Since 2009, Massachusetts consumers and retailers have been granted a sales-tax-free weekend by the state Legislature, a gimmicky but effective way to boost sales and encourage people to shop in-state. 

But this year it isn’t happening. According to legislative leaders in the House and Senate, the state is in such dire fiscal shape it can’t afford the one-weekend loss of revenue. 

This decision should be the canary in the coalmine for Massachusetts voters. Despite a rebounding economy and much higher tax revenues, the state can’t make ends meet. Not even close. 

The budget for the current fiscal year, which started July 1 and runs through next June, is expected to come up $750 million short of expected revenue. That means major cuts in spending will be needed, and the $26 million it costs the state to support the “tax free weekend” is among them.

“When you’re talking about the shortfall that we’re in, we considered to add another $26 million to that shortfall, just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense,” House Speaker Robert DeLeo said. “It’s always at least been my position that it depends strongly on the Economic Situation at the time. The economic situation this time calls that we don’t have it.”

To blame it on the economy isn’t really telling the whole story. 

Massachusetts is notoriously bad at keeping its financial house in shape. It’s ranked among the worst-managed states by a variety of fiscal watchdog organizations. Among them is the Mercatus Center of George Mason University, which ranks Massachusetts 49th among the 50 states and Puerto Rico — only Connecticut and Puerto Rico are in worse shape. 

The center’s analysis is sobering. In all key measurement areas, Massachusetts ranks far below the standards that many other states are meeting. Perhaps worst of all, its projected “long-run solvency” is just a smidgeon better than Puerto Rico, which is on the brink of bankruptcy.

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