Offsetting votes? Ballot proposals both raise, lower taxes

BOSTON (AP) — The menu of more than two dozen proposed questions for the 2018 Massachusetts ballot offers something for pretty much every ideological and political taste, including those who want to raise taxes, cut taxes or perhaps do both at the same time.

One initiative dubbed the “millionaire tax,” or the Fair Share Amendment, would impose a surtax of 4 percent on any portion of an individual’s annual income that exceeds $1 million. It’s estimated to raise $1.9 billion in additional revenue.

The Retailers Association of Massachusetts filed several versions of a proposed ballot question that would reduce the state’s 6.25 percent sales tax to either 5 percent or 4.5 percent.

The projected revenue loss to the state would be $1.25 billion to $1.75 billion, nearly enough to cancel out gains from taxing millionaires.