DiMasi reassures retailers; Speaker backs tax holidays, ending item pricing.Byline: John MonahanBOSTON - House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, cast this year in the role of spoiler spoiler: see airplane. 1. spoiler - A remark which reveals important plot elements from books or movies, thus denying the reader (of the article) the proper suspense when reading the book or watching the movie. 2. to the governor's calls for closing corporate tax loopholes, taxing telephone property and opening casinos A list of casinos. Antigua and Barbuda
Talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to" lecture, speech rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to the Retailers Association of Massachusetts Massachusetts (măsəch  `sĭts), most populous of the New England states of the NE United States. , the Boston
Democrat pledged to continue allowing an annual two-day tax-free holiday
in the future saying "it works" giving consumers and retailers
a chance to shop tax-free once each year.
"That is why we will do our best to continue to make sure there is a sales tax sales tax, levy on the sale of goods or services, generally calculated as a percentage of the selling price, and sometimes called a purchase tax. It is usually collected in the form of an extra charge by the retailer, who remits the tax to the government. holiday for as long as I am speaker," Mr. DiMasi said. He added, "And that will be a long, long, long, long, long, long time." His office sent out copies of the remarks to media outlets around the state yesterday. Food retailers are cheering Mr. DiMasi's call to do away with so-called "item pricing." Massachusetts and Michigan are the only states requiring food retailers to individually price each product on their shelves, with some exceptions, such as loose fruits. In his speech to the association, Mr. DiMasi called the law "antiquated" and said it should be amended a·mend v. a·mend·ed, a·mend·ing, a·mends v.tr. 1. To change for the better; improve: amended the earlier proposal so as to make it more comprehensive. 2. . The speaker said he supports changing the law to require price scanners in food stores which would allow customers to check the price of items. Retailers say it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars in labor to price individual items, but labor unions labor union: see union, labor. oppose the changes, fearing loss of jobs. DiMasi advised the retailers to get on the phone and lobby lawmakers. Mr. DiMasi succeeded former House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran of Boston as House speaker in 2004. A lawyer from the Boston's Italian North End, Mr. DiMasi was first elected to the House in 1979. He was a key supporter of the state's mandatory health care reforms adopted last year and fought to force legislators to ensure that state subsidies were made available for purchase of health insurance by those earning less than 300 percent of the poverty level. Mr. DiMasi has opposed expanded gambling in the past but so far has been cool to the governor's proposal to open casinos in Massachusetts, while saying the bill will be studied in detail by the House next year. The Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. also contributed to this article. ART: PHOTO CUTLINE: Mr. DiMasi |
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