Analysis: Was the Tax Bill Quest the Last Gasp of Bakerism?…
BOSTON—Nearly ten months into her administration, amid the strain of supporting migrants and an ever-imploding transit system, Governor Maura Healey finally got a major legislative win. Before legislators, advocates and state officials, she signed a tax cut bill, with a value of upwards of $1 billion, to great acclaim.
Well, not from everyone. The bill, whose roots predate her election last year, has attracted savage critiques from the left. The full span of these complaints vary in accuracy and relevance, but they do channel a deeper concern that Massachusetts is not moving on from Healey’s predecessor: Charlie Baker.
While tax cuts themselves need not inherently identify with right or left nor neoliberalism, the (false) occupation with Massachusetts as a high-tax hellhole arises from the commonwealth’s right. This package has its origins with the last governor. To that end, it fits into Bakerism, a personalist form of austere visions of government doing more (read: less) with less, which rose in the 80’s and 90’s.