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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. TGIF!
YOU CAN TAKE IT TO THE BANK Members of Congress filed their campaign finance reports for the first quarter of the year yesterday, providing us with a peek into their bank accounts.
Massachusetts employers are getting a one-month reprieve on higher unemployment insurance premiums, and the delay will give Beacon Hill time to resume work on a plan to address sticker shock issues left unresolved in a just-approved law.
The Department of Unemployment Assistance notified employers Thursday night that first quarter payments, which were due on April 30, will instead be due on June 1. The delay gives businesses more time to prepare to make larger payments, and the Legislature time to address a spike in jobless system solvency assessments, which surprised some policymakers.
In the notice to employers, Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Rosalin Acosta and DUA Director Richard Jeffers said the Baker administration is further evaluating the solvency rate increase and will provide more information at a later date. In an email to members, the Retailers Association of Massachusetts President Jon Hurst said the group had been informed that DUA would issue emergency
Business owners were caught by surprise last Tuesday when they received huge bills in the mail.
They were assured by the state Legislature and Gov. Charlie Baker that unemployment rates would be frozen for two years after the nightmare that was, and is, COVID-19. What no one realized, including lawmakers and the governor, was that solvency rates would rise exponentially.
Solvency rates are assessed on businesses and funneled into an unemployment trust fund, which is used to pay claims that can’t be attributed to a specific business. But during the pandemic, the trust fund was used to pay claims due to COVID-19, which left the fund depleted.
Western Massachusetts business leaders mobilize push for legislative fix to jump in unemployment taxes
Updated Apr 15, 2021;
Posted Apr 15, 2021
Executive Board members of the East of the River Five Town Chamber of Commerce urge business owners to call their legislators and push for a fix to the skyrocketing solvency fund assessments. Political consultant and business owner Anthony Cignoli moderated the discussion.Courtesy of Nancy Connor, ERC5
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Western Massachusetts business leader urged their peers to fight the latest tax notices showing massive unemployment tax hikes the kinds of increases lawmakers had hoped to prevent with the new unemployment insurance law.