Results tagged “taxes”

Mayor Thomas Menino announced today that the City of Boston will be raising local hotel and meals taxes at the beginning of October. The move, which was authorized by the recent state budget, will increase Boston's hotel tax from 12.45% to 14.45% and the meals tax from 6.25% to 7%. Menino expects the increases to net $18 million during the next fiscal year. According to city figures, the rates are still lower than other major cities. New York, for example, levies a 14.75% hotel tax and a 8.38% meals tax.

New Hampshire might lay off 750 workers after Labor Day, reports WBZ. The Live Free or Die State, which doesn't levy a sales or individual income tax, is in a budgetary crisis, and the word of the layoffs comes after a disagreement between the State Employees Association and Governor John Lynch over unpaid furloughs. [reports WBZ}

So, hundreds of Pike employees and retirees get free Fast Lane transponders. Bostonist wants one. State cops rightly get most of the "nonrevenue transponders," as they are called. According to the Herald, 849 of 1,300 Pike salary-takers also get the coveted freebies. Not a typo. Aside from being an extravagant perk, as taxes surge and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority is eliminated, could excessive transponder use cause tollbooth backups?

We’ve been living a carefree, tax-free lifestyle in the world of liquor for a while now. That all could change soon. Lawmakers finalizing the 2010 budget are proposing a hefty tax on alcohol. They have raised the general sales tax from 5% to 6.25% and are now applying that to the sale of all beer, wine, and alcohol sold in stores.

The recession has hit, and hard.

Governor Deval Patrick took the legislature's slogan, "Reform Before Revenue," and flipped it when he threatened to veto any legislation that incorporated Speaker Robert DeLeo's proposed 25% sales tax hike. The tax, which would provide $275 million additional revenue for transportation agencies, was proposed in response to Patrick's request for a 19% gas tax hike and significant reforms in transportation agencies. Patrick's tax would have provided twice as much revenue for the agencies. In his letter to the legislature, Patrick claimed that DeLeo's tax plan was unfocused and accused both the House and the Senate of neglecting to enact crucial ethics and pension reforms that Patrick thinks are the prerequisite for any tax increase. [Globe]

In a rare show of decency, the IRS will—get this—ever so kindly allow Madoff and other Ponzi victims to not pay taxes on money they didn't earn! The IRS is considering issuing refunds to people who paid taxes on money that Madoff claimed to have made for them, but which was really just holding in his giant temple of devastation. Say, can we get refunds on taxes we paid on investments that declined massively in value? Probably not! One can't expect too much from the IRS. [AP via Globe]

-- Bostonist again barely misses Time's "Top 25 Blogs" list. [Time]

The economic news from New York has been as brutal and relentless as the Giants' pass rush in the Super Bowl. Once again, New England is scrambling and taking too many hits.

--A doctor and a nurse at Gloucester High School would like to give contraceptives confidentially to students, but Addison Gilbert Hospital refused, so the doctor and the nurse have quit in protest. They should do something, as the high school has had 17 teen pregnancies this year. [Boston Herald, WBZ]

--Boston 911 operators are under scrutiny again because a call taker's error led to a delay in the arrival of police as a 76-year-old man was being beaten. [Boston Globe]

A state senator from Milton has unveiled a plan to apply a gradual tax to plastic bags, starting at 2 cents and then rising to 15 cents.

This afternoon, the Globe reported that Cambridge ice-cream store Toscanini's is back in business. After the state seized the store for nonpayment of taxes, the owners raised enough money online to give to the state and reopen.

Gus Rancatore, owner of Toscanini's, which was seized by Massachusetts for nonpayment of taxes, is launching an effort to save the beloved ice-cream store, and he's taking his efforts to the media.

Boy, this one had "thrilling comeback" written all over it, didn't it? After the Red Sox pulled Tuesday night's game out of the grave, they spotted Tampa Bay a 6-0 lead yesterday afternoon. (Oh, inconsistent, Daisuke...what's to be done with you?) The Sox then started chipping away as they've done so many times. Jason Varitek's 2-run homer in the seventh chased starter Andy Sonnanstine to the clubhouse, then Crisp walked and Lugo followed with an...

Not every day can be that exciting in the sports world. Today will be pretty good: the Sox open a series in Baltimore, the Patriots play their first exhibition game, and Gillette Stadium is preparing for the Sunday arrival of David Beckham. Yesterday...nothing. Well, there was a little excitement. New Celtics Eddie House and Scot Pollard faced the media, and Bostonist already likes Pollard. "Getting Kevin Garnett here was a big deal, but with us...

Usually we're bringing you the Mitt Watch on this little corner of the internet. Today we're watching Mitt in his new ad for Mitt Watch. We're still too many months away before actual voting in the 2008 election cycle begins to start putting any faith in poll numbers. Political ads generally tend to bore us, but since it's time to start planning the Fourth of July BBQ patriotism may have taken over – for 24...

-- If ever there was a night the Red Sox would want to play Toronto, Tuesday was it. The Blue Jays, who have become an AL East Achilles Heel of sorts for the Sox, had lost six straight heading into the game at the Rodgers Center. Josh Beckett was set to go for his seventh win of the season. Manager Terry Francona was on the cusp of his 300th win leading Boston. Almost seemed too...

This week we'd like to congratulate the -ist network's Mother Hen, Gothamist's Jen Chung, who found herself a recipient of Wired Magazine's Wired Rave Award. If that doesn't sound terribly exciting, keep in mind another recipient was J.K. Rowling. Yep, that's right, the -ist network and Harry Potter now have something in common. Go us. Austinist has a chat with the ever-fashionable Golden Girl Rue McClanahan, and managed to catch some local fashionistas making...

On this day a mere 131 years ago, Alexander Graham Bell received the patent for the telephone and Ma Bell was on her way to being born. Bell submitted his patent for the telephone at 11:30 a.m. February 14, only hours after Elisha Gray submitted a caveat for the device – but Gray didn't convert his caveat into a full blown application for patent, so the patent office granted the patent to Bell. It's a whole contentious story that could probably be researched for a decade before yet another book was written on the subject, but the long and the short of it was that Bell got the patent for the phone and a system of overtaxing citizens began.

The old saying goes that nothing is certain except death and taxes. You should add Fung Wah buses to that list.

Boffo Box Office, with a lecture from burlesque historian David Kruh, a screening of Lady of Burlesque and a performance from the Boston Babydolls Burlesque Troupe, will start at Coolidge Corner Theater tomorrow night at 7:00 pm. Tickets are $12. Boffo Box Office at Coolidge Corner Theater kicks off a month packed with burlesque events. Tomorrow night, historian David Kruh will talk about the Old Howard theater, which used to be Boston's home of burlesque...

Anytime we hear about diplomats we always think about those episodes of Law & Order where they get away with crimes or that extra special perk they've got that allows them to park illegally outside of the UN without getting parking tickets or towed. Members of the International Committee of the Red Cross are often issued diplomatic visas and passports from their home countries. Boston City Councilors are not. Councilor Michael Ross has been banking...

Plenty of fascinating news this week for our oft-neglected New England neighbors:

The only things certain in life are death, taxes, and problems with Fung Wah buses. Mac Daniel reports that the latest Fung Wah problem involved two tires coming right off the bus as it headed down the Turnpike.