In 2022, Massachusetts voters did something unusual in American politics: we agreed to tax the very richest residents a little more, and we did it with a clear purpose. The Fair Share Amendment added a 4 percent surtax on income over $1 million, with every dollar legally dedicated to public education and transportation. At the time, critics warned that millionaires would flee the state, taking jobs and investment with them. We were told this surtax would be a disaster.
A few years in, the results tell a very different story. The surtax has raised billions, far more than early projections, and the money is being spent exactly where voters intended. Even more telling: the majority of the state’s millionaires didn’t leave. In fact, revenues continue to grow.
I even tested this theory personally. I asked a friend of mine — someone who actually qualifies as a multimillionaire — what she thought of the surtax. She shrugged and said she didn’t even know about it. “Not a biggie,” she told me. And I suspect most of her wealthy peers feel the same way. They’re not packing moving vans for Florida. They’re living their lives, running their businesses, and apparently not losing sleep over a 4 percent surtax on income above $1 million.
Meanwhile, the rest of us are seeing the benefits.
Take education. Since 2023, at least $500 million in Fair Share revenue has gone directly into schools. That includes $161 million for universal school meals — a policy that has taken the stigma and guesswork out of feeding kids. Another $100 million has gone to Green School Works, helping districts upgrade aging buildings. Financial aid expansions, child care provider grants, and the MassReconnect program — which gives adults a chance to return to community college for free — are all being funded by the surtax. These aren’t abstract line items. They’re real programs helping real families. I’m happy to report that I’ve joined these returning students at GCC, where I am finishing my degree, and have the tax to thank for my tuition payments.
Transportation, the other half of the promise, has seen a similar infusion. Another $500 million has gone into the MBTA, regional transit authorities, highway and bridge repair, and safety improvements. The T alone received $250 million for capital investments and $65 million for workforce safety — two areas where the need has been painfully obvious. And again: the wealthy stayed. If they had left, the surtax revenue would be shrinking, not growing. The doomsday predictions simply didn’t come true.
Critics point out that the Fair Share Amendment has coincided with a measurable outflow of high‑income residents, and the IRS migration data does show a real shift. In 2023 — the first full year of the surtax — departing Massachusetts residents took $4.2 billion in adjusted gross income with them, one of the largest income outflows in the country and an 8% increase from the prior year, even though the number of people actually leaving fell by 36%, according to Investment News. Analysts, including those cited by Pioneer Institute, argue that over several years this adds up to tens of billions in lost taxable income, raising concerns about long‑term competitiveness. While the state is still collecting more revenue overall because the remaining wealthy residents are earning more, the data does show a meaningful migration of high‑earners that deserves attention.
Massachusetts is now being watched closely by other states wrestling with the same question: how do you fund the public systems everyone relies on without squeezing the middle class? Two states in particular — Oregon and California — are running their own experiments.
Oregon has been debating a high‑earner surtax aimed at addressing education funding and homelessness. While their proposals aren’t identical to Fair Share, the spirit is similar: ask the very top of the income ladder to contribute a little more to stabilize the systems everyone depends on. Oregon lawmakers have openly cited Massachusetts as a case study — proof that a surtax can be politically viable and economically sound.
California, meanwhile, has long had some of the highest tax rates on top earners in the country. In recent years, the state has considered additional millionaire taxes to fund mental health services and electric vehicle infrastructure.
What makes Massachusetts stand out is the clarity of the promise and the transparency of the spending. Voters were told exactly where the money would go, and that’s where it’s going. In an era when trust in government is low, that matters. It also matters that the investments are visible. You can point to a school lunch program, a repaired bridge, a safer MBTA station. You can see the results.
There’s a bigger story here, one that goes beyond budgets and surtaxes. Massachusetts has always prided itself on being a place that invests in people and in education, in public health, in infrastructure, in the idea that a functioning society is worth paying for. The Fair Share Amendment is simply the latest chapter in that tradition. It’s a reminder that we don’t have to accept crumbling systems or shrug off inequality as inevitable.
We took a chance. We asked the wealthiest residents to contribute a little more, and we promised to use that money wisely. And so far, the state has kept its word.
That’s something to be proud of. Thank you to our richest citizens for helping us all.
Max Hartshorne of South Deerfield writes Travel with Max, a monthly Recorder travel column.