Mass. Meal Tax to Boost Board Bills by $87.50

Harvard students will see an increase of $87.20 on their $1090 board bill this fall because the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has decided that college board contracts are covered by 8 per cent Mass. meal tax.

The Harvard Office of Fiscal Services, anticipating the defeat of a bill that would exempt college board contracts currently stalled in the State Senate Ways and Means Committee, sent a notice this week to all Harvard students that the meal tax "must be entered on the October term bill."

The note says that the tax will not be included on the tuition worksheet "on the slim chance that we might be able to arrange for an exemption by September."

Over $1

The meal tax only applies to meals over $1. The average cost of a meal on Harvard's 21-meal-per-week plan practice went over $1 last year.

Former Commissioner of Corporations and Taxation, Nicholas Metaxas '50, ruled in the spring of 1974 that college board contracts were not exempt from the meal tax.

State Sen. Walter J. Boverini filed a bill to specifically exempt college board contracts from the tax, and convinced Metaxas to delay his ruling until the fall of this year pending the outcome of his bill.

But Kevin Jones, legislative side to Boverini, said yesterday the bill is "just sitting" in the Ways and Means Committee. He said the bill will "probably not pass."

'Traditional Channels'

James True, a lobbyist for the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, said yesterday he is attempting to get college board exempted by "working through the governor's office and traditional channels in the legislature."

True wrote to Gov. Michael Dukakis last month asking for support on the exemption. But a spokesman for Dukakis said yesterday that the governor "sees no particularly compelling reason for exempting college board contracts from the meals tax."

Jones said the chances of Boverini's bill passing the legislature were "slim" because the present state of the budget was "troubled." "Contract board is a great resource--the Governor and the Legislature are going to want to tap it," he added.

Deficiency Budget

The Mass. meal tax was raised from 5 per cent to 8 per cent on July 1 to pay for a deficiency budget that covered unpaid expenses in Fiscal 1975.

Dukakis has said that he is studying the possibility of making meals subject to the 5-per-cent sales tax and eliminating the meals tax.

If that plan is accepted by the legislature board bills would go up by $54.50 instead of the expected $87.20.

The Office of Fiscal Services did not say what effect the tax would have on the board paid by students on financial aid. It did say scholarship students would be notified individually.

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

An side to Boverini said last month a "repeat performance" of that victory on the floor of the Senate was "unlikely."

One of the reasons the bill exempting college board contracts is not likely to pass is that sources in the Mass. Office of Administration and Finance have said that taxes on college board are a good source of out-of-state money.

Students paid $1000 for their board bills in 1974-75. But the Corporation announced a $90 hike of the board bill in February. University officials cited food price inflation as the reason for the increase.