Beacon Hlll Institute at Suffolk University

BHI Statement on the January 2013 U.S. Employment Situation (PDF)

BHI@beaconhill.org (Editor) — Fri, 1 Feb 2013 16:27:09 -0500

From the BHI Economic Indicators Project. (PDF)

BHI Forecast: State tax revenues to fall flat in FY 2013 but to surge by 5.1% in FY 2014

fconte@beaconhill.org (Frank Conte) — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 16:38:01 -0500

(BOSTON, December 11, 2012) –The Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University (BHI) estimates that Massachusetts state tax revenues will come in at $21.113 billion for Fiscal Year 2013, virtually no increase over FY 2012. Revenues will be $22.194 billion for FY 2014, 5.1% above FY 2013. Paul Bachman, BHI Director of Research and David G. Tuerck, Executive Director of the Institute and Chairman of Economics at Suffolk University, presened the forecast in testimony before the Joint Committee on Ways and Means this morning at 11:00 a.m. in Gardner Auditorium at the Massachusetts State House. The legislature uses the BHI estimate, along with estimates provided by other groups, to help determine the revenues needed for the upcoming state budget. Total tax revenues for FY 2012 closed out at $21.115 billion, and FY 2013 revenues are not expected to exceed that amount. Sales tax revenues are expected to grow by 3.6% in FY 2013, while personal income tax revenues are expected to grow by 0.4%. Based on the New England Economic Partnership forecast of strong growth of employment and personal income over the next two years, FY 2014 revenues will be much improved, growing 5.1% over 2013. “Massachusetts is going through a soft patch but state revenue collections will be returning to healthier trends,” says Tuerck. “Tax revenues will be flat in FY 2013, but the state will see a nice bounce in FY 2014, led by strong personal income tax revenue and positive corporate tax revenue growth,” said Tuerck. According to BHI projections for FY 2014, personal income tax revenues will grow by 6.5%, sales tax revenues by 5.3%, corporate excise by 4.5% while business excises and motor fuels tax revenue will fall by 8.9% and 0.5% respectively. Total taxes for FY 2014 will increase by $1.08 billion over FY 2013. “The all-encompassing debate over what to do about the ‘fiscal cliff’ injects a lot of uncertainty for tax revenues. In addition the fear of recession in Europe also poses a threat to the state’s economy and thus tax revenues,” said Tuerck. MORE Complete Forecast (PDF)

Back on top, Massachusetts ranks first in BHI measure of economic growth and income

bhiEditor@beaconhill.org(Beacon Hill Institute) — Wed, 7 Mar 2012 17:01:54 -0500

BOSTON - (March 1, 2012) Massachusetts regained the top spot on the 11th Annual Beacon Hill Institute’s State Competitiveness Report. Last year the Bay State ranked third behind Colorado and North Dakota, which finished first last year. Longstanding strengths in human resources, technology and openness buoyed Massachusetts. The BHI competitiveness index is based on a set of 44 indicators divided into eight sub-indexes – government and fiscal policy, security, infrastructure, human resources, technology, business incubation, openness, and environmental policy. The breadth of the BHI index distinguishes it from more narrowly-focused measures of competitiveness that target only taxes, high tech, or economic freedom. Massachusetts continues to show real strengths in its human resources (particularly with its top-scoring student achievement), technology (with its large base of scientists and engineers and high-tech employment) and business incubation, where Massachusetts draws the top ranking in terms of venture capital per capita. The state ranked first with the fewest number of residents going without health insurance. It is a favorite destination of National Institutes of Health grant money. Read more at http://www.beaconhill.org/Compete11/PRCompete11StateFinal.html.

The Enterprise Value Tax: Another Misbegotten Job Killer

bhi@beaconhill.org (BHI-Editor) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 11:55:16 -0500

(BOSTON, MA) A proposed federal Enterprise Value Tax will double taxes on business partnerships in Massachusetts, adding $611 million to the state’s federal tax burden. As a result of the tax, the state will lose 5,400 jobs, $9.5 million in investment and $673 million in disposable income. This is the finding of a new study, The Enterprise Value Tax: What it Means for the Massachusetts Economy, published today by the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University and sponsored by the Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce. MORE

Massachusetts health care reform mandates invited gaming, costing taxpayers and ratepayers millions

bhi@beaconhill.org (BHI-Editor) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 11:55:14 -0500

(BOSTON, MA, November 28, 2011) Approximately 2,600 individuals in Massachusetts “gamed” the individual mandate at an estimated cost to insurance carriers of between $29.3 million and $37.3 million. This is one of the findings of a new report from the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University, entitled, “The Massachusetts Health Care Reform Mandates: The Gaming Gamble.” The study also found that the private insurance market only grew modestly and not enough to enroll all the newly-insured residents, suggesting that businesses may be dropping or declining coverage to offer insurance to their workers. MORE

WCVB covers BHI's Study on Education Spending and Performance

fconte@beaconhill.org (editor) — Tue, 4 Oct 2011 09:33:42 -0400

The commonwealth of Massachusetts could cut $1.3 billion from education spending without affecting the performance of public school students, according to a study released by the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University. Read more: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/video/29381107/detail.html#ixzz1ZotGzaCV

Massachusetts Health Care Reform stunts job growth and investment

bhi@beaconhill.org (BHI-Editor) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:06:23 -0500

(BOSTON, MA -September 15, 2011) The landmark Massachusetts Health Care Reform (HCR) Law cost the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at least 18,000 jobs since its passage and put a damper on investment and disposable income. These are the findings of a model generated by the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University. Read more.

BHI responds to Climate Progress on NJ energy plan

bhi@beaconhill.org (Editor) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 10:00:55 -0400

On TP's Climate Progress blog, Michael Conathan, claims that Beacon Hill Institute's recent cost-benefit analyses of offshore wind energy in New Jersey are slanted. Conathan alleges that the BHI study "misses the mark on both sides of the ledger by dramatically overstating the costs and underestimating the economic benefits of offshore wind." It is actually Mr. Conathan that "misses the mark" in his critique of the BHI study. Read more.

BHI Forecast: State tax revenues to increase by 4.4% in FY 2012 and by 4.1% in FY 2013

bhi@beaconhill.org (BHI-Editor) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 11:55:16 -0500

(BOSTON ) –The Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University (BHI) estimates that Massachusetts state tax revenues will come in at $21.411 billion for Fiscal Year 2012, for a growth of 4.4% over FY 2011. Revenues will be $22.287 billion for FY 2013, 4.1% above 2012.

David G. Tuerck, Executive Director of the Institute and Chairman of Economics at Suffolk University, and Paul Bachman, BHI Director of Research, will present the forecast in testimony before the Joint Committee on Ways and Means this morning at 11:00 a.m. in Gardner Auditorium at the Massachusetts State House. The legislature uses the BHI estimate to help determine the revenues needed for the upcoming state budget. MORE

BHI in the Boston Business Journal

bhi@beaconhill.org (Editor) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:26:42 -0400

Led by the Communication Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, 45,000 wireline workers — 6,000 of whom are in Massachusetts — have gone on strike against Verizon. The strike is taking place across eight states and the District of Columbia. The unions are striking over threatened reductions in health care, disability, child care and pension benefits, and over threats to contract out to “low-wage contractors.” There are other complaints about high profits, overpaid managers and a tax rebate “squeezed out of the U.S. government.” Verizon, for its part, points out that it is struggling against realities that the union bosses choose to ignore. Principal among these realities is a 47 percent decline in its wireline business over the past five years, most of this to wireless and cable competitors. Thirty percent of American households are wireless only. And the cable companies are not hobbled by the same work rules and contracts that have blunted Verizon’s efforts to maintain market share. The company is trying to counter the loss of wireline business by expanding its FiOS service and by asking workers to accept modernized work rules and some reductions in benefits. It argues that the average value of all benefits (excluding wages) is $50,000 per worker and that its workers currently contribute nothing to their health care benefits. Some of the striking workers earn as much as $140,000 in salary, benefits and overtime. Read the entire article.

BHI's latest dispatch on Red Mass Group

editor@beaconhill.org (Editor) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:34:14 -0400

Topics include Verizon strike, local inflation statistics and more.

September 29, 2011 -- BHI Canada-U.S. Economic Conference

bhi@beaconhill.org (BHI Webmaster) — Tue, 6 Sep 2011 11:36:10 -0400

Canada-U.S. Economic Conference Suffolk University, September 29, 2011 RSVP Marc.Jacques@international.gc.ca 8:45 am- Registration, networking, coffee and Danish; 9:10 am- Opening Remarks Dr. David Tuerck, Executive Director, Beacon Hill Institute Patrick Binns, Consul General of Canada 9:15 am- Keynote Remarks by Canadian Speaker Colin Robertson- former Minister of the Washington Secretariat at the Canadian Embassy in D.C., (http://www.cdfai.org/fellows/colinrobertson.htm); 10:00 am- Question Period for Canadian keynote speaker; 10:15 am- Panel One on Investment Relationship between Canada and the United States TD BankNorth- invited; William Frantz- Project Manager, Ocean Spray; Dr. Serge Shiker- Economics Department, Suffolk University (http://web.cas.suffolk.edu/faculty/shikher/); 11:00 am- Coffee break; 11:15am- Panel Two on Sector-Specific Subject- Energy/Clean Tech Wayne White- Director, Legal- Power and Utilities, Brookfield Renewable Power- http://www.brookfieldpower.com/; Herb Healy- Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs, EnerNoc- http://www.enernoc.com/ Dr. Jonathan Haughton- Beacon Hill Institute (http://www.beaconhill.org); 12:00pm- Lunch; 12:15pm- Keynote by U.S. speaker Dr. Christopher Sands, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute (http://www.hudson.org/learn/index.cfm?fuseaction=staff_bio&eid=SandChri); 1:00pm- Question period for U.S. Keynote speaker;

BHI on personal income growth in Massachusetts: Boston & Worcester shine in 2010 while rest of state lags

fconte@beaconhill.org (Frank Conte) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:29:35 -0400

(BOSTON - August 10, 2010) The metropolitan Boston and Worcester areas continued to move ahead of the rest of the state in terms of personal income, according to an analysis of 2010 federal data by the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University. However, poorer personal income growth in other regions in Massachusetts dragged the state below the national average for 2010. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, personal income rose in almost every metropolitan area in the U.S. After falling 1.9% on the heels of the last months of the recession in 2009, personal income in 366 metropolitan areas of the U.S. rose 2.9 percent as the economy moved toward recovery in 2010. Read more.

BHI releases economic forecast for Massachusetts

bhi@beaconhill.org (Generic) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 15:11:46 -0400

BHI Forecast: Massachusetts economy set to grow 2.9% in 2011 and 2.8% in 2012

The new edition of BHI's Economic Indicators is out

bhi@beaconhill.org (Generic) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 15:08:38 -0400

The latest edition offers BHI's first forecast for the Massachusetts economy, a look at unemployment in the major metropolitan in MA and local inflation figures.

David Tuerck testifies on FairTax before Congress

bhi@beaconhill.org (BHIToday) — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 16:26:56 -0400

The FairTax would replace the federal personal income tax (including the capital gains and the alternative minimum tax), the corporate income tax, the FICA employee and self-employment tax, and the estate and gift tax with a retails sales tax levied on consumption goods and services. H.R. 25 specifies an effective (tax-inclusive) rate of 23 percent – a rate set to maintain revenue neutrality. To ensure that those living at or below the poverty line pay no sales tax, on net, the FairTax provides all families with a monthly demogrant, also called a prebate, whose size depends on the family’s composition. This feature transforms the FairTax from a proportional tax to a progressive tax. The most important criteria for judging tax systems are efficiency, equity, growth, simplicity, transparency, political sustainability, and compliance. Compared with income taxation, consumption taxation has a number of advantages along each of these dimensions. And among alternative ways to tax consumption, the FairTax ranks particularly high with respect to transparency and political sustainability.

Paul Bachman talks up BHI's recent study on education spending on Patriot Games Radio

bhi@beaconhill.org (BHI Webmaster) — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 11:12:01 -0400

Director of Research, Paul Bachman discusses BHI's recent study on education spending and student performance with D.R. Tucker and Stephanie Davis of Patriot Games Radio.

BHI Study: No link between improved student performance and Education Reform Act spending

bhi@beaconhill.org (BHI Webmaster) — Wed, 8 Jun 2011 10:23:51 -0400

(BOSTON) The Commonwealth of Massachusetts could cut more than a billion dollars from education spending without measurably affecting the performance of public schools. This is a finding of a study released today by the Beacon Hill Institute and entitled, Why Massachusetts Should Spend Less on Education.

BHI testifies before Congress on Project Labor Agreements

bhi@beaconhill.org (BHI Webmaster) — Fri, 3 Jun 2011 14:26:16 -0400

(Washington, D.C., June 3) Executive Director David G. Tuerck offered testimony relating to the Government Neutrality in Contracting Act (H.R. 735) before the House Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and Procurement Reform, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, this morning. Citing six BHI studies on the topic, Tuerck suggested that Project Labor Agreements preclude meaningful competition and wind up costing taxpayers more as a result. Testimony (PDF).

BHI Study: Tax cuts would spur growth

fconte@beaconhill.org (Frank Conte) — Fri, 3 Jun 2011 14:17:58 -0400

BHI Track Record on Forecasting Massachusetts State Tax Revenue

bhi@beaconhill.org (Beacon Hill Institute) — Mon, 3 Jan 2011 13:53:11 -0500

BHI track record on forcasting MA state tax revenue (PDF)

BHI Forecast Update: State tax revenues to increase by 9.8% in FY 2011 and by 4.4% in FY 2012

bhi@beaconhill.org (Beacon Hill Institute) — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 16:03:23 -0500

(BOSTON ) – The Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University (BHI) estimates that Massachusetts state tax revenues will come in at $20.363 billion for Fiscal Year 2011, a growth of 9.8% over FY 2010. Revenues will be $21.265 billion for FY 2012, 4.4% above 2011.

BHI releases 10th Annual State Competitiveness Index

bhi@beaconhill.org (Beacon Hill Institute) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 13:31:00 -0500

Crowded at the top: Massachusetts ranks third in BHI Competitiveness Index, dropping two places.

BOSTON - (October 25, 2010) After two straight years at the top, Massachusetts slipped to third place in the latest edition of the Beacon Hill Institute’s annual State Competitiveness Report. Lower scores in two measures ─ budget deficit and air quality ─ accounted for part of the drop. However, the Index showed that improvements in competitor states such as North Dakota and Colorado slightly outpaced Massachusetts strong showing. MORE.

BHI releases tax analysis on Question 3, sales tax rollback

bhi@beaconhill.org (Beacon Hill Institute) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 13:13:37 -0500

(BOSTON ) – A new analysis of Question 3, the sales tax rollback, by the Beacon Hill Institute (BHI) shows that the tax cut would create 27,199 private sector jobs, increase annual investment by $73 million and raise wages by $1.03 billion.

Question 3, which will appear on the November ballot, would reduce the sales tax from its current level of 6.25% to 3%. Opponents say that passage of Question 3 would devastate what they believe to be under-funded public services such as education and public safety. Supporters of the measure claim that a reduction in the sales tax would generate economic activity while forcing the state to cut what they believe is wasteful spending. The analysis is an attempt to quantify the economic effects of the passage of Question 3.

House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo addresses BHI's 10th Annual Competitiveness Conference

bhi@beaconhill.org (BHI Webmaster) — Tue, 5 Oct 2010 16:13:43 -0500

The Honorable House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo will keynote this year's annual conference announcing the release of the institute's 10th annual report on competitiveness.

Published since 2001, the report features an index that measures the ability of all 50 states to establish policies that sustain long-term economic and personal income growth.

Sargent Hall
First Floor Function Hall, Suffolk University Law School
120 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02108
RVSP - phone: 617-573-8750;
e-mail: compete@beaconhill.org

Sponsored by:
THE BEACON HILL INSTITUTE &
THE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS at SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY

BHI Op-Ed: Cape Wind wired with favoritism (Boston Herald)

fconte@beaconhill.org (Frank Conte) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 17:52:33 -0500

The latest on Cape Wind.

Will Cape Wind save ratepayers any money?

bhi@beaconhill.org (BHI Webmaster) — Mon, 2 Aug 2010 23:16:32 -0500

For years Cape Wind Associates, which plans to build 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound, told us that it could supply renewable energy to the New England market and save ratepayers $25 million a year. Considering the cost of installing and operating the system (about $2 billion in present-value terms), it was always unlikely that Cape Wind could deliver on this promise. Yet, it seemed possible that by adding significantly to power supplies, Cape Wind could bring about at least a temporary decrease in the price of power. Now we learn, however, that ratepayers will pay more for their electricity if Cape Wind builds and goes online. Recently, National Grid entered into an agreement to buy power from Cape Wind for almost 21 cents per kilowatt hour. It costs National Grid about 9 cents per kWh to get the same power from conventional sources. Under the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard program, the electric companies charge ratepayers an additional 6 cents per kWh for that portion of their service (currently 5 percent) that the power companies are supposed to obtain from renewable sources. Hence, power that previously cost 15 cents will now cost 21 cents. National Grid’s biggest customers are protesting this price increase. More

High health costs strangling cities, towns

fconte@beaconhill.org (Frank Conte) — Mon, 17 May 2010 21:55:42 -0500