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Tell us: Do you want a statewide two-month tax-free holiday?
If Gov. Baker had his way, we'd skip sales tax in August and September. But Beacon Hill's not keen on the idea.
Some senate Democrats in Massachusetts may say Gov. Charlie Baker’s proposal for a 2-month sales tax holiday is dead in the water, but we want to know how Mass. residents feel about the proposal.
This fiscal year, the state has a tax revenue surplus of more than $4 billion and Baker is arguing it’s the perfect time to give back some of that money to local businesses by elongating the tax holiday. Typically, the state’s tax holiday, during which shoppers are not charged the state’s 6.25 percent sales tax for many purchases, lasts for just a weekend. This year’s holiday is slated for Aug.14-15.
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Baker has said that after a terrible year, this tax break is owed to residents and business owners in the state, but opponents of the plan say it’s an unnecessary move in a state where consumers demand is already high.
TWO MONTHS TAX FREE?
“I don’t think we need two months to incentivize people to spend when there’s that much pent-up demand,” Senate President Karen Spilka told GBH News this week. “A lot of my colleagues and I feel this is not the best way to help our residents and small businesses right now.”
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Spilka said the Senate would review the bill when it reaches them, but that for now, she believes the current tax holiday weekend is “sufficient.”
Some lawmakers have said they’d rather see the surplus funds used for what they see as more practical purposes.
“There is no evidence that we need to incentivize purchasing,” state Rep. Mindy Domb, an Amherst Democrat, wrote on Twitter. “Consumer demand is high. Instead of an extended sales tax holiday, let’s put funds towards our future: relieve student debt, support public higher education, address rent relief post-pandemic. I could make a long list.”
But Baker is holding fast to his proposal. Baker argues that the two-month holiday would give back an estimated $900 million to taxpayers in the state.
“The people in Massachusetts, despite the pandemic and everything else, managed to generate a lot more tax revenue than we thought they would generate, and I think a deal’s a deal,” the Republican governor said in defense of his proposal during an interview with GBH. “We should give that back to them.”
We want to know what the consumers of Massachusetts think about the idea. What are your thoughts on a two-month sales tax holiday in the state? Would it incentivize you to spend more time shopping at local businesses as Baker says, or would you rather see that money used elsewhere?
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Let us know what you think about the proposed holiday by filling out the survey below or emailing us at [email protected], and we’ll feature your responses in a future article.
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