Our Story
2022
The campaign to pass Question 1—the Fair Share Amendment—is officially underway!
Right now, the rich pay less of their income in taxes than the rest of us. That’s far from fair.
Question 1 would make the richest 1% pay just 4¢ more on every dollar they earn after their first $1 million in a single year. And if you earn less than $1 million/year, you won’t pay a cent more.
We’re talking to voters and communities across Massachusetts about what $2 billion a year, every year, constitutionally dedicated to education and transportation, will do for our schools from pre-K to higher education; our roads from Pittsfield to Amesbury; and our trains and buses all over the commonwealth. We need a roadmap to recover from COVID-19, and the Fair Share Amendment is part of how we get there.
Now, we’re fighting for fair taxes that will fund affordable, high-quality schools, safe roads and bridges, and reliable transportation options.
We’re sharing your stories about what the Fair Share Amendment will mean for you, your family, and your community. We’re talking to voters across the commonwealth, and we’re building a movement for a fair Massachusetts.
This year, we’re Question 1 on the ballot on November 8—so vote YES on 1 for fair taxes and improved transportation and public education across the state. It’s a win-win for all of us.
Dax
2019-2021
After months of grassroots calls for action, in June 2019, the state legislature voted to advance the Fair Share Amendment one step closer to the ballot in a constitutional convention.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic made the need for investments in our schools and roads even clearer, but as working people and small businesses struggled, the ultra-rich just got richer. In June 2021, the Constitutional Convention voted 159-41 to place the Fair Share Amendment on the November 2022 statewide ballot.
2015-2018
Since 2013, Raise Up Massachusetts, a coalition of community organizations, faith-based groups, and labor unions, has fought for policies that support working families, including earned sick time and a livable minimum wage. It’s hard not to notice that our education and transportation systems across the Commonwealth have been underfunded and underserved for too long.
In 2015, the Fair Share Amendment began as a proposal to fix the upside down tax system and ensure the Massachusetts tax system is truly fair. Then and now, the very rich pay less of their income in their taxes than working people. By simply getting the very rich to pay their fair share, we can both make the tax system more equitable for all and improve Massachusetts’ roads, bridges, schools, colleges, trains, and buses.
That’s because having the very rich pay their fair share in taxes creates a permanent, sustainable funding source to make these investments. Individuals who make over $1 million in a single year can afford to pay as much of their income as working people do in state taxes. When multi-millionaires pay just 4% more on every dollar they earn annually after their first million, we’ll raise $2 billion a year, every year, to invest in transportation and education. And no one else will pay a cent more.
The Raise Up coalition began to focus its energy on getting the Fair Share Amendment on the statewide ballot as a constitutional amendment. Amending the state constitution is necessary to ensure that only the very rich pay more, and it guarantees that the money raised from the tax on the ultra-rich will go toward transportation and education—the systems we need to thrive.
Raise Up Massachusetts and partners across the commonwealth collected 150,000 signatures from Massachusetts voters in support of the Fair Share Amendment, then overwhelmingly passed two state constitutional conventions in favor of Fair Share (as required to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot).
Then a corporate-backed lawsuit, led by corporate lobbying interests, led to the original Fair Share Amendment being removed from the ballot on a procedural technicality. But that wasn’t anywhere close to the end of the story. Raise Up was still determined to make our tax system fairer and invest in shared prosperity across Massachusetts, so the coalition immediately began advocating for a legislative version of the Fair Share Amendment.
Be a part of our story
Teachers support the Fair Share Amendment.