January 2009
HB 628 is one of the most sweeping, intrusive, and DANGEROUS bills to hit the legislature this session.
Please read the bill text here:
http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/legislation/2009/HB0628.html
From the bill’s own summary:
“This bill establishes tangible personal property inventory and use taxes. Ten percent of revenues collected from the taxes are to be deposited in a special mass transit fund to be used to establish, improve, or expand public transportation services. The bill also repeals a prohibition on taxation of motor vehicles.“
We are certain you will want to call or write or email the House Ways and Means Committee with your complaints about this truly diabolical attempt to tax everything you own.
We will post the date, time and location of the hearing as soon as we learn of it.
Here is one analysis of this bill:
Described as ‘intrusive and disgusting’, this bill would not only introduce a sales tax, it’s an inventory tax – an excise tax on any personal property worth $10K or more.
– Businesses would have to pay tax on their unsold inventory.
– Service businesses would have to pay a tax on all their equipment.
– Individuals would have to pay the tax on their cars, boats, or any other item above a certain value, they use.
This bill is so outrageous and fraught with legalese, it’s difficult to fathom. Among the lowlights, this bill would impose:
“…an annual license or privilege tax upon every person who engages in the business of selling at retail or distributing tangible personal property in this state, or who rents or furnishes any of the things taxable under this chapter, or who stores for use in this state any item or article of tangible personal property as defined in this chapter, or who leases or rents such property within this state, in the amount of 4 percent of the amount in excess of $9,999:”
That’s a 4 percent excise tax on every item, personal or business, that exceeds 10K in value. Then, there’s this:
“The tax imposed by this section shall be absorbed into the sales, distribution or rental price of each item or article of tangible personal property and no dealer shall be required to separately state the amount of the tax paid or due on such property to any retail customer. At the time of retail sale, distribution, or lease the dealer shall provide the retail customer a certification, on a form approved by the commissioner, stating the most recent tax year for which the item or article of tangible personal property was included in the dealer’s inventory pursuant to this section and for which the taxes levied by this section have been or will be paid. Such certification shall provide the retail customer with conclusive proof of payment of said inventory tax for purposes of avoiding double taxation under the use tax imposed by this chapter. ”
With each purchase, the seller would need to fill out a form so they would no longer taxed (without being REQUIRED to disclose just how many years of 4 percent taxes the buyer is paying). And of course, once the form is filed, the DRA will know who to chase down for the tax from there on out. And, as an extra added bonus, you can file quarterly taxes on your inventory:
“Before any property subject to the use tax is brought into this state for use as provided in this section, the owner, or, if the property is leased, the lessee shall register with the commissioner. After registration, the taxpayer shall file quarterly reports on forms furnished by the commissioner reporting such property brought, imported, or caused to be brought into this state during the preceding quarter, together with remittance of the amount of tax due. Such reports are to be filed on or before the fifteenth of the month following the quarter in which such property was brought into or used in this state.”
But of course any property owned by the federal government or by any municipality is exempt.
This bill, aside from being a crushing blow to businesses and individuals, would be an absolute bureaucratic nightmare of endless red tape.