Tax free weekend kicks off in Massachusetts

Stores opened early and shoppers filed in looking to save a few bucks as state retailers celebrated a sales tax holiday for the fourth straight year.

 The holiday means shoppers are exempt from the state's 5
percent sales tax all weekend. The tax break applies only to purchases up to
$2,500, but some retailers are offering the break on items that exceed that
limit. Stores put on extra staff for the weekend, and customers coming in
through the entire week, poking around and looking at things they might want to
get over the weekend. 
The idea of the tax holiday is to give retailers a boost at
a traditionally slow time of year. Officials estimate it will cost the state
$30-$50 million in lost revenue. The Department of Revenue estimates,
although with admitted less certainty, that indirectly raised revenue from
income, corporate and other taxes due to last year's holiday was less than $1.5
million.