The beginning of summer often means cookouts, trips to the shore and camping. For many (including my parents), it also means the beginning of hurricane season.
Hurricane season begins June 1 and lasts through the end of October. Thankfully, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) forecasters predict a nearly normal Atlantic hurricane season for 2009. They still caution, however, that it is important to be prepared.
Many states and localities offer sales tax holidays on hurricane preparedness supplies. The first one to make the announcement this year is Virginia: Virginia’s sales tax holiday for hurricane preparedness begins tomorrow (Memorial Day) and continues through next Sunday.
Virginia retailers will not charge sales tax on items that can be used to prepare homes to withstand hurricanes and floods and to fill emergency supply kits. In general, this includes generators costing $1,000 or less, and other supplies costing $60 or less. Bottled water (including flavored water) and water storage containers also qualify for the sales tax exemption.
For a complete list of exempt items, check out this bulletin from the state of Virginia (it downloads as a pdf).
The following week, beginning on Saturday, May 30, and lasting through Sunday, May 31, marks Louisiana’s hurricane preparedness sales tax holidays. On these two days, shoppers can purchase specified emergency supplies sales tax free.
During the two-day holiday, tax-free purchases are allowed for the first $1,500 of the sales price of items such as self-powered light sources (including flashlights and candles – note that candles are not exempt in Virginia), portable self-powered radios, two-way radios, and weather-band radios and batteries.
The 2009 Louisiana Hurricane Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday does not extend to items or supplies purchased at airports, public lodging establishments, hotels, convenience stores, or entertainment complexes.
For a complete list of exempt items, check out this flyer from the state of Louisiana (it downloads as a pdf).
As more states make announcements, I’ll post them here. Expect a short list this year. Last year, Florida announced that it would not have a hurricane preparedness sales tax holiday due to budget constraints – I haven’t heard word yet on whether it will change for this year. Other states hard hit by budget woes in hurricane prone areas include North and South Carolina, and Georgia – I’ll post announcements from those states once I receive them.
Image courtesy of NOAA through Wikimedia
Governon Paterson raised quite a stir after he suggested a “fat tax” to raise revenue combat obesity. But that may not be the most controversial local tax measure to make news this December. Rep. Darryl Rouson, a Democrat from St. Petersburg, Florida, has proposed House Bill 99 to add a “surtax of 5 percent” on items described as “drug paraphernalia” under Florida statute.
Florida statute defines drug paraphernalia as “all equipment, products, and materials of any kind which are used, intended for use, or designed for use in planting, propagating, cultivating, growing, harvesting, manufacturing, compounding, converting, producing, processing, preparing, testing, analyzing, packaging, repackaging, storing, containing, concealing, transporting, injecting, ingesting, inhaling, or otherwise introducing into the human body a controlled substance in violation of this chapter or s. 877.111.” The list of what that includes is amazing (see it here) and includes such items as charging bottles, whip its and chillums. Yeah, no idea what any of that means. But they’re on the list.
Rouson’s idea is to require store owners who sell these accessories, which are commonly used in conjunction illegal drugs, to pay more taxes. The money raised will benefit drug addiction programs. The statute as currently written would impose the surtax on those items regardless of whether they are sold for legal purposes. However, Rouson, a former cocaine addict, has indicated that he will amend the bill to exclude drug-free use of common items.
I have to say, I have no idea how this would work in practice. If you buy a bong, I could see where it would be a fairly easy argument. But balloons, tubes, 2-liter-type soda bottles and duct tape? How do you prove that you’re buying those for non-drug purposes? And whose burden would it be to prove the non-drug use: the buyer or the store owner?
It seems like a bad move all the way round. It will indeed be interesting to see how it’s received by other Florida representatives. If it were up to you, would you vote yes or no?
It was a historic day on yesterday with the election of President Elect Barack Obama. It’s almost easy to forget that there were other elections and ballot issues to consider but voters in some states faced a laundry list of issues. Among those were several state tax measures, including:
In Arkansas: Voters supported an amendment to the Arkansas Constitution which, among things, eliminated a reference to the poll tax.
In Colorado: Voters said no on several tax measures, including a state sales tax increase. Amendment 58, which would end a property tax credit for Colorado’s oil and gas industry and boost severance tax revenue by $321 million a year – seven companies, including Chevron and Conoco each contributed $1 million towards the opposition campaign. Severance taxes are imposed on minerals extracted from the state, or “severed,” to compensate for nonrenewable resources.
In Florida: Voters defeated Amendment 8, which would have authorized counties to ask voters if they want to increase the sales tax for up to five years to aid the local community college. Voters approved Amendment 4, which would give conserved property a lower tax assessment; the amendment also eliminates property taxes on lands placed in a perpetual conservation easement.
In Louisiana: Voters said no to a bill that would dedicate additional state severance taxes to parishes (like counties) of origin (See Colorado above).
In Maine: Voters approved a measure vetoing a new tax on beer, wine and soft drinks, which would help finance a state health care program.
In Massachusetts: Voters rejected another measure that would have cut, and then eliminated, the state’s personal income tax. A similar measure was rejected in 2002.
In North Dakota: Voters rejected an income tax cut. Measure 2 would have cut income taxes in half and corporate income taxes by 15%.
In Nevada: Voters shot down an attempt by the Nevada Legislature to amend or repeal the sales and use tax without voter approval.
In Oklahoma: Voters overwhelmingly approved an exemption from personal property tax for injured veterans and veterans’ surviving spouses. Voters also approved a measure that would require a person or business to file an application in order to receive a property tax exemption.
In Oregon: Voters said yes to an exemption that required 50% voter turnout to pass property tax increase measures. Voters turned down a measure that would have allowed federal taxes paid to be deducted from Oregon taxable income.
(Note: Findings were based on local newspaper and media reports. If you have additional information, please share!)
When I first moved to Philadelphia, I used to describe the area that I grew up in as “that place that they report from on the Weather Channel during hurricane season.” That’s because I hail from Hampstead, NC, just a few miles north of Wilmington, NC, which is sort of a hurricane magnet.
But even Wilmington doesn’t compare to areas in Florida which, over the past few years, have been hit hard by increasingly destructive and costly hurricanes. Why? I don’t know. Maybe it’s global warming. Maybe it’s poor coastal community planning. Maybe it’s over-development of coastal areas.
I’m not a scientist. But I am a tax attorney. And of all of the states impacted by hurricanes, Florida seems to have made the best use of policy to soften the blows. In fact, for the third consecutive year, Florida is enjoying a sales tax holiday on hurricane supplies – handy since the NOAA is calling for a particularly active hurricane season. Until June 12, you can buy radios, batteries, tarps and other hurricane-related supplies without paying the normal 6% sales tax. The estimated savings to residents? Twenty five million dollars. For more information, see this release from Florida’s Department of Revenue.
