Meal Tax Cut Will Diminish Board Charges

A bill exempting colleges from the 6 per cent Massachusetts meal tax will result in a $76.70 reduction in board charges for students this year.

Most students have paid part of the meal tax already because the charge appeared on term bill worksheets mailed to students in August before the legislature repealed the tax, R. Jerrold Gibson '51, director of the Office of Fiscal Services, said last night.

No further charge for the meal tax will appear on term bills, and the money students have already paid toward the tax will be credited against their other fees, Stephen W. Homer, director of the office of students' accounts receivable, said yesterday.

Students who owe no further payments to the University may pick up refunds for the meal tax at Homer's office.

Easy Come, Easy Go

Martha C. Lyman, director of financial aid, said recently that her office sent a notice this summer to students with their financial aid award letters warning them that they many face a reduction in their aid awards to reflect the lower board fees.

The amount of the reduction "depends on how the [financial aid] budget is going," Lyman said, adding that she thought it would be about $50.

When You're Hot

The meal tax was originally imposed as an 8 per cent tax on restaurant meals including meals served at colleges. In the summer of '77 the legislature voted to reduce the tax to 6 per cent.

The imposition of the meal tax in 1976 was one of the factors that led to the termination in '77-'78 of hot breakfasts in all but three Harvard houses in an effort to keep board costs down, Dean Fox said yesterday.

When the legislature reduced the tax that year, Harvard chose to use the surplus funds to help reinstate hot breakfasts in all the Houses this year.