On June 20, 2018, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court handed down a decision that ended a three-year effort to amend the state's constitution to impose an additional tax on individuals earning more than $1 million.
Two of our Boston tax attorneys, Dave Nagle and Joe Donovan, analyzed the decision and the events leading up to it in an in-depth piece published by Law360.
Specifically:
- the court’s opinion addressed the procedure for amending the constitution via initiative petition, as opposed to the merits of a graduated income tax;
- the court analyzed the “related subjects” requirement for such initiatives, and concluded that this initiative failed to contain subjects “which are related or which are mutually dependent;” and
- the court’s opinion struck a balance between direct and representative democracy, while it provided a roadmap for future initiatives and highlighted their importance in lawmaking.
Read the full article here.
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