June 30, 2009 Patrick signs budget increasing sales tax Play video

(NECN: Scot Yount, Boston, Mass.) - With the stroke of a pen, perhaps the most contentiously debated budget was enacted on Monday.

More than $27 billion, with hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts in what the administration described as the worst global economic decline since the Great Depression.

The new budget adds a billion dollars in new taxes on things like hotels, alcohol and meals. But it slashes some $147 million from the legislature's budget in line item vetoes.

Even with nearly $350 million in cuts to local aid, the new budget boosts the state sales tax to 6.25 percent -- up a penny and a quarter.

That is bad news, according to Senate Republicans -- especially those who represent districts that border New Hampshire with no sales tax.

In his fifth of what could be 15 town hall style meetings, Governor Deval Patrick was on the road in Lynn, Massachusetts, answering questions on the budget.

For most, people the higher sales tax stands out most.

NECN's Scot Yount reports.