Massachusetts Senate Votes to Raise Sales Tax By 25%! (Boston: to buy, bankrupt)

[bmak57]

I have to agree with Neil0311. I just bought several thousand worth of building supplies for an addition; everything came from NH. If I have to drive 20 minutes to get to a mall or 30 minutes to get to NH guess where I am going. And now I have even more incentive to shop across the border, especially for wine, beer etc (NH liquor stores already have some great sale prices).

[seamusnh]

Originally Posted by neil0311

As I said earlier, I did...many times. Any time I needed any kind of big ticket item that I could carry home, we'd go to Nashua to shop.

I'm sure people who live on the cape won't be driving to NH, but don't kid yourselves into thinking that people who live on the north shore, Merrimack Valley, and along the Route 2 corridor don't shop in NH already. This will just make the cost/benefit equation that much easier to figure.

It is no mystery why there are no malls in MA north of rt 128. People in this area go to NH to shop. South of 128, there are a few malls as there is no incentive to drive to RI to shop....

[DreamworksSKG]

better than raising the gas tax or the tolls on the pike

I'll take the minor sales tax incrase over that.

not to mention the hotels-meals tax is good to get more tourism revenue

[DreamworksSKG]

its not Governor Patrick's fault that a republican governor messed things up in this state for so long and now he has to try to deal with a million problems at the same time.

[RalphKNS]

Sales tax is one of the most regressive taxes out there. When I moved to MA from Tennessee one of the best benefits I got was only having to pay HALF as much tax; TN's sales tax is about 10%! That means for every thousand dollars spent, you lose a c note!

Since people in the lowest income brackets spend much more of the money they earn (the poorest people spend close to 100%), this tax is going to be worse and worse on those who have less and less.

[seamusnh]

Originally Posted by DreamworksSKG

its not Governor Patrick's fault that a republican governor messed things up in this state for so long and now he has to try to deal with a million problems at the same time.

The Democrats have had supermajorities in the state house and state senate for over 10 years. Republican governors can't get much done when their vetos are overridden all the time.... MA is single party rule...

[EnjoyTheSilence]

Originally Posted by teachertype

Big deal. Pay your taxes if you want police, fire, public schools, road repair, snow removal, services for elderly and disabled and children, etc.

EXACTLY!

Rep points for you.

Massachusetts is one of the few states in the US where people tend to "think outside the box" when it comes to paying tax. What most people fail to realize is that your taxes go a long way and pay for things that we tend to take for granted, i.e. schools, highway maintenance, police, fire service, armed forces and immigration control. Trust me when I say that these things aren't cheap and they'd be even more expensive if they were somehow sold off to the highest bidder in the private sector and were operated "for profit", just like our wonderful healthcare system that just so happens to be the most expensive in the world.

[seamusnh]

Originally Posted by BCreass

What most people fail to realize is that your taxes go a long way and pay for things that we tend to take for granted, i.e. schools, highway maintenance, police, fire service, armed forces and immigration control.

"immigration control" in MA is a joke. Framingham is full of illegal aliens as is Cape Cod.

As for the other items (schools, highway, police, fire), there are other states that provide equal services without extracting so much money from the taxpayer...

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by teachertype

Big deal. Pay your taxes if you want police, fire, public schools, road repair, snow removal, services for elderly and disabled and children, etc.

What a false straw man argument. People like you are why I left MA.

So the choice is either you get raped by a bloated state government or you won't have municipal services or "services for the elderly and disabled children?" OMG...save the children; pay your taxes.

Many of those services are paid for by local taxes, not the state, but of course you throw in the elderly and children, so that implies the cruelty of those people who want to keep some of the money they earn. Those nasty, evil people who want to throw the elderly into the street and take food out of disabled children's mouths.....the horror of it all.

I hate to tell you but New Hampshire gets along just fine without any homeless elderly or disabled children being harmed. So do most other states in the country. Taxing fairly to meet state obligations is a different thing from bloated spending and government with no accountability.

[LeavingMA]

I just wonder when it ends and some of you say enough is enough. I also don't understand those of you that argue MA has these great services. The only people who get "free" things are those that refuse to work and pay taxes. Tax this, tax that is the only MA way. If you look at the states with the worst budgets these days, it is the higher tax states. So higher taxes don't lead to higher revenues. This state continues to push the working class out. NH will laugh and must thank MA everytime as they get the extra business.

So MA will continue to lose more of its educated workforce and businesses...and that means less revenue. The morons in the state legislature will cry for more money and the drones in this state will go along with it. I say shut down the state house and we will all be better off. I guarentee you this isn't the last tax or fee raised this year.

I will shop in NH just to protest MA. Hopefully soon I'll be moving to either MA or another state that doesn't have the socialist/fascist that exist here. Please people stop drinking the MA koolaid...eventually you'll realize your government services are awful, but yet they keep sticking their hand in your pocket.