Committee warned provider‑tax changes will hit general fund; staff to track effects

A committee member told the joint Appropriations and Ways & Means hearing on Jan. 16 that changes to a health‑care provider tax discussed earlier would reduce general‑fund revenue by roughly $17–18 million per year for five years; the member said that by year five the state would be ‘‘losing 85,000,000 a year.’’ Tom Cravat, the state economist, confirmed the provider‑tax impacts feed through to the general fund and flagged the change as a material consideration when interpreting the forecast.