A local excise meal tax is on the table for Chilmark.  

Select board member Marie Larsen and Martha’s Vineyard Commission Island housing planner Laura Silber presented the potential new tax at the select board meeting Tuesday. 

“This is an untapped bit of revenue for the town,” Ms. Larsen said. “Seventy-five cents on a $100 check to a person at a restaurant.” 

The meal tax would charge an excise of .75 per cent on the sale of meals at restaurants in town, adding onto the existing 6.25 per cent state sales tax. The total sales tax on meal sales would then be 7 per cent. 

The revenue would be collected by the state and then distributed to the town. There is no required use for the funds, meaning towns have the authority to decide how they’re used.  

According to Ms. Silber, most towns in Massachusetts have adopted this tax, including Nantucket and all of Cape Cod. On the Island, Tisbury and Oak Bluffs have implemented the state-allowed tax. 

According to numbers researched by Ms. Silber for the MVC and provided to the select board, 2024 revenue numbers were $485,869 for Oak Bluffs and $272,808 for Tisbury. 

The added labor to implement this tax is minor, according to Ms. Larsen.

“Restaurants are already paying the six and a quarter, so it’s not like they have to start reporting separately,” she added. “They can report this at the same time as they report that six and a quarter.” 

Ms. Silber said that other Island towns are also considering adopting this tax.  

“From what I’m hearing from a lot of folks in these towns, people actually weren’t aware that this was an option where I think it just wasn’t really revisited after it was originally made an option in Massachusetts,” she said. 

Select board member Jeffrey Maida was hesitant about the tax increase. 

“It seems like every time we turn around, we’re adding more taxes to our population, whether it be short-term rental tax or a room tax, and I understand it’s 75 cents but at some point, we shouldn’t get penalized and pay extra for everything,” he said. 

Board chair James Malkin said he wanted more information before going forward with a decision.  

“I think we should look at it,” he said. “I think we should see what the impact of revenues of the town would be, and then we should discuss it further and see where [it could go].”