Joseph X. Donovan & Sarah Wellings (both of Sullivan & Worcester, Boston) have published Radical Tax Changes on the Horizon in Massachusetts, 49 State Tax Notes 733 (Sept. 15, 2008).  Here is the Introduction:

On July 3, Gov. Deval Patrick (D) signed into law the most far-reaching corporate tax changes to have been enacted in Massachusetts in the last 30 years, all embodied in Chapter 173 of the Acts of 2008, An Act Relative to Tax Fairness and Business Competitiveness. Later in July, we examined how the work of the Massachusetts Study Commission on Corporate Taxation helped to break a political impasse standing in the way of enactment.  [Joseph X. Donovan & Sarah Wellings, Combined Reporting in Massachusetts Survives Study and Actually Comes to Pass, 49 State Tax Notes 139 (July 21, 2008).] In this article, we will review the major provisions of the act, with a focus on the origin of some of those provisions in the debate leading up to enactment, and on questions of interpretation that the Department of Revenue or the courts will have to resolve.