Marblehead Businesses Support Sales Tax Holiday
Marblehead, MA — Local business owners are hoping to see the benefit of a sales tax holiday, which would suspend the 6.25 percent state sales tax on goods and services up to $2,500 the weekend of August 14 and 15.
A bill to bring back the sales tax holiday was approved last week by the state House of Representatives, although passage of the legislation through the Senate is uncertain at this point.
Gov. Deval Patrick has said he must weigh the impact of lost tax revenue before he would sign the bill.
Last year, the state’s fiscal crisis prompted legislators and the governor to forgo a sales tax holiday, which had been enacted for each of the previous five years. The state also raised the sales tax last year, from 5 percent to 6.25 percent.
That decision didn’t please Bob Duprez, manager of Howard’s news stand on Pleasant Street. Duprez said he thinks the people of Massachusetts deserve a tax break.
“They should have more of them,” Duprez said. “The people of the state deserve it. They used to have it before they raised the tax last year.”
