Mass. Toll Hike Scrapped; Gov. Approves Budget

BOSTON — Gov. Deval Patrick has approved a new state budget that hikes the Massachusetts sales tax by 25 percent, largely preserves education spending, and makes deep cuts to other state services.

The increase in the sales tax allowed the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority earlier Monday to vote to avoid a planned toll hike scheduled to take effect July 1, relying instead on $100 million from the tax increase.

In signing the $27 billion budget, Patrick issued $147 million in line-item vetoes.

At the same time, he submitted a separate $269 million supplemental budget to fund other initiatives, including $70 million for health care for 30,000 legal immigrants.

The budget also maintains current eligibility for state-subsidized health insurance programs and funds dental coverage for MassHealth and Commonwealth Care.