When Dick Haws, an Iowa State professor of journalism, went to buy his regular pack of Certs at Onions in the Memorial Union, he was pleasantly surprised.

Instead of being charged the regular 69 cents, the cost was only 64 cents. Starting Oct. 1, no sales tax was required in Onions, a convenience store, or the Commons Food Court.

The change was implemented after the Union was audited by the Iowa State Department of Revenue earlier this year, said Mary Jo Mertens, director of the Union. Because of the audit, Mertens and the Union’s business manager, Larry Huisman, began investigating the Union’s sales tax policies.

Mertens said she discovered parts of the Union are tax exempt because of its educational status.

The first two areas to change were in Onion’s and the food court, Mertens said. More may follow.

She said she doesn’t know what the tax status will be for new food stores that will be located in the Union after an upcoming renovation. Some of the stores are franchises.

“We will have to work on the assumption that if you buy from a franchise you will pay tax, but I don’t know for sure yet,” Mertens said.

Taxes for tickets in the M-Shop may also be eliminated, Mertens said.

But this is more complicated because the tickets are sold through TicketMaster.

“We’re still working on that one; it’s not quite so simple,” Mertens said.

The University Bookstore is not a function of the Union, and will continue to charge sales taxes, Mertens said.

But Haws, who is also the editorial adviser for the Iowa State Daily and a regular customer in the Union, doesn’t have to worry about purchasing books for class. And, on a professor’s salary, even a few extra pennies saved on the occasional breath mint purchase are welcomed.