Ah, if only Medford residents were as well represented as Abington

As many Medford residents will remember, our City Council unwisely listened to Mayor McGlynn and Governor Patrick, and Medford became one of 30 communities to enact this meals tax. That number is up to 70 now as the tax-lobbyists pressure other communities to join them, and soon this tax hike will be omnipresent, and as tempoary as the tolls on Rte. 90. Shame on Medford's City Council for listening to these two big government tax-and-spenders and helping to turn Medford into a tax-friendly, business-hostile city.

Tax leaves a bad taste

By Boston Herald Editorial Staff

Abington gets it.

Last week the Abington Board of Selectmen decided to take no action on a proposal to impose a local tax of .75 percent on restaurant meals, which would have brought the total state and local levy to 7 percent.

Like a number of their South Shore neighbors, selectmen in Abington decided the amount of revenue the tax would generate - an estimated $114,000 a year - wasn’t worth labeling Abington a tax-happy haven.

The local tax “may not seem like a lot, but what it says is Abington has a meals tax,” board chairman Thomas Corbett told the Patriot Ledger.

And if you’re Joe Sub Shop deciding between Abington and nearby Hanover or Rockland for your new location, well, wouldn’t that be part of the equation?

The tax has generated big bucks for some communities - namely Boston. In October, the most recent month for which figures are available, the tax produced nearly $1.5 million in new revenue for the Hub (far less for a community like Winthrop, which collected just under $8,000).

But frankly those sums pale in comparison to the savings that could be generated by bolder municipal reforms, including a plan that would give local officials broader authority to design health insurance plans for municipal workers. In a “municipal relief” bill unveiled last week state lawmakers, who approved the local meals tax championed by Gov. Deval Patrick, conspicuously left that reform out.

About 70 communities have adopted the local meals tax, but we would ask them the same thing the selectmen in Abington asked: Was it really worth it?