Metrowest Daily News 5/16/09: Local legislators defend hiking taxes. Many MetroWest lawmakers told human service providers yesterday they support limited tax increases to help shield Massachusetts’ most vulnerable citizens during a budget crisis. Several state legislators spoke in favor of raising the sales tax from 5 percent to 6.5 percent and repealing a sales tax exemption for alcohol to restore some major services cut in the latest state budget proposal. But lawmakers also warned of the size of the state’s ever-growing deficit, and some defended their efforts to enact reform and trim waste.