Patrick: Don’t expect Mass. sales tax holiday
Published: June 29, 2009
BOSTON—Don’t count on another sales tax holiday this summer in Massachusetts.
Gov. Deval Patrick signed a 25-percent hike in the state’s sales tax into law on Monday, and it will take effect on Aug. 1.
That’s two weeks before the Legislature has in recent years granted a weekend reprieve from the state’s 5-percent sales tax. The move has been an effort to spur business amid the summer doldrums.
But Patrick says “that would be a very difficult thing” to repeat in a budget year that has already seen sharp program cuts, layoffs and an increase in the sales tax to 6.25 percent.
The state estimates it lost about $14.9 million in tax receipts during the two-day holiday last Aug. 16 and 17. The year before, it pegged the loss at $15.9 million.
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Reader Reactions
Just for your info—polynana—I didn’t.
WHO voted him in? Then don’t complain.
Yeah—don’t expect a sales tax holiday this year. I’ve got to get all the money I can for the state coffers.
Pretty soon we’ll be working until July and beyond just for the money to pay taxes.
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