As a lefty Democrat type, I’m no stranger to the concept of taxation as a means to pay for our society and the governmental institutions we know and love. The MA meals tax is 5%, and that’s the price you pay for being too lazy or too well off to cook for yourself. However, today I learned about a meals tax rule that is truly stupid.
I was in the Whole Foods Market in the Fenway and decided to grab a few rolls from the bakery section of the store. Despite the fact that the rolls were priced at sixty nine cents each, I was charged $1.45. I discovered I had been charged seven cents meals tax. This couldn’t possibly be true. After all, bread and milk are staple grocery items. Out of curiosity, I asked customer service if they knew why I was taxed on bread items. The clerk explained that if you buy rolls in a quantity of less than six, they are considered a meal and not a grocery item. This seemed outrageous. I mean, today’s 250 lb. 5th graders eat a box of cereal in one sitting. Does that make a box of cereal a meal?? This couldn’t be right. But after a little investigation, I discovered that he was right!
I found this in The MA Dept. of Revenue’s “A Guide to Sales Tax on Meals”:
Bakeries: When a bakery sells food items commonly sold at snack bars, coffee shops or luncheon counters — such as taxable beverages or sandwiches — the entire bakery is considered a restaurant, and its sales of baked goods are taxable except when sold in units of six or more for off-premises consumption. If, however, the bakery in some way segregates the restaurant part of the store from the rest of the store, the bakery part remains a store, and its sales generally are not taxable. In that situation, only the restaurant part is considered a restaurant for tax purposes. A separate restaurant part cannot be established if taxable beverages or other meals must or may be purchased from the area, section or counter from which baked goods are sold. Some separation of space and function is necessary.
While this seems reasonable when it comes to buying a muffin in a coffee shop, I was buying bread in a grocery store. And what if I can’t afford more than two rolls? I guess us poor folk should only be buying Wonder Bread; we’re not worthy of fresh baked goods. So, as I was saying… MASSACHUSETTS: TAX MY BUNS! YOU CAN FIND THEM IN THE BAKERY SECTION OF MY PANTS!
