Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Digg
Tell us what you think!Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.
University students may find themselves shelling out a little less cash for textbooks next year through a bill being presented in a public hearing to the Committee on Taxation in Augusta tomorrow.
The bill would exclude textbooks associated with a course of study at an accredited college from the Maine sales tax.
“We have to do what we can to help the students out,” said Rep. Marilyn Canavan, D-Waterville, who wrote the bill.
The bill will apply to the University of Maine System, private schools such as Colby and Bates and technical colleges.
“This is really just a minor help,” Canavan said. “For someone working part time and struggling to get by, the cost of books makes a big difference.”
Students agree the cost of textbooks is high.
“This semester [I spent] around $550, last semester I think I was at $700,” said Kirby Davis, a senior mechanical engineering major at the University of Maine. “My average is usually at $450 to 500. This bill would be totally awesome. Now if the bookstore could get rid of the markup they have we’d be all set.”
According to University of Maine Bookstore Manager Bill Hockensmith, the average student spends over $700 annually on textbooks.
“I think the prices are outrageous,” he said. “But the UMaine bookstore is one of the least expensive college bookstores in the country.”
Hockensmith estimates the total savings for University of Maine students will be more than $250,000, or around $25 a student.
“For a student, that is a bag of groceries or a tank of gas, which to college students is important,” he said. Hockensmith forecasts that UMaine students will spend $4.9 million for books next year.
The Maine Revenue Service found in 2001 that $1.5 million of tax revenue was from college textbooks, Canavan said. She estimates that now the figure is upwards of two million dollars.
How that money will be replaced has yet to be determined.
“This is an expensive bill,” said Rep. Emily Cain, D-Orono, who supports the bill. “But I think it is a discussion worth having. There is no extra money in Maine, but we need to do what we can to help out college students.”
Maine and Vermont are the only states in New England which do not have a tax-exemption policy for college textbooks. This is type of policy is alreadu in place in 26 states across the nation.
Despite the potential tax break, the rising costs of college texts is still a problem.
“We can do small things at the state level,” Cain said, “but as a whole this is a national problem that the federal government needs to look into. State by state we are seeing examples of mega-publishing companies who jack up the prices because they have no competition. It is the students who lose.”
The public hearings on Friday will begin at 1 p.m. at the State House in Augusta.
“Student support will be important,” Canavan said. “This is for them.”
