Massachusetts Lawmakers Approve Sales Tax Holiday For Mid-August

MASSACHUSETTS — Massachusetts lawmakers set the dates of this year's sales tax holiday weekend on Monday.

On August 13 and 14 of this year, Massachusetts shoppers will get a break from state sales tax on most items less than $2,500 and will not have to pay the state's 6.25 percent sales tax.

While the holiday applies to most retailers, it does not apply to purchases of some goods, like marijuana products, tobacco products, alcoholic beverages, meals, motor vehicles, motorboats, natural gas, steam, or electricity.

The annual sales-tax-free weekend was made permanent in 2018 by a law called the "grand bargain bill" that calls on the Legislature to set the dates by June 15 every year, or the Department of Revenue gets to pick the dates.

Retailers in 2018 dropped their push for a ballot question that lowered the 6.25 percent sales tax to 5 percent while raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, phasing out time-and-a-half pay on Sundays and holidays, and launched a paid family and medical leave program backed by a payroll tax.