State Likely to Increase Personal Exemption for Third Straight Year
       Provided that state revenues remain high through November, Massachusetts citizens will be able to increase the amount for their personal tax exemption for those filing taxes next April.
       State revenues swelled 6.1 percent between fiscal years 2005 and 2006 according to Department of Revenue figures, putting state coffers far ahead of the sustained 2.5 percent growth needed to trigger reductions in residents’ tax burdens.
       Personal exemption amounts would be boosted by $275 for individuals (to $4,400), $425 for heads of households (to $6,600), and $550 for joint filers (to $8,800). All total, Massachusetts taxpayers will get $60 million more back from the state next April.
       A preliminary statement about exemption amounts by Revenue Commissioner Alan LeBovidge is due Oct. 15, and a final statement Dec. 15.
       When lawmakers chose in 2002 to halt the income tax rollback at 5.3 percent, three-tenths of a point above the voter-approved rate, they installed benchmarks that, if breached, would lead to reductions in the tax formula. First targets are the personal exemption levels. If the state continues to attain the thresholds through tax year 2009, stepped 0.05 percent decreases in the overall income tax rate would kick in, followed by the restoration of charitable deductions, a department spokesman said.
       Whether the state, buoyed by its rising revenues, should comply with the voter mandate and decrease the income tax rate to 5 percent has burgeoned into a gubernatorial campaign issue.
       Both Republican Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey and Democratic Attorney General Thomas Reilly want the 5 percent rate restored quickly. Democratic venture capitalist Christopher Gabrieli wants only 40 percent of revenue growth to go towards a tax cut. Convenience store magnate Christy Mihos, running as an independent, doesn’t want to give back the money as a tax reduction, but give it back in the form of lower property taxes. And Democrat Deval Patrick, a former civil rights and corporate lawyer, has said the rate is about where it should be.