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.

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?

Latest Budget Includes Taxes, Not Reforms

The budget unveiled by our elected officials on Beacon Hill still lacks in the reform department.

Beacon Hill lawmakers last night unveiled a $27.4 billion budget that hikes taxes nearly $1 billion while slashing aid to cities and towns.

The spending blueprint raises the sales and meals taxes from 5 percent to 6.25 percent, and ends the sales tax exemption on booze bought in package stores, soaking taxpayers for an estimated $860 million.

Cities and towns would also be able to raise hotel and meals taxes, expected to cost taxpayers another $95 million.

Democrats who control the budget-writing committees noted that they cut $700 million in spending.

“This reflects the reality we’re in,” said Rep. Charles Murphy (D-Burlington).

But House Republican Leader Rep. Brad Jones said the budget would whack struggling families.

“The fact of the matter is, I think this budget will have a heavy dose of taxes, obviously some serious cuts and very little reform,” Jones said.

The spending cuts and tax hikes come as the state faces a $3 billion dropoff in tax revenue.

Some of the budgets provisions include:

• Cut Quinn Bill education funding for current police officers to $10 million, while eliminating them entirely for new officers
• Force state workers to pay as much as 25 percent of their health-care premiums – a hike of at least 5 percent
• Steer $275 million to transportation funding to stave off Pike toll hikes and MBTA fare increases.

How about we force state workers to pay as much as 50%, as many of us in the private sector do. Sorry, but an increase of 5% to their share of their health care pales in comparison to the real world and we are going through.

$275 million to stave off hikes in the Pike tolls and MBTA fares? Will they guarantee that the tolls and fares can’t go up? Sorry, but I’d bet good money that even with $275 million to “stave off” those increase, they will come in short order.

Whatever the budget proposes, I am sure more could be done–much more–they just won’t. Until Beacon Hill takes the idea of reform seriously, we will be forced to endure tax increases on top of cuts to services. That is inexcusable.

Tisei Leading The Charge To Nix Hack Holidays

If ever there was a time to get rid of these ridiculous holidays, it’s now. Thankfully, there is one party on Beacon Hill willing to get it done.

A Senate push to repeal two controversial Suffolk County holidays – which went down to defeat in a close vote last month – could get new life thanks to a top Republican who has vowed to refile the bill, the Herald has learned.

A budget amendment to eliminate Bunker Hill Day and Evacuation Day drew widespread support from Senate Republicans and liberal Democrats alike – including Hub state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz – but the measure ultimately fell short by a 21-17 vote.

“We got more support than ever this year,” Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei said yesterday. “We’re picking up a lot of momentum and, given the fact that this has so much support, I’ll be filing it as a piece of legislation.”

That’ll give lawmakers such as Sen. Michael Knapik another chance to skewer the much-maligned holidays, which the Westfield Republican says cost the state more than $5 million at a time of likely steep tax hikes and deep budget cuts.

“It’s hard to justify these days off any more,” Knapik said. “I’m heartened by the 17 votes. Hopefully they’ll bring some sanity to everyone else.”

All schools and other nonemergency government agencies are closed in Suffolk County on Bunker Hill Day on June 17 and Evacuation Day on March 17. State employees also are allowed to take the days off or use them as floating holidays.

Outside of Suffolk County, these holidays are a joke. Let’s face it, government agencies don’t need two more days a year to be earning holiday pay when most of these people are serving positions that have little to no purpose.

Senators took the first vote on a Republican budget amendment aimed at axing the holidays two weeks ago, sparking a roughly 15-minute debate laced with sarcasm and old-fashioned Boston tribalism.

“If they want to debate the merits of the Suffolk County holidays I’m happy to defend them,” said Sen. Jack Hart (D-Dorchester). “It’s not a frivolous tradition. We hold it to be important, and I wonder if we get rid of it does that open the Pandora’s box to perhaps over time get rid of other holidays.”

Senator Jack Hart, you are a fool. Yeah, can you imagine nixing holidays like Christmas or Thanksgiving? Of course not. It is absolutely a frivolous tradition. In a day and age where I’d be willing to be most children attending public school can’t tell you the real meaning of “religious” holidays like Easter or Christmas (besides the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus), an even smaller percentage are likely to be able to tell you what Bunker Hill Day or Evacuation Day are. How many of the hacks who take those days off know what those days are all about?

You know that in the private sector, employees are being treated to less paid holidays now than they were even just last year–it’s a sign of the times. When the rest of us are being forced to make sacrifices, we expect the government to do the same–especially considering it’s our money they are flushing down the toilet so a bunch of do-nothing hacks can go enjoy a spring or summer day while the rest of us work to pay for their days off.

Think About The Future

David G. Tuerck: Gov. Patrick at a crossroads.

Now is when Gov. Deval Patrick decides his political future.

The Legislature has laid down the gauntlet: The governor can either sign legislation that will raise the sales tax or use his veto and let Beacon Hill thumb its collective nose at him and override the veto. For the sake of both the commonwealth and his political future, he should call the Legislature’s bluff.

What the governor needs to understand but what also runs counter to his political instincts is that this is not about teacher layoffs, human services cutbacks and all the other dire consequences that the increased sales tax is intended to avert. This is about politics and moral courage.

In the Legislature, politics has trumped moral courage. The Legislature knows that the increase in the sales tax will not bring in enough revenue to end the “crisis,” as it is commonly seen. But it also knows that it has to raise some tax – any tax – to show that it is willing to sacrifice a few thousand private-sector jobs in order to pacify the union bosses and other special pleaders to whom it is largely beholden.

It is this lack of courage that makes the Legislature so terrified of the “R” word. When Patrick tried to reform transportation by abolishing the Turnpike Authority and moving MBTA employees’ health care to the Group Insurance Commission, he got a poison pill from the Legislature. When he tried to cut back on overpriced police details, the Legislature thwarted him by tying the hands of local governments. When he tried to raise the gas tax, the Legislature decided a sales tax hike carried less political risk.

So now it’s the governor’s move. Now he gets to decide whether he can practice good politics and responsible government at the same time.

UPDATE: More from the AP.

SECOND UPDATE: More from the Cape Cod Times, Herald, Phoenix and Globe.