Despite praising steps taken by Gov. Maura Healey and other local leaders, according to the state’s business community, looking ahead to 2024 means acknowledging the severe economic challenges facing Massachusetts.

Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce CEO Jim Rooney, on Thursday, virtually delivered his organization’s Business Outlook 2024 address, in which he made clear that though the state and city of Boston made positive strides towards improvement, there remains plenty to do before the Massachusetts is made attractive for families and businesses.

“Much work remains to address issues of competitiveness, transportation, housing, an uncertain economy, and more over the coming year,” Rooney said. “We cannot compete and win unless we address the policies holding us back.”

Though Rooney praised the passage of a tax reform package pushed by the Chamber, which he says will make the state more affordable for families, he also pointed to data showing Massachusetts near the bottom when the states are compared for tax policy.

He cautioned that state spending is growing at an uncontrolled rate, and that the time for “belt-tightening” has officially arrived.

“When the current fiscal year state budget was passed last summer, it did include the recent tax cuts, but it also increased General Fund spending by $3.3 billion, or 6.2% over the fiscal year 2023 budget,” he said.

That’s just part of the picture, he said. Between 2018 and 2022, the state’s budget ballooned by over 26%, while Boston’s Consumer Price Index grew at only 14%. Rooney said the Chamber cautioned Beacon Hill that the rate of spending growth was “unsustainable and risky.”

Gov. Maura Healey, earlier this week, announced the state would need to trim about $1 billion from the fiscal 2024 budget, after revenues came in under expectations for six straight months.

A 2025 revenue target that comes in under previous year’s expenditures could be a step toward fiscal discipline, Rooney said. He called on the rest of the state’s government to practice the “prudence” Healey’s administration is showing by reducing the 2024 budget, as lawmakers begin to write the spending plan for 2025.

The Associated Industries of Massachusetts, in an early release of its 2024 State of Massachusetts Business Address, echoed Rooney’s comments, praising the work the Legislature has done already on tax reform but also saying the state needs to do more.

“Massachusetts needs a new, far-reaching approach to economic development, one that seamlessly melds competitiveness for the business community with affordability for the residents who work in our companies and live in our communities. Make no mistake, we must continue to prioritize the traditional pillars of economic development like advantageous tax rates, streamlined regulation and efficient permitting that are the bedrock of business success and job creation,” AIM President and CEO Brooke Thomson wrote.

Chief among the problems facing the state, which both the Chamber and AIM say need to be at the top of the Legislative agenda, are a shortage of housing, an unremarkable transportation network, high taxes compared to other states, high energy costs, and a lack of affordable childcare.

“Amid these policy priorities, we must recommit ourselves to an inclusive vision of economic growth in which every business in the commonwealth has access to the resources it needs to compete and share in the economic prosperity of the state,” Thompson wrote.