’s sprung up just outside of Watertown Square at 66 Galen Street?
It’s a new Manfredi Architects-designed life science campus developed by Boston Development Group and The Davis Companies.
And you can look inside – while enjoying food, drink and the company of the region’s business and civic leaders – at our annual Holiday Celebration on Feb. 27.
Register here if you'd like to join us. (Note our early bird savings discount ends Friday.)
When no tax increase is actually a tax increase
When no tax increase is actually a tax increase
Gov. Maura Healey promises there will be no new taxes in the proposed fiscal 2025 budget she releases tomorrow.
But Healey has proposed allowing cities and towns to raise taxes, including hiking local meals and hotel taxes, as well as motor vehicle excise taxes.
Under Healey's bill, local meal taxes could increase from 0.75% to 1% (on top of the state meals tax). The local hotel, motel and other rentals tax could rise from 6 to 7%. (There would also be a new 5% local option motor vehicle excise surcharge.)
These local opt-in increases could bring in an extra $58 million in restaurant taxes and $49 million in hotel taxes to the state's cities and towns. That’s certainly something our municipalities would appreciate as, for example, Mayor Fuller could attest as she looks to settle the Newton teachers strike (more on that below).
But these taxes don't just raise costs for consumers
But these taxes don't just raise costs for consumers
Meals, sales and hotel taxes come out of consumers' pockets. But collecting them costs businesses plenty -- a fact that doesn’t get as much attention as it should.
That’s because every time you or I pay for a meal, or stay, or buy a taxable item in Massachusetts using a credit or debit card, the state or municipality gets 100% of the tax but the business absorbs 100% the fees charged by credit card companies.
And credit and debit card fees have more than doubled in the last decade, costing merchants upwards of 3.5% for each transaction (small businesses have less leverage, often paying upwards of 5%), placing a greater burden on profit margins every year.
Steve Clark at the Mass Restaurants Association tells me that meals tax collectors are probably paying about $60 million in credit/debit card fees for the privilege of collecting and remitting meals taxes just to the state.
So this increase would represent an added unreimbursed cost in every municipality that opts-in.
Adding salt to the wound: If a restaurant hands over the taxes they've collected using their credit/debit card the state and most municipalities charge them a fee, something businesses aren’t allowed to do.
Needham trying Goldilocks approach to MBTA Communities
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The Needham committee charged with proposing a path to comply with the MBTA Communities Law is floating three different possible solutions.
They’re hoping to establish a consensus on how many small multi-family housing units the town should allow to be built close to public transit, shops and restaurants while (fingers crossed) avoiding some of the acrimony we saw last year and in Newton and presently in Milton.
They’re hoping to establish a consensus on how many small multi-family housing units the town should allow to be built close to public transit, shops and restaurants while (fingers crossed) avoiding some of the acrimony we saw last year and in Newton and presently in Milton.
Think of Needham's three scenarios as: The baby bear plan (allowing for 1,784 possible new housing units); the mama bear plan (a potential 2,630 units); and papa bear plan (a potential 4,782 units).
Whether town leaders can build consensus, or not, before bringing a final set of maps to Town Meeting this fall remains to be seen.
But there’s already an opposition group and they seem to be using the same misleading type of graphics that helped derail Newton’s MBTA Communities discussion.
Anyway, the town has created a survey to literally vote on the three scenarios. Being a resident is not required and we urge businesses to participate.
Video from last week's meeting exploring the maps is here and here’s slide deck.
Study: AI may not be coming for your job soon
Study: AI may not be coming for your job soon
A study published by MIT yesterday suggests it may be economically impractical for AI to replace as many jobs as some predict any time soon.
“AI isn’t (yet) coming for those jobs for the same reason you didn’t see Taylor Swift in concert last summer: It’s too darn expensive,” write the folks at Morning Brew.
The research focused on jobs involving tasks that can be handled by a visual recognition AI system, like a baker doing quality checks, they add.
Today's grab bag
Today's grab bag
- Can we now please, finally, move on? Yet another attempt by abutters to stop developer Matt Borelli from building a new home for the Needham Children's Centre at 1688 Central Avenue fell flat last week. (Needham Local)
- Tickets are still available to hear Brian Moynihan, Chair and CEO of Bank of America at the Rotary Club of Wellesley Speaker Series dinner, Thursday (Jan. 25), 6 p.m. at the Wellesley Country Club. Tickets.
- Chicken chain Popeyes is reportidly moving into the former Subway location in Newton Centre.
- The owners of Gyro and Kebab House in Needham are selling their Great Plain Ave. business. “I'd prefer if it goes to [a] Needham resident or someone who knows this awesome community and cares about it,” proprietor Valentina Akyol writes on Facebook.
- Citizens Bank is closing its branch at the corner of Washington and Forest Streets is shutting down on April 16. (Swellesley Report)
- New England's biggest canoe and kayak race, the 40th Run of the Charles, happens April 27. Details.
Paid interns available for local nonprofits
Operation ABLE, a workforce development non-profit and a grantee of the U.S. Department of Labor, is providing paid interns to nonprofits through Eastern Massachusetts.
Presently ABLE has several opportunities to place participants to nonprofits in the Metro West region. Contact Email Greg Haig for details.
Wellesley, Needham voters to elect select and planning board members
The field of candidates is set for the March 5 elections in Wellesley and shaping up for the April 9 Needham elections.
Two seats are open on Wellesley's select board: Incumbents Colette Aufranc and Ann-Mara Lanza will face challenges from Marjorie Freiman, Penny Rossano and Odessa Sanchez. On the planning board, Grant Pollock hopes to unseat incumbent Patricia Ann Mallett. Swellesley Report has the complete list.
There’s still time for candidates in Needham to step up and vie for two seats on the select board and one on the planning board. So far incumbent Kevin Keane, Josh Levy and Tina Burgos have filed to fill two select board seats, according to the Needham Observer.
Incumbent Marcus Nelson is not seeking reelection, partly, because he’s not certain he can afford to live in Needham.
McKnight stepping down in Needham
McKnight stepping down in Needham
There's a seat open on the Needham Planning Board because after 17 years, Jeanne McKnight is not seeking reelection.
Urban planning and municipal law has been McKnight’s life’s work, including as a planner Framingham, and over 17 years she's certainly witnessed a staggering amount of economic development in Needham.
“When my term ends in April, I’ll be 79 years old,” she wrote in an email. “I can’t keep up the work and perform it with confidence and competence as I approach my ninth decade of life. I’ll continue as a Town Meeting member as long as Precinct F voters continue to elect me and continue as an active member of the League of Women Voters of Needham and the Needham Democratic Town Committee.”
No easy way out of the Newton teachers strike
Finally today, a Superior Court Judge is levying escalating fines against the Newton Teachers Association for the ongoing strike that has closed the city’s schools since Friday.
Both the Newton Beacon and Fig City News have become dependable sources for getting updates on the standoff.
I especially found Fig City’s interview this week with former school committee chair Matt Hills (currently vice chair of the Board of the Mass. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) provides some helpful financial context.
I recommend reading the full interview, but here's three excerpts:
“If you look at the city’s budget, it’s difficult to increase the [Newton Public School’s] allocation given the percentage of the budget spent on debt service and municipal services,” Hills tells Fig City’s Adam Bernstein. “…Municipal services like roads and sidewalks have been woefully underfunded for many years. You can’t just ignore all other city services that 100% of our residents depend on.
“This is a horrible situation for parents, but there could be something worse, and that’s an agreement that the school committee can’t afford, and then we go through several years of budget layoffs,” Hills adds.
“It may make someone feel better to come up with that magical solution, but it’s the school committee’s job to deal with reality, not what makes them feel good."
That’s what you need to know for today – Oscar Nominations morning --- unless you need to need to know why your coworker reeks of salad dressing, even when there's no veggies involved.
See you Friday.
Greg Reibman (he, him)
President & CEO
617.244.1688
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