Lynch Signs Use Tax Roadblocks into Law

The Portsmouth Herald runs the AP's account of a new New Hampshire law designed to protect Granite State customers from Massachusetts taxes:

New Hampshire doesn't have a general sales tax, a selling point it uses to attract out-of-state retail dollars. Lynch said Thursday the new law will protect the state's businesses and will help to strengthen our its economy.

Retailers wouldn't have to provide sales information to out-of-state tax collectors. The other state would have to prove a good or service bought in New Hampshire is used, stored or consumed in the other state. (more)

The new law doesn't supercede Massachusetts' claim on goods bought outside the Bay State but brought back into it. It does provide New Hampshire retailers with legal cover to avoid cooperating with out-of-state tax collectors, and generally makes it harder for Massachusetts to enforce its laws. Kinda like Mel Thomson, but without using the State Police.