{xpost} Massholes our time is coming!!!!
I....I don't know what to say...no words....to describe...should have sent...a poet.
http://business.bostonherald.com/bus...?articleid=840
Sunday liquor sales passed
Massachusetts residents won't have to live near the state line to buy alcohol on Sunday under a plan lawmakers approved last night.
Tucked in a $100 million economic stimulus package - along with tax credits for businesses and a one-day ``sales-tax holiday'' set for Aug. 14 - is a provision allowing year-round, statewide Sunday liquor sales at package and grocery stores.
The move, which upends a long-standing tradition of banning booze sales on the Sabbath, would allow towns to opt out of the idea. Store owners would also have the option.
Package stores along Massachusetts' borders are now allowed to sell booze on Sunday, in an attempt to buffer them from the impact of Sunday liquor sales in other states, such as New Hampshire.
All package stores can sell liquor on Sundays between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day.
Liquor-industry representatives applauded the year-round move as ``a resounding vote for a more consumer-friendly marketplace in Massachusetts.''
``I could weep right now,'' added Richard Nsanja, manager of Brookline Liquor Mart, in Allston. ``I'm happy. The way the economy has been running, we need something to keep us going. Business has been picking up a bit because of the holidays, but this is what we need at this time.''
The move overshadowed the rest of the $100 million economics package - which includes making the state's investment tax credit permanent and using tobacco settlement funds to invest in emerging technologies, as House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran (D-Mattapan) wanted.
The package also includes Gov. Mitt Romney's idea for a pilot program that gives tax rebates to biomedical companies building manufacturing plants in Massachusetts.
The one-day ``sales-tax holiday,'' pushed by Senate President Robert Travaglini (D-East Boston), would only apply to items valued at $2,500 or less, thus excluding big-ticket items such as cars and boats.
The Senate originally wanted two sales-tax-exempt days, the second one in December. But the House balked and negotiators settled on only the August date, said state Rep. Peter Larkin (D-Pittsfield).
The economics package also provides tax credits for brownfields and historic-property developments.
But the real buzz of the night was booze and Sundays.
``States are realizing that Sunday sales make sense in a 21st century economy,'' said the Distilled Spirits Council.
Some of the border package stores - they must be within 10 miles of neighboring states - have opposed allowing Sunday sales statewide for fear of losing business.
Still, Susie Moodie, who works at Shawsheen Village Liquors in Andover, which is open Sunday, said the store wouldn't likely lose much business. While the store gets the occasional customer from afar, most business is local.
``I don't think people are traveling 40 miles to come here,'' she said.
One local store manager wasn't thrilled with the decision.
``Great,'' she said. ``I'm a manager so I'd be required to work, so I'm not sure how I feel about that.''
