Faculty, administrators and other College employees now have to pay the 8 percent New Hampshire meals tax at the Courtyard Cafe in the Hopkins Center because of revisions to the state's meals and rooms tax.
The College first started charging the tax yesterday.
Under the amendment, educational organizations can no longer offer meals tax-free to faculty, administrators and other employees if the dining facility is open to the general public.
Don Blume, fiscal manager of Dartmouth Dining Services, said the Courtyard Cafe will be the only campus dining facility to charge a meals tax because "the College encourages the general public to go there and the Cafe is open continuously even between terms, unlike Thayer Hall."
Previously, the meals and rooms tax statute offered exemption to all school dining facilities regardless of whether public patrons were allowed.
Non-students associated with the College can still eat without paying tax in Thayer Dining Hall because it is primarily a dining facility for students that is not open to the general public, Blume said.
"The understanding is difficult and we're left with the job of interpreting it," Blume said.
The revised law caused confusion yesterday at the Courtyard Cafe. Assistant Manager Steve Edes said a lot of questions arose about whom to charge tax to. "But we're trying to keep it simple ... either you have a [registration] sticker or you'll be charged," he said.
One Courtyard Cafe cashier said customers had already tried to escape the tax. "One '94 who wasn't taking classes tried to pass his ID quickly by . But I asked him to see it again and he said, 'Well, it was worth a try,'" she said.
The revised law specifically states that an organization operating for educational purposes is exempt from meal taxation only if it caters to students in regular attendance, employees, faculty members, administrative officials and volunteers providing services to the school. Exemptions will also be given to individuals pursuing an educational activity or sponsored by a non-profit organization.
But these exemptions are not applicable if "the meals are served or furnished at a location where meals are offered to the general public on a regular and continuous basis, without regard to an activity which is related to educational purposes."
The revised tax means a department secretary who used to grab a bacon cheeseburger with fries and a large coke for $4 at the lunch special rate, will now have to pay $4.32.
