Fiscally conservative think tanks across New England are calling for the Trump tax cuts to be extended.
Provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act related to individuals, families and small business will expire at the end of the year. Corporate cuts in the law are permanent. Americans for Prosperity Northeast Region Director Ross Connolly wants the expiring provisions of the law to be renewed.
“In 2017 Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, a landmark law that gave hard-working Americans much needed tax relief. This year that proposal is now going up once again for a vote and if it is not renewed New Englanders will see tax increases across the board,” Connolly said. “So, we are calling for the New England delegations to do the right thing and vote for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act renewing it and making it permanent so that New Englanders get the tax relief that they deserve.”
If the bill is not renewed, Connolly says Vermont taxpayers could see an average annual tax increase of $2,100, while in Massachusetts the average increase would be $4,600.
Americans for Prosperity Regional Director Greg Moore says people need to be made aware of the potential impacts.
“Polling shows that very, very few Americans are even aware that if by the end of the year Congress does not take action that here will be a massive automatic tax hike that will hit every American taxpayer. That’s a huge number of people who are going to be suddenly given a crude realization of what the dynamics of the current tax laws are,” Moore said. “Moreover, New England is a relatively high net worth region of the country. We’re going to be hit even harder than the rest of the country if these tax hikes go into effect at the end of the year.”
Not everyone agrees. Congressional Democrats have argued that President Trump’s tax proposals are mainly beneficial for the wealthiest. Massachusetts Congressman Richard Neal, the ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, represents the 1st district. He spoke on WAMC’s Congressional Corner in February.
”We can’t let them get away with the camouflage of suggesting that this is a tax cut for the middle class,” Neal asserts. “If you made under $33,000 this year and the tax cut went into effect next year, you’re going to receive $158 of tax relief. That’s a fact.”
Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy President Drew Cline argues the federal government should not only extend the tax cuts but also address federal spending.
“The problem is not taxes. Federal spending has averaged 20 percent of GDP from 1960 to 2023. But the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) projects it to reach 27 percent of GDP by 2054. The problem is spending not tax rates,” Cline suggests. “Now from New Hampshire’s point of view, our experience is raising taxes makes everyone poorer. It hurts economic growth. So in our point of view, it would be a major economic mistake to let those tax cuts expire.”
The Ethan Allen Institute is a conservative Vermont think tank. Past President Rob Roper warned that there are political implications if the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is not renewed.
“What we saw last cycle our little state, which is already very high tax, our taxpayers were really hit with a body blow of a series of blindside taxes, the biggest one being a 14 percent increase in our property tax rate. Well, what happened as a result of that is in November of 2024 Republicans picked up a total of 57 legislative seats across the entire country. Twenty-four of those occurred in Vermont,” recalls Roper. “So, my warning to everybody who is thinking about letting these tax cuts fade into history is if you hit households that are already struggling to make ends meet, you are going to be in for a whirlwind of surprise when 2026 comes around.”
Americans for Prosperity plans to spend $20 million nationally to lobby Congressional representatives to support renewal of the bill and make the tax cut provisions permanent.
