Pioneer New England Legal Foundation Urges DOR to Reopen Tax Assessments Probe After Boston Makes Initial Disclosure of 150 Properties Affected by Retaliatory Assessment Increases
City records produced in litigation show a broader alleged practice than previously known
BOSTON —Pioneer New England Legal Foundation has hand-delivered a fourth letter to Massachusetts Commissioner of Revenue Geoffrey E. Snyder, urging him to reopen an investigation into the City of Boston’s practice of raising the assessed value of commercial properties whose owners appeal their assessments, following the city’s initial disclosure of 150 properties affected by the retaliatory assessment increases.
The Legal Foundation began investigating the practice in 2024 and brought its findings to the attention of the Department of Revenue Commissioner Snyder more than a year ago, asking the DOR to exercise its oversight authority under G.L. c. 58, § 1A, which requires the commissioner to supervise local assessors and ensure proper valuation practices. On three separate occasions, the Legal Foundation provided DOR with its preliminary findings and offered to meet with the Department to review the evidence. In August 2025, Snyder responded that DOR was unable to substantiate the allegations and declined the Legal Foundation’s request to meet.
The city’s subsequent disclosures in litigation have now identified approximately 150 commercial properties potentially affected by the challenged assessment increases. Those disclosures are merely preliminary as more complete production is due in coming weeks.
The Legal Foundation alleges that Boston has systematically increased the assessed value of commercial properties owned by taxpayers who exercise their statutory right to appeal to the Commonwealth’s Appellate Tax Board, effectively penalizing owners for seeking relief and shifting a growing share of the tax burden onto the commercial sector and their tenants. According to the complaint, the practice has forced affected taxpayers to overpay millions of dollars to the city.
With no meaningful corrective action taken, the Legal Foundation filed a class action in December 2025 in Suffolk County Superior Court, HS 148SST, LLC v. City of Boston. On May 11, 2026, a Superior Court judge in substantial part denied the city’s motion to dismiss the class action, allowing the core claims to proceed.
“The Department of Revenue previously said it could not substantiate our findings,” said Frank J. Bailey, president of Pioneer New England Legal Foundation and a retired U.S. Bankruptcy Judge. “But the City of Boston itself has now identified substantially more properties than we had uncovered.”
To determine what steps DOR took in response to its earlier requests for an investigation, the Legal Foundation has also filed a public records request seeking all communications between DOR and city officials concerning the matter.
“We have written to the owners of the 150 properties identified by the city. That’s several times the number we had uncovered, and we expect the number to increase further since the initial disclosures only cover the largest potentially affected properties,” Bailey said. “The Legal Foundation continues to identify and represent affected owners. We encourage any who appealed a Boston assessment and subsequently saw the property’s valuation increase to contact the Foundation.”
Affected property owners may contact the Pioneer New England Legal Foundation at 617-657-6814 or paul.johnson@pioneerlegal.org.
An interactive map of identified properties is available to media on request.
About Pioneer New England Legal Foundation
Pioneer New England Legal Foundation is a public-interest law firm that defends and promotes educational options, accountable government and economic opportunity across the Northeast and around the country. Through legal action and public education, the Legal Foundation works to preserve and enhance liberties grounded in the constitutions and civil rights laws of the United States and the individual New England states.
Media Contact
Amie O’Hearn
aohearn@pioneerinstitute.org
