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"Meals tax a lifeline for cities and towns; More communities used levy, got $60m last year" by Peter Schworm, Globe Staff / August 7, 2011
Two years after the state authorized cities and towns to impose their own meals tax, communities are increasingly turning to the small surcharge to bolster finances battered by declining revenue and surging costs.
State has been telling us tax takes are up, sigh.
Already loosing my appetite. Globe does it to me every time.
More than 40 percent of all Massachusetts cities and towns, and most in Greater Boston, now assess the tax, which adds 75 cents to a $100 tab, and many are receiving enough money to save public programs and avoid layoffs.
As millions are paid to banks for debt service and well-connected corporations.
For residents, it’s yet another tax, albeit one so small many hardly notice.
Ooooh, little acid reflux there.
But for budget-crunched communities, the fresh source of money could not have come at a better time....
So when is it being raised?
Led by restaurant owners, critics say the local surcharge adds to an already heavy sales tax and places an unfair burden on the restaurant industry. While paid in small increments, the tax could easily add up to hundreds of dollars a year for residents.
“It has a cumulative effect,’’ said Peter Forman, president of the South Shore Chamber of Commerce, which has lobbied against the tax. “It’s the typical approach of government: ‘Let’s nickel and dime and hide these small amounts and hope people don’t notice and complain.’ ’’
Critics also fear the tax won’t stay small for long, likely to rise whenever towns struggle to balance their books.
Yeah, THAT is how they DO THINGS HERE!
And some towns have avoided the levy entirely, fearing an impact on fragile local economies.
“The small-business owners here have a hard enough time staying afloat,’’ said Judith Flanagan Kennedy, the mayor of Lynn, which does not levy the tax.
While often generating relatively modest sums in the scope of the overall budgets, the tax revenue often proves pivotal, the difference between eliminating programs and positions or not.
“It’s $800,000 we would have to find elsewhere,’’ said Michael Meehan, a spokesman for the city of Somerville, which approved the tax two years ago. “That’s a lot of jobs.’’
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The tax has been particularly attractive to communities with high tourist and commuter traffic, where leaders can claim much of the revenue flows from out-of-towners and is less of a burden on local residents....
That's Taxachusetts' hospitality!
--more--"
That's why I never go out to eat anymore.
And I'm full up on Globe.
