Bill Would Exempt Board Contracts From Meals Tax

A bill that would exempt college board contracts from the 8 per cent meal tax was filed last week in the Massachusetts legislature but Rep. Barney Frank '61, a member of the Ways and Means Committee, said yesterday "the bill isn't going anywhere."

Barbara Gray, a state representative from Framingham who filed the bill, said last week, "Meals served at colleges are analogous to meals served at home, and should not be taxed."

However, Frank said yesterday that few legislators agree with Gray. "The sentiment of the Ways and Means Committee seems to be that colleges already have enough tax exemptions," Frank said.

"Harvard students would not want to be exempted from this tax," Frank said, "because they would, in effect, be taking food out of the mouths of welfare recipients."

This is the first year that college board contracts are subject to the eight per cent meal tax.

The Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Massachusetts has filed a class-action suit in the Suffoll County Superior Court against the Commission on Corporations and Taxation. Owen Clarke, the Commissioner of Corporations and Taxation, ruled in September that college board contracts should be treated like meals bought in restaurants and be subject to the meal tax.

State Sen. Walter Boverini filed a bill in the last legislative session identical to Gray's in the Senate. The bill made it to the floor of the Senate but was defeated badly.

Out-of-State Money

The sentiment of the Senate in defeating the bill, Kevin Jones, an aide to Boverini said, was that in the current fiscal crisis "it would be nice to get our hands on some out-of-state money."

"There have been some deep cuts in the budget," Frank said yesterday, "and to eliminate more taxes would mean kicking people out of hospital beds."

"Statistically, college students are better off than most so any tax on them would have a redistributive effect," he said