Planning to Shop in Mass. This Weekend?

Are you planning to head on over to Seekonk this weekend to do some shopping?

Massachusetts state lawmakers last month picked this weekend, Aug. 10-11, for what has become the almost-annual yearly tax holiday weekend.

Shoppers last year saved more than $23 million by not having to pay the state’s 6.25 percent sales tax. Also, says MassLive, the sales-tax exemption does not apply to any item that costs more than $2,500; also, all motor vehicles, motorboats, restaurant meals, telecommunications and tobacco products.

So, shoppers pocketed millions of dollars by not paying the 6.25 percent sales tax on what they bought.

Who picked up that tab? The commonwealth, of course. The Department of Revenue estimated that Massachusetts lost about $23.3 million.

Rhode Island businesses also probably took a hit from shoppers who might have bought in the Ocean State instead.

There are critics. Boston Globe columnist Tom Keane is scornful about the tax holiday being a “gimmick” — and worse:

"The holidays don’t really encourage more spending. They just encourage people to delay their spending until the holiday occurs (or accelerate the purchase of something they had planned to buy later). Yes, business will be booming this weekend. But that comes at a cost of somewhat less business the other 51 weekends of the year.

On the flip side, consumers don’t benefit that much either. Most studies find retailers in effect use the tax breaks as a substitute for cutting their prices."

So, what do you think? Will you buy something in Massachusetts this weekend that you would have bought some other time in Rhode Island? Use the comment box below.