The Massachusetts tax system hits the wallets of lower-income people harder than high earners, with the bottom 20% of earners paying a higher percentage of their income in state and local taxes than the top 1%. An exception is the Commonwealth’s relatively robust estate tax. The estate tax is one of the main policies we have to reduce the gaping racial wealth gap in Massachusetts.

Nonetheless, the Massachusetts House voted last week to roll back the estate tax, to the cost of $207 million. This lost revenue means money isn't available for important investments or for tax relief for the struggling residents of the Commonwealth.

Even worse, the estate tax rollback was designed in a way that disproportionately benefits the largest estates, namely, those over $3 million. If legislators want to help comparatively smaller estates, they should design their design their policies to do so, not advance a costly giveaway to the wealthiest estates.

(Photo: The former Romney family house in Belmont)