Mass. Needs A Meals Tax Holiday
It's been more than a year since I worked to file a bill that would create a state "meals tax holiday." This holiday would last six days in March, a slow month for restaurants, and does not include their busiest day, Saturday. The state would lose $8 million in revenue, a small amount within a $30 billion budget.
Furthermore, this "loss" (let's not forget, we pay the meals tax) will be largely or entirely offset by increased incomes taxes, sales taxes, corporate taxes, and economic activity. It will help 300,000 hospitality employees in our state, and everyone who wants to grab a quick sandwich during their lunch break, take their kids out for a burger on Sunday, or treat their significant other to a romantic dinner.
Not only does our state do nothing to help restaurants, it increased the meals tax from 5 percent to 6.25 percent in 2009 and added a local option of 0.75 percent. This came during a weak economy and in the face of higher food and energy costs. With the tax at 7 percent in some communities, and most people paying with credit cards, which adds a fee of 2 percent to 5 percent, we're driving restaurants out of business and losing hospitality jobs by the thousands. Let's not forget that many restaurant jobs can be done by single parents, teenagers and people who don't speak English very well, all without the need for expensive education or going back to school. And yet, the government focuses on helping industries that employ far fewer people, while ignoring and penalizing our state's No.1 employer.
I can no longer remain silent and must stand up for waiters, waitresses, bartenders and small business owners. I'm tired of seeing these hard-working people ignored and treated as second-class citizens. Could anyone possibility justify why we have a sales tax holiday, benefiting billion-dollar corporations headquartered out of state, but not a meals tax holiday to help struggling, locally owned diners? Almost all restaurants are locally owned and operated. Even chains, including Dunkin Donuts, are usually owned by small franchisees, so the profits and sales and infrastructure used to service and supply these businesses keep the stimulus local. It's to pay your rent when business is slow at a restaurant.
Just ask a server on a Tuesday night when he or she is lucky to see a dining room half full. Restaurants need help now; they're facing a perfect storm of negative conditions. And the economy is affecting us all. In a recent Suffolk University poll of Massachusetts residents, 47 percent say they're eating out less. In a recent issue of The Wall Street Journal, an NPD Group study found that the number of people going to restaurants is expected to grow by less than 1% through 2019, slower than population growth.
The meals tax holiday is a bipartisan effort of 62 legislators with sponsors and support from throughout Massachusetts. I call on Gov. Deval Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray and Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo to fast-track this legislation so we can enjoy a meals tax holiday.
Dave Andelman is president of the Restaurant and Business Alliance, based in Boston, and CEO of Phantom Gourmet Inc.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments