State Representative
John F.
Quinn
State House, Room 527A
Boston, MA 02133
Phone: 617-722-2020
Fax: 617-722-2186
Email:
News Room
- House Repeals Retroactive Capital Gains Tax
Just over one week after the Department of Revenue
sent 48,000 taxpayers notices to collect capital
gains taxes from 2002, State Representatives John F.
Quinn (D-Dartmouth) and Michael J. Rodrigues
(D-Westport) and the rest of the Legislature took
immediate action to repeal these retroactive taxes
as well as rebate taxes paid on assets sold between
May and December 2002.
“The people who received bills in the mail can
breathe a lot easier – disregard those notices and
put your wallets away,” said Rep. Quinn. “My
colleagues and I have come up with a way to ensure
that retroactive taxes are a thing of the past in
Massachusetts.”
Three years ago, at the height of the most recent
fiscal crisis, the Legislature increased the capital
gains tax as a way to balance the state budget and
avoid catastrophic cuts to essential government
programs. The court struck down the mid-year hike
and a second attempt to deliver tax amnesty to
certain taxpayers affected by the increase.
“The Legislature never intended to make
Massachusetts residents pay retroactive capital
gains taxes,” said Rep. Rodrigues. “This situation
was the result of two highly unusual Supreme
Judicial Court rulings that limited tax policy
decisions. We acted quickly to bring fair and
equitable resolution to a very difficult issue.”
The plan approved by the Legislature and sent to the
Governor moves the effective date of the tax
increase to January 1, 2003, preventing the
retroactive tax and complying with the court’s
ruling that taxpayers be assessed equally in the
same calendar year. The move requires the state to
forfeit $150 million in uncollected tax receipts and
to rebate between $56 million and $69 million
annually to as many as 157,000 taxpayers over the
next four years.
