Meal Tax May Raise Board By 8 Per Cent

Harvard students can anticipate an increase of $87.20 on their $1090 board bill because of a ruling by a Massachusetts commission refusing student exemption front a state meal tax.

A bill, now in the Senate Ways and Mcans Committee, which would exempt college students from paying the meal tax of their board bills will "probably not pass the Legislature." Kevin Jones, an aide to Massachusetts State Sen. Walter Boverini, said yesterday.

Recent Raise

The Massachusetts Meal Tax was raised from 5 per cent to 8 per cent on July 1 to raise revenue for Gov. Michael S. Dukukis's deficiency budget covering unpaid expenses in fiscal 1975.

Kevin Jones a legislative aide to the Education Committee, said Boverini was "very unoptimistic" about the prospects of the bill.

Boverini filed the exemption bill in response to a 1974 ruling by Nicholas Metaxas '50. Commissioner of Corporations and Taxation. The commissioner's decision said, "the contract board paid by students to colleges and universities is subject to the meals tax."

Increasing Food Bills

The ruling by Metaxas came when for the first time the price of each meal served to students on board averaged more than one dollar. The meals tax does not apply to meals under one dollar.

Michael F. Brewer, assistant to the vice president for government and community affairs at Harvard said Sen. Boverini and James True, a lobbyist for the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts, convinced Metaxas to delay his ruling until fall 1975, pending the outcome of Boverini's bill.

But Metaxas said yesterday, "Given the likely defeat of this bill, I would be reluctant to delay the implementation of the tax any longer."

Jones said the probable defeat of the bill will result from "the troubled state of the budget right now." He added, "Contract board is a resource the Governor and the Legislature would like to tap."

Boverini held off defeat of his bill earlier this year by overturning the unfavorable report of the Taxation Committee on the floor of the Senate.