BOSTON—Boston homeowners are about to get smacked with the biggest tax hike in nearly two decades — and now we know something even more outrageous: City Hall didn’t even give the City Council the data they needed before the hearing.

Yes, the Wu administration pushed through a historic tax spike without providing the required valuation data to the very people tasked with overseeing it.

A letter from City Councilor Ed Flynn, sent the day before the hearing, makes it crystal clear: the Council never received the data the city is required to submit each year, meaning councilors were expected to debate Boston’s tax rates with nothing — no numbers, no valuations, no justification. Flynn even notes the exact same thing happened last year.

I sent the following letter this morning to Boston’s Assessing Commissioner, seeking relevant tax related information to ensure the @BOSCityCouncil is fully informed for the upcoming debate and vote next week. See attached letter for further details. #bospoli pic.twitter.com/xEuc2ZClcN

— Ed Flynn 愛德華費連 (@EdforBoston) December 2, 2025

So while homeowners brace for sharp double-digit increases, the process behind the scenes was running on fumes and blindfolds. The city’s largest tax hike in nearly 20 years was unveiled while the administration kept its own spreadsheets locked away.

It’s the kind of governing that feels less like transparency and more like trust-us politics.

And the timing only makes it worse. Mayor Michelle Wu just received a hefty raise, pushing her salary to an eye popping $250,000. Weeks later, she’s telling homeowners, landlords, and small property owners that they need to pay more — a lot more — because commercial real estate is collapsing and revenues are drying up.

But instead of tightening belts or slowing down big-price wish-list projects, the administration continues to shovel money into glossy, feel-good ventures like the White Stadium overhaul — a massive, nine-figure makeover built around a soccer dream while Boston struggles to balance its books.

So here’s the picture: The mayor gets a big raise. The city pushes through a tax hike not seen since the mid-2000s. And City Council is left begging for the basic data behind it.

Residents are being asked to make up for falling revenues, progressive experiments, and capital spending binges — without so much as an honest explanation of how the valuations were calculated. Boston families facing inflation, rising rents, and constant cost-of-living pressure are now being told to foot the bill for an administration that’s spending freely and sharing sparingly.

This isn’t just a tax hike. It’s a tax hike wrapped in secrecy, delivered with a smile, and justified with buzzwords while residents are squeezed harder than ever.

Wu gets the raise, the projects, and the spotlight — and residents get the bill. That’s the story of Boston right now, and homeowners are the ones paying for it.