State Senate passes sales, telecomm, and local meals tax

The state Senate passed budget amendments that incorporate a sales tax increase from 5% to 6.25%. Link to Blue Mass Group post here. They also passed a local option to allow municipalities to apply up to 2% tax on meals and lodging while keeping the state tax at 5% on those items. Link to Blue Mass Group post here. Although the Senate Budget site does not show Amendment 2-Municipal Relief 2 as having been adopted, I am assuming that the news from BMG and papers is correct. Take it for what it's worth. I have pulled out the relevant wording...

...on the distribution of the meals tax funds and it says:

The commissioner shall remit 50 per cent of the amount collected to the originating city or town, 7.5 per cent to the Municipal Regionalization Incentives Fund established in section 35FF of chapter 10 of the general laws and the balance to cities and towns that have accepted this section; provided, however, that no city or town shall receive more than the total it collected from such sales tax on meals within the corresponding calendar year.

If this amendment survives the conference committee and gets signed into law, it will be a boon to Dartmouth and could increase our revenues by close to a million dollars, if I am not mistaken.
The Senate also voted to revoke the exemption for real property owned by telecommunications companies. The amendment reads:

Section18 of Chapter 59 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking the first sentence thereof and replacing it with the following:-
First, all tangible personal property, including that of persons not inhabitants of the commonwealth, except ships and vessels, and including machinery, poles, wires, and underground conduits, wires, and pipes of telecommunications companies laid in or erected upon public or private ways, shall be taxed to the owner in the town in which such property is situated on January first. For purposes of this clause, telecommunications companies shall include providers of cable television service, internet service, telephone service, data service, radio utility and mobile radio telephone utility systems, both as defined in Section 12A of Chapter 159, and any other services involving the transmission of communications or intelligence by any means.

If that amendment survives conference, it will boost revenues for all the municipalities in the state.
You can read the text of the amendments here at the Senate Budget site if you want to go to the source.
UPDATE- For the record, Senator Montigny voted against raising sales tax. From Blue Mass Group post here