Lamb: Make Sales Tax Holiday Weekend Permanent

Submitted by the office of Marty Lamb:

Today Marty Lamb, Republican candidate for state representative in the 8th Middlesex District, called upon the House to make the sales tax-free weekend permanent.

"This sales tax free weekend is a legislative gimmick. If the House was serious about giving taxpayers a break, then they would select a permanent weekend," said Lamb. "As the next state representative, I will work to make the sales tax holiday permanent and work to lower our sales tax back to 5 percent. I believe that taxpayers should be able to keep more of their hard-earned dollars. The people deserve leadership on the issue of taxes and tolls not political gamesmanship."

Lamb is the only candidate to have signed the No New Taxes pledge. He supports rolling back the sales tax from 6.25 percent to 5 percent, along with annual tax-free holiday weekend.

Yesterday when Gov. Deval Patrick delivered his vetoes of fiscal 2013, he announced that he will be filing a supplemental budget that includes a sale tax free weekend in August.

Lamb also took the opportunity to react to the governor's veto of the EBT language that lifts some restrictions.

"I am flabbergasted that the governor wants EBT recipients to be able to make purchases at jewelry stores and use the cards at hair salons. That's ridiculous," said Lamb. "One weekend of being able to shop tax free doesn't make up for failing to protect taxpayer dollars."