On June 18, 2026, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) held that a proposed initiative petition, No. 25-18, to reduce the Commonwealth’s personal income tax rate from 5% to 4% cannot appear on the November 2026 ballot. In Lewis Finfer & others v. Attorney General & others, SJC-13885, the Court found that the attorney general’s summary of the initiative was materially misleading because that summary said that the rate reduction would not apply to capital gains, while the measure would have actually had the effect of reducing the rate on most long-term capital gains.
Ballot questions have become an increasingly important vehicle for tax policy in Massachusetts, including most recently the 2022 voter-approved constitutional amendment imposing an additional tax on income over $1 million. Massachusetts tax rate changes now move through the initiative petition process far more frequently than they do through the ordinary legislative process. While this may provide greater continuity for tax rates, it also introduces a different set of hurdles to legislation that changes tax rates.