City of Revere Adopts Local Option Meals Tax May 24 – Increased Tax on Meals Set to Start July 1, 2010. Mayor Says New Revenue Will Fund Two New Police Officers
The Revere Chamber of Commerce works to create a strong local economy in part by advocating for businesses before local government. In August 2009, after polling its member restaurants, the Chamber went before the City Council to publicly oppose the adopton of the new tax. The Revere City Council unanimously opposed the new tax at that meeting. At that time, only a handful of cities and towns in the state (seven of 352 communities) had adopted the new tax. In his original proposal, Mayor Ambrosino was adamant that all revenue generated from the new tax would go into the City’s General Fund to help address the City’s budgetary deficit. The timing of last year’s proposal would have local option meals tax imposed immediately following a 1.25% hike in the state’s sales tax.
Since then, more cities and towns (101 out of 352) have adopted the tax and Revere’s Mayor has changed his proposal to guarantee that one half of all associated revenue ($150K) during this fiscal year would be used to hire and train two new Revere police officers.
The Chamber still opposes the adoption of any new tax and we continue to feel the restaurant industry should not be singled out as a method to address the ongoing financial strain of our City and state. However, since the measure was passed at the City Council meeting on Monday night, we feel that our original rejection of the Mayor’s appeal last year helped to at least delay the inconvenience and added expense the tax would cause to Revere restaurants and their patrons. We also feel that this delay helped encourage Mayor Ambrosino to define more clearly how the new tax revenue would help the citizens and businesspeople of Revere.
The Chamber supports the addition of two new officers to the Revere Police force because this move, we believe, helps to advance the safety and security of Revere businesses, customers, and residents.
For us to feel the benefit from the new local option meals tax in Revere, we need to keep in mind: Supporting local businesses is absolutely key for each of us to do so that we can maximize our potential to move our community forward and sustain a quality of living in Revere we can all enjoy. Each of us should remember to Spend Locally and SHOP REVERE.
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