FY26 Local Revenue

Local revenue is 16.7% of the City's revenue budget in FY26, a $58.2 million more than the FY25 budget.

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Local revenue is revenue from excise taxes, payments-in-lieu-of-taxes, licenses and permits, fees and fines, investment income, intergovernmental revenue, and available funds. The City collected $829.1 million in local revenue in FY24, 10.7% more than FY23. In FY25, the City budgeted $751.1 million for these sources. For FY26, the City is budgeting $809.4 million. This budget shows the strength of the local economy even with economic uncertainty

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Boston, MA 02201-2037
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Overview

Recurring Local Receipts by Type

Local receipts is revenue the City is able to generate locally other than property tax. These include items like excise taxes, fees, fines, and permits. This revenue source is budgeted to increase by $58.2 million in FY25, 7.8% more than FY25.

Collections for local revenues have increased for the last several years. This trend is expected to continue. As in prior years the Finance Cabinet will work with departments to review revenues to maximize collections.

The graph to the right shows the share of each category within this revenue source.

FY19-FY24 are actual collections, FY25 and FY26 are budgeted amounts.

Excises

An excise tax is a tax applying to a specific industry or good.

The largest excise tax collected for the City is the local room occupancy excise, levied on occupancy of hotel rooms, motel rooms, and short-term rental units. In addition to the local tax, the State collects a 5.7% excise tax and a 2.75% fee, transferred to the State’s convention center fund, for a total tax from all sources of 14.95%.

The FY25 budget was set at $134.5 million in local room occupancy collections. In the FY26 budget this amount is estimated to grow to $148.5 million. This increase reflects the strength of the hotel, restaurant, and tourism industries.

Other excise taxes budgeted to increase in FY26 include:

Meals - 0.75% local excise on meals
Jet fuel tax - 5% of the average sales price, but no less than five cents per gallon
Motor vehicle - an excise in lieu of property tax on motor vehicles, $25 per one thousand dollars of vehicle valuation

See below a table with all excise taxes the City collects.

The table below LISTS all excise taxes levied in the City:

Categories	FY24 Actual	FY25 Budget	FY26 Budget	Difference in $	Difference in %

Categories	Room Occupancy

FY24 Actual	$144,629,614

FY25 Budget	$134,500,000

FY26 Budget	$148,800,000

Difference in $	$14,000,000

Difference in %	10.4%

Categories	Motor Vehicle

FY24 Actual	$72,654,905

FY25 Budget	$59,000,000

FY26 Budget	$71,300,000

Difference in $	$12,300,000

Difference in %	20.8%

Categories	Meals

FY24 Actual	$40,632,300

FY25 Budget	$36,000,000

FY26 Budget	$42,800,000

Difference in $	$6,800,000

Difference in %	18.9%

Categories	Aircraft Fuel

FY24 Actual	$48,206,305

FY25 Budget	$38,650,000

FY26 Budget	$41,500,000

Difference in $	$2,850,000

Difference in %	7.4%

Categories	Vehicle Rental Surcharge

FY24 Actual	$1,414,759

FY25 Budget	$1,250,000

FY26 Budget	$1,440,000

Difference in $	$190,000

Difference in %	15.2%

Categories	Marijuana Excise

FY24 Actual	$3,615,227

FY25 Budget	$2,600,000

FY26 Budget	$3,660,000

Difference in $	$1,060,000

Difference in %	40.8%

Categories	Condominium Conversion

FY24 Actual	$387,500

FY25 Budget	$350,000

FY26 Budget	$500,000

Difference in $	$150,000

Difference in %	42.9%

Categories	Short Term Rental

FY24 Actual	$2,427,613

FY25 Budget	$700,000

FY26 Budget	$1,800,000

Difference in $	$1,100,000

Difference in %	157.1%

Categories	Boat Excise

FY24 Actual	$627

FY25 Budget	$0

FY26 Budget	$10,000

Difference in $	$10,000

Difference in %