Shauna Simeone / The Recorder
Connecticut legislators are considering repealing a law that exempts student textbooks from being charged with the 6 percent sales tax.
The newly added tax will affect nearly every college student across the state.
Jack O’Leary, manager at the CCSU bookstore, feels that repealing this law could create problems.
“CCSU was instrumental in removing the tax on textbooks in the first place,” he said.
He believes that lawmakers are forgetting the original reasons for creating the law, which were to support the education system and help to make college a little more affordable for students.
O’Leary’s advice for the campus community is to “be proactive and write to your legislator” regarding the issue.
Students, too, are concerned about the new law. Tim Waldron ’10, said is considering other options aside from buying books.
“Textbooks are expensive enough as it is. I might consider not even buying them next semester,” he said.
This type of attitude is worrisome to some faculty such as physics and earth science professor Dr. Steven B. Newman.
“Not having the text can adversely affect their grade, especially if they are not particularly good note-takers, or miss some classes,” he said.
With the repeal of the exemption law, faculty and students will both have to make an effort to keep the cost down for students. Many students hope that teachers will use old editions of the texts to keep down costs.
Chemistry professor Dr. Thomas Burkholder said that the science departments have some of the most expensive books on campus.
“Keep in mind that in some areas of chemistry the market for texts is small, which drives up the cost,” Burkholder said.
He also commented on the fact that science is a constantly growing field with new information coming in all the time.
“In some areas such as biochemistry, the material is still being actively updated so the textbooks have to be updated more frequently,” he said.
Newman concurred with this statement, and said he typically does not use old editions of the text because of the fact that they are being constantly updated.
Due to difficulties of using old versions of textbooks, students are required to buy expensive versions of the new books.
“Students have a hard time affording their books already,” he said and added that the extra cost of the “sales tax just makes it that much more difficult.
The college community seems uneasy about the sales tax being added on to textbooks.
“Textbooks are already overpriced and this new law is basically taxing education,” O’Leary said.