The Black Friday Mass Exodus

How’s that 6.25% sales tax looking now?

Massachusetts’ loss is Juliana Aquino’s gain. The 27-year-old mother of two could have done her Black Friday shopping at the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Methuen, where she lives. Instead, she made a 15-minute trek into New Hampshire, where there is no such thing as a sales tax.

“I come here all the time, even though there’s one closer,’’ Aquino said at 5 a.m. yesterday, pushing a shopping cart loaded with four flat-screen TVs. “I come up here even to buy groceries.’’

Massachusetts shoppers are fleeing the state’s rising sales tax in droves and shopping in New Hampshire. Fueled by necessity – and in some cases anger – customers said they were heading over the border to save money and score deals. Cars with Massachusetts license plates clogged the roads and lots across Salem. And through the early evening yesterday, the Mall at Rockingham Park in Salem and Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua – both just a few miles over the border – reported spikes in traffic over last year, according to Laurel Sibert, a spokeswoman for Simon Malls, which runs both shopping centers.

“The New Hampshire malls have definitely benefited from the sales tax increase in Massachusetts,’’ Sibert said.

No surprises here… the reason why Black Friday is such a big hit with shoppers is because prices are lower; why can’t Beacon Hill figure this out?

Bob Bliss, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, said in an August interview with the Globe that the net revenue gains from the sales tax hike outweigh the $48 million in expected losses from sales diverted to New Hampshire, the Internet, or reduced demand. Officials at the Massachusetts Department of Revenue could not confirm projected losses in tax revenue from people going to New Hampshire yesterday. But a recent report by the department showed that Massachusetts’ tax revenues for the first half of November totaled $41 million, equal to collections over the same period last year.

So long as there is still a majority of Massachusetts residents being screwed by the increase in the sales tax, they are still happy. Thanks a lot.

Anyone who can, keep sticking it to them. Cross the border and free yourself of the overbearing tax burden that has been bestowed upon us by the same elected officials you keep voting for.

Re-elect Deval…

…If you’re out of your mind!

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released it’s state-by-state economic data for the month of August on Friday. Massachusetts unemployment rose from 8.8% in July to 9.1% in August. In the past month Massachusetts has shed an additional 10,494 net jobs. While we are in a national and international economic recession, under one party Democratic rule Massachusetts continues to do one of the worst jobs at handling the recession.

Massachusetts new tax hikes including the sales tax hike went into effect on August 1, 2009. In the first month Massachusetts the unemployment rate rose faster than any other New England state. In Vermont unemployment went down for the third month in a row. Net job loss in Massachusetts exceeded the other 5 New England states combined.

Since January of 2007 when Deval Patrick became Governor and joined the Democratic super majorities in the state legislature unemployment has risen from 4.6% to 9.1%.

UPDATE: More from the Globe, New York Times and Michael Graham.

What a Wonderful World

Red Mass Group on Gov. Patrick’s success at bringing jobs to the Commonwealth.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released it’s state-by-state economic data for the month of June today. Massachusetts unemployment rose from 8.2% in May to 8.6% in June. This 0.4% increase was worse than the national increase of 0.1%, worse than any other New England state, and 40th nationally overall. While we are in a national and international economic recession, under one party Democratic rule Massachusetts continues to do one of the worst jobs at handling the recession.

Since January of 2007 when Deval Patrick became Governor and joined the Democratic super majorities in the state legislature unemployment has risen from 4.6% to 8.6%. 137,506 people have been added to the list of unemployed and Massachusetts has shed 134,442 net jobs. Massachusetts all time high was 10.9% in January, 1976.

Just wait until Deval’s tax hikes go into effect.

UPDATE: More from Mary Connaughton, the Boston Globe and Boston Herald.

SECOND UPDATE: From Hub Politics, Hillary Chabot and Dave Wedge.

THIRD UPDATE: More from the Globe and the Boston Herald.

Civil Dialogue

Gov. Patrick, always staying positive.

Gov. Deval Patrick hinted Wednesday at trying to draw progressive measures into the state tax code after his first term, saying more affluent Bay State residents are able to ease burdens on low-income people.

The remaining 18 months of his term are not likely to include any major tax hikes, Patrick said, two days after approving over $1 billion in new taxes in the fiscal 2010 budget, support he withheld until the House and Senate delivered him changes to the state’s transportation, ethics, and pension laws.

“I’m done with taxes for now,” Patrick said.

In a News Service interview, Patrick said he has heard demands for preserved and restored state services, which have taken a beating as revenues have cratered and caseload demands have surged.

“What we have in Massachusetts is a number of wealthy people who would be willing to contribute more – not all of them, but certainly have the capacity to contribute more – to relieve some of the pressure on the working poor,” Patrick said. “Those are big, big questions, huge challenges. They need to be sorted out in specifics and not the kind of abstracts we’re talking about now, and I don’t think we’re going to get to any of those specifics for some time.”

Patrick said, “We don’t have many really progressive mechanisms in Massachusetts, and we’re going to have to sort that out in the fullness of time, put it that way.”

Human services, education advocates and others argue that adequate state programs require increased revenue, and say the beneficiaries of those services should pay their share. Patrick told “Greater Boston” host Emily Rooney on WGBH Wednesday that he had detected an “appetite” among the public for a graduated income tax, but said such changes required a careful approach.

Lawmakers have frowned on tweaking the income tax since voting to override a voter mandate and freeze the rate at 5.3 percent in 2000.

Asked about Patrick’s tax talk Wednesday, House Ways and Means chair Charley Murphy said, “Whenever you’re talking about tax policy, it’s thin ice and you have to approach it cautiously.”

Legislators can expect more of the pressure tactics that have irked them in recent months, Patrick said, calling his invitations for populist lobbying of the Legislature not just effective but also a way to “keep faith with the notion of democracy.”

Patrick said that during his summer town hall tour attendees have urged him to stay his course.

“I get a lot of ‘hang in there, you know, we love what you’re doing, don’t let the bastards get you down,’ that sort of thing, and they could be talking about any number of bastards, by the way,” Patrick said during a News Service interview.

“Let them hear that on Beacon Hill!”

UPDATE: More from the Globe and Red Mass Group.

SECOND UPDATE: From the Boston Globe and Boston Herald.

THIRD UPDATE: From Red Mass Group, the Globe, the Herald, WBZ, WBUR, Mary Connaughton and Holly Robichaud.

The Common Wealth of Taxachusetts

And off we go down the path of tax hikes and toll hikes and falling short of making the necessary reforms to keep those hikes from happening.

Bay State consumers, already hard-pressed by a slumping economy, will be slapped with a 25 percent sales tax hike and nearly $1 billion in total tax increases Aug. 1, Gov. Deval Patrick said yesterday after signing a massive transportation reform bill.

Patrick had vowed to veto the sales tax boost if lawmakers didn’t enact transportation, pension and ethics reforms – but all three measures passed.

“I could not support a sales tax increase and ask people to pay for the status quo,” Patrick said in a statement. “Because of (the reforms), I will approve the new revenues we need to bring our budget into balance, offset the need for even more difficult cuts and expand opportunity throughout the commonwealth.”

The transportation measure also means an unpopular toll hike – scheduled take effect July 1 – will likely be averted. The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority board is meeting Monday.

I am not convinced, not in the slightest, that all possible options were considered to avoid increasing taxes. When times are tight for the rest of us, we have to cut our spending. Why can’t the state? I know too many people that have to endure pay cuts in addition to their own spending cuts and times are still rough. I know too many people that have become unemployed in the last year who will also bear the brunt of tax increases at the worst possible time. If they think the state has it rough, as around, they don’t have it so bad.

If someone can explain to me why perfectly good roads are getting repaved and perfectly good highway signs are getting replaced while taxes are being raised, then perhaps you have a shot of convincing me that the hikes are necessary. But I doubt it.

We’re all tired of the incessant rain that has been falling on the Commonwealth for weeks–but there is always hope in knowing that there is sunshine in our future…at least with regards to the weather forecast. As far as the forecast for the economy of the Commonwealth–I see that dreary days well into our future.

Remind me again, why do I bother to stay in Massachusetts?