BOSTON - With the state Senate today considering whether to approve a fourth consecutive sales tax holiday, questions are being raised about whether the two-day break helps or hurts local small businesses.

The House overwhelmingly approved the sales tax holiday last Thursday. Gov. Deval Patrick supports the tax holiday, which would suspend the state's 5 percent sales tax on Aug. 11 and 12.

Rep. Mary Grant, D-Beverly, was one of the eight who voted against the tax holiday. Grant said sales tax revenue is needed for transportation and school building projects.

The state didn't collect $32.3 million in sale tax revenue during the two-day tax holidays in 2005 and 2006 and $10.1 million in 2004 during a one-day sales tax suspension.

"I think we need (the money) to get these things done," Grant said.

The sales tax holiday will apply to purchases up to $2,500. Exempt are cars, motor boats, tobacco products, utilities, telecommunications services, meals and business purchases. Gas and steam power are also not included.

Thirteen states and Washington, D.C., had sales tax holidays last year.

Robert Cuomo, dean of the Girard School of Business and International Commerce at Merrimack College in North Andover, said there is no evidence sales tax holidays are good for business.

"Whether it stimulates additional purchases, that's never been demonstrated," Cuomo said.

Joe Parisi, president of the Building Center, with stores in Gloucester and Essex, said people looking to buy construction supplies at his stores would delay purchases for the tax holiday.

"It's the same dollar spent on a different day," Parisi said.

And if he wanted to use it as a tool to get people in the door, the state hasn't helped by giving business owners barely two weeks of notice to advertise, Parisi said.

Jack Palazola, owner of Palazola's Sporting Goods on Gloucester's Main Street, says that the sales tax holiday helps stores that sell bigger ticket items, particularly electronics. He said the tax break would barely get noticed at his store on a Saturday.

"This is an issue that hasn't been talked about before and to be honest with you, this isn't a big deal with us," Palazola said.

Rep. Barbara L'Italien, D-Andover, also voted against suspending the sales tax.

"This is the first year when I began to get e-mail from small-business owners and they say it's not helping," L'Italien said.

Small-business owners complained to her that people delay purchases for the tax holiday, which drives down business during an already slow month, and that it raises their costs because they have to pay time-and-a-half for Sunday workers and advertising.

But others, like Georgeanne Lane, owner of Sea Meadows gift shop in Essex, think that the sales tax holiday helps business.

"I think people go shopping and look for things that they wouldn't normally buy because it helps them with some savings," Lane said.

Mark Stolle, owner of Manchester-By-the-Book, on Union Street in Manchester, agreed.

"I think it helps business," Stolle said. "I would assume more people come out to shop. It definitely doesn't hurt business. I think there should be no tax all the time."

Harold Goralnick, chief operating officer of Royal Jewelers in Andover, said the sales tax holiday weekend is one of his biggest sales day.

"It's probably our third-busiest day of the year" after Christmas and Mother's Day, Goralnick said.

What does seem to be clear, said Cuomo, the Merrimack dean, is what motivates those who do shop on a sales tax holiday: People don't like paying taxes.

"I think a lot of it is, whenever you escape paying taxes, it seems a victory for a small group of people," Cuomo said. "People think they're taxed quite heavily in this state."

To House Minority Leader Bradley Jones Jr., that's a good reason.

"The thought of not paying 5 percent to the state gets people through the door," the North Reading Republican said. "They feel the government is taking too much money."

The state's motive for continuing the tax is to display confidence in the economy. It sends a strong message that the state can afford to give up the $17 million lost last year.

It also sends a strong message to North of Boston businesses, said Sen. Steven Baddour, D-Methuen.

Baddour, who'll vote for the tax holiday, said it gives North of Boston small businesses a two-day break in their battle against New Hampshire competitors. New Hampshire does not have a sales tax.

"It's a no-brainer for those of us who represent border communities," Baddour said.