Town Approves Local Meals Tax

Going out to eat in Norfolk will cost a little more come July 1, as Town Meeting approved this week a so-called local-option meals tax that will add 0.75 percent to the state’s 6.25 percent meals tax at the town’s four restaurants. Town Meeting voted 92-32 to approve the local meals tax this past Tuesday night. Town officials say it should bring in about $40,000 to $50,000 in new revenue, which selectmen plan to use in the coming fiscal year as a cushion for possible budget overruns.

Advisory Board chairman Arlie Sterling called said the lo­cal meals tax would provide “a small but vital permanent in­crease in Norfolk’s tax base.”

“This money could be appropriated at the fall Town Meet­ing, and the amount could be a teacher someday,” Selectman Jim Tomaszewski said.

The increase in the meals tax is modest — about 38 cents on a $50 bill — but opponents say it’s part of a worrisome trend.

Selectman Rob Garrity, chairman of the Board of Select­men, noted that supporters of the local-option meals tax on Beacon Hill floated higher numbers for it before the state Leg­islature approved 0.75 percent.

“It’s three-quarters of a point today. Next fiscal crisis it’s a point and a half, and the one after that it’s three,” Garrity said. “… Let me ask you: Have you ever seen a tax go down?” Garrity said. Garrity alluded to a point a Norfolk restaurant owner made in a brief that appeared in The Norfolk Boomerang ear­lier this year, that waitresses are seeing less in tips since the state meals tax increased from 5 percent to 6.25 percent last year. “You were promised property tax relief four years ago. This is what you got: The ability to put yet another tax on yourself,” Garrity said. Garrity distinguished between the local-option meals tax and an operating budget override.

“I voted in favor of the override. The override is an exist­ing way that we can all decide what we are willing to pay for the services we get. This is a new tax. This is a river not yet crossed. The more towns that adopt this, the more the state Legislature figures, ‘There’s an appetite for local taxes. There’s more local taxes. Let’s not stop at a meals tax. Let’s talk about an income tax, a local income tax. Let’s talk about more local sales taxes. This is the first step in something which ends up becoming an out-of-control tax which will affect you not just if you decide to go to a restaurant but in everything you do. I ask you to vote against this tonight,” Garrity said. Town resident John Lawrence noted that $50,000 could pay for a teacher or a police officer or a firefight­er. “I have a hard time believing that three-quarters of 1 percent is going to have any even immaterial impact on the dollars that we all spend at any local restau­rant,” Lawrence said. Lawrence said the town desperately needs the money.

“We’re struggling to find every single dollar, and being able to fund $40,000 in one place helps to move the needle even the smallest amount, and I think we need to take small increments right now,” Lawrence said. Mark Flaherty, who recently ran unsuccessfully for selectman, said he used to work in restaurants and that he has friends in the industry. “Right now, people are feeling the pinch,” Flaherty said. “People that I know working in restaurants have seen people they know lose their jobs because more people aren’t going out to eat. Yes, it’s a small percent­age increase. But that small percent means you’re go­ing to think twice about, ‘Am I going to have that other drink? Am I going to have that other appetizer? I was going to order the steak, but right now maybe I’m go­ing

to order the chicken.’ And then the waitress feels that, because now she gets tipped based on what the bill is. And you might decide, ‘You know, I’m paying more in taxes, I can’t afford to leave as big of a tip as I did before,’ so now you’re going to cut back on the tip, and so she’s going to feel that.”

Flaherty said he fears for the effect on restaurants more generally.

“I don’t like tax increases that are going to hurt lo­cal businesses,” Flaherty said.

Selectman Jim Lehan said he doesn’t like the local meals tax, but he said he supports it because the town needs the money and 75 cents on a $100 restaurant bill won’t have a significantimpact on people’s wal­lets. “We don’t have an expense problem. We have a revenue problem. Fifty thousand dollars is a meaning­ful number,” Lehan said. “… Find me $50,000 and I’ll vote against this. I’d be more than happy to. But we need that revenue. That’s our problem.”

Lehan also noted that most of Norfolk’s neighbor­ing communities have adopted the local-option meals tax.

Jonathan Smith, a former selectman, noted that local officials often complain that the state Legislature forces communities to pay for their expenses only through local property taxes.

“Well, what do you know, the state actually gave us an option that’s not based on the property tax,” Smith said.

Smith said he doesn’t ordinarily spend much at restaurants.

“But this is something where if we don’t take ad­vantage of this maybe the state isn’t going to give us other opportunities for local options that we can do something about taking the burden away from a re­gressive property tax. So please support this,” Smith said.

Flaherty spoke a second time from the floor, argu­ing that the $40,000 to $50,000 town officials are ex­pecting from the local-options meals tax depends on patronage at restaurants staying steady.

“But what they’re not accounting for is when peo­ple say, ‘I’m not going to go out to eat’,” Flaherty said, arguing that the revenue numbers could drop sharp­ly. “You don’t know what the actual numbers will be until it happens, and it’s a risk you’re going to take on hurting the restaurants in town by imposing this tax that may encourage people not to go out to eat in town,” Flaherty said.