Beginning in 2004 the State of Massachusetts has had an annual sales-tax holiday during which the state’s 6.5% sales tax is not charged on purchases. In 2009 they skipped it over budget concerns, and this year the state government is having that discussion again. See if you noticed what I noticed?
Governor Charlie Baker said skipping the holiday “ought to be part of the conversation.”
Senate President Stanley Rosenberg said the Senate “has increasingly been skeptical about whether this is a good use of $20 [million], now $25 million a year.”
House Speaker Robert DeLeo said skipping the holiday “may be, possibly be, something we may have to take a look at.”
Did you see it? No, not the Republican governor leaning into the inside fastball on sales taxes, I’m referring to Rosenberg, who is skeptical about whether this is a good use of tens of millions of dollars.
The folks running the state of Massachusetts view this as giving you a gratuity to which you are not actually entitled, paid for out of your own pocket. They are skeptical about whether allowing you to keep money that you earn is a good use of that money.
Please do not misunderstand. Massachusetts residents deserve to be treated this way. But it is always a pleasant surprise when the reality of what they keep doing to themselves election after election, presents itself in such obvious terms.
Letting you keep $20-25 million dollars, arguably a tiny dollop of revenue in the dumpster fire that is the Massachusetts state budget, is an indulgence whose shelf life may have expired.
And after further review, additional reductions in your misuse of personal funds may be required to ensure that this income is put to “good” use, as opposed to whatever the hell it is you may have had planned.
