It’s the same here in the People’s Socialist State of Maine!

You are allowed to buy and transport into the state limited quantities of certain taxed items (like cigarettes and booze) without paying the sales and/or excise tax.
Maine allows two cartons of cigarettes and 1 gallon of liquor (I could be wrong on the alcohol amount,but there is an acceptable limit) to be brought in per trip/per person without being taxed. Anything over that and you will be fined if caught.

Note that you don’t have to be a resident of Maine to be fined!!! Vacationers could be fined if found with excessive amounts of either of the above mentioned items!
If you purchase “big ticket” items (TVs, refrigerators, etc.) and don’t pay the equivalent state sales tax on your income tax return you are in violation of the law and subject to prosecution, again, if caught!

I’m not sure about the laws/limits in Massachusetts but I’m sure the laws are similar.
Idiotic policies like sales taxes put border businesses at a disadvantage, especially when the tax rates differ substantially.

Living within a 1 hour drive from the border can make a shopping trip to “tax-free New Hampshire” quite lucrative! In the smaller towns along the border there are many convenience stores just on the other side of the border that do landmark business.

I worked for a chain for a few years and was aware of one store in NH that had less than a third of the square footage, located in an area that had a quarter of the population but was only 100 feet across the border from Maine and did almost 4 times the business in “beer and butts” than we did! Location. location, location!! If you can save $15 by driving a few miles the incovenience is worth it!

Actually, states have been playing games for some time on this sort of thing.

In Vermont, you are expected to report any out-of-state or online purchases for which you didn’t pay any sales tax (retail-wise, this is targeted specifically at New Hampshire) and report it on your income tax return - and kick in the usual 6% sales tax as a “use tax.”

Rule of thumb when buying in NH - pay cash. The creeps in Montpelier have some way to get the credit card issuers to squeal on VT residents who shop over there; people buy things, and then later get a bill from the state.

That and the last line you quote - you really have to wonder how this would test in court with the Interstate Commerce Clause and all that….

Massachusetts just sued a tire company operating in NH to get them to collect taxes from Mass residents who come to NH to buy tires. They ultimately lost, but it was a brazen attempt anyway.

was worthy of an email alert IMO lol and yet idiots will re-elect this moron.

Meldrim Thompson, Governor of NH. In terms of driving lefties - and ESPECIALLY Massachusetts lefties - into a suicidal rage he made Sarah Palin look like Susan Collins.

I recall when he put a huge state liquor store right on the border, along the interstate, at an exit, with a huge sign. The parking lot was always full and full of MA plates. The pols in MA screamed to high heaven (or should that be low hell) and Thompson said something typically inappropriate like “stuff it”.

Martha Fuller Clark is a NH state senator. She is a huge proponent of a state income and/or sales tax, of which NH has neither.