A few good ones and a few that may best be noted as being "just not so good." Quite possibly the best part of this session is that it is over! Huh, George M...

A quick review of those most noted by tax on-lookers:

SB 1046 - This one was supported by most, if not all, political subdivisions and their respective organizations. The bill sponsored by Senator Ellington allows local governing agencies that collect property tax to use monies paid under protest by public service companies. The bill also provides for the issuance of a credit memo against future tax liabilities. Refund provisions also are addressed if litigation to recover such funds are sought.

SB 173 - Although this one received the go-ahead from Municipal Affairs, it did not make the cut. This bill by Senator Johnson, was a constitutional amendment that would have required a two-thirds vote to approve local sales tax exemptions.

SB 170 & SB 171 - Both by Senator Michot would have mandated the state collection of local sales taxes. There was a lot of effort put forth by a lot of folks on this one, as well as other similar bills. The next time you run into one of your Legislative Committee Members, shake there hand, or hug their neck if more appropriate. They have represented you well!

HB 764 - By Representative Scalise, would have exempted custom software from local taxation. This also fell to the axe.

HB 1493 - This one, by Representative McMains, turned out to be one for the record books. After many, many hours of cussing and discussing and ultimately a compromise by a delegation from the Committee on State Taxation (COST) and our Legislative Committee, this bill failed to clear the House Ways and Means Committee. As an organization, we need to come together on this one...there is little doubt in this ole country boys mind about this one coming back!!

HB 1075 - This one got by, the bill authored by Representative DeWhitt exempts certain phone directories from local taxation.

HB 730 - This bill passed...it excludes purchases, leases, or rentals of tangible personal property covered by Medicare from local taxation. Although indicated to have a low fiscal impact, you big guys may very well disagree before it is all said and done.

HB 1391 - This one had us all hopping for a while...what was to be a simple matter for the Department of Revenue, soon became an issue for local taxation of cellular telephones. The same guy that sponsored HB 1046 was the culprit that amended this bill. Figure that one out guys...thanks to a lot of folks it did not quite get to 3^rd base.

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Overall it wasn’t a bad trip...however, it could have been without our legislative group. Keep them in your thoughts...they are a hard working group that put in a lot of extra time and effort "just for you!"

Abraham Lincoln once said, "You can fool all of the people some of the time. You can fool some of the people all of the time. But you can’t fool all of the people all of the time."

This was never truer than what transpired in this Regular Session of the Legislature. Some people must have thought that it would be easy to fool the local tax collectors by an end run regarding House Bill 1391 by Representative William B. Daniel.

This bill began as a simple housecleaning bill prepared by the State Department of Revenue to bring the state statutes into compliance with some federal telecommunications law. Low and behold while the bill was on the Senate floor, Senator Noble E. Ellington successfully added four amendments which, if passed would have seriously affected how locals collect sales and use tax on cellular telephone sales. Once this was brought to the attention of LATA’s Legislative Co-Chair, George Marretta, things began to happen.

After almost a week of attending conference committee hearings, talking with representatives and senators involved with the bill and meetings with the public sector responsible for the addition of the amendments, the bill was passed but the set of four Senate Floor Amendments proposed by Senator Ellington and adopted by the Senate on June 12, 2001, were rejected. This would not have happened had it not been for our Legislative Committee.

Each and every tax jurisdiction should realize that, had it not been for the quick action of our Legislative Committee, we may have been the victim of yet another attempt at slashing local revenues by the passage of another exemption/exclusion and thus stripping more revenue from our revenue resources. If you have the opportunity to see, speak to, or communicate with any of the members of this committee, and especially George Marretta, please pass along a sincere "ATTA BOY."

On another note, everyone should have received information regarding our next quarterly conference which will be held in Hammond on September 12 - 14. Mike Curtis, Donna Drude, Tara’ Umbach and Jennie Wilson have teamed up to host this conference and from all indications, it will be terrific. Please make plans now to attend. Speaking of conferences/seminars, the LATA will host an Auditors workshop in Baton Rouge, the week of October 1 - 5. Information has been sent out regarding this event and promises to fill up quickly, so make your reservations now.

The annual conference date has been set for December 5 - 7, 2001 in Baton Rouge at the Marriott. Before the end of this month, the room reservation request information will be posted to our web site as well as sent to our membership. Please make plans now to attend our annual conference.

Thanks go to St. Mary Sales Tax Department and to Terrebonne Parish Sales Tax Department for co-hosting the second quarterly conference. Even with the visit from Allison it was very successful. Thanks to everyone and their staffs for all of the hard work that went into our meeting in Morgan City.

Remember, "Business, Industry, Administrators....Together We Can" God Bless you until we meet again.

 

The Computer Technology Committee is planning yet another computer class for late October or early November.

This class will be held at the Tech Center of the Jeff-Davis Parish School Board in Jennings, Louisiana.

However, we need your input as to the class content/subject that you are interested in receiving. Currently, classes are available in Microsoft Excel, Corel Quattro Pro, Microsolf Word, Corel WordPerfect, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Search Engines, and Microsoft Powerpoint.

Please respond with your interest in such a class along with your preference of subject matter. If you have another suggestion for a tax/business related class, please let us know. After all the information from the members has been received, we will forward a letter stating when and what time the class will be held. The cost of the class will vary dependant upon the number of participants.

We look forward to your reply.

The Board of Directors have from time to time discussed this issue with little results. The reason being...cost!

After another failed attempt for state central, the following, resulting from a discussion with Senator Michot, and others, during the recent legislative session. Intended for your information only, it is a small part of a memo shared by our friend Susan Gordon. I trust that this sharing of information will meet with Susan’s approval.

Discussing the possibility of developing the existing LATA website to allow for the processing of all local sales tax returns, and possibly on-line payment of sales tax. Senator Michot saw this as a solution to the frustration of taxpayers who are too small to purchase the necessary software to process local sales tax returns. In other words, for those mid-size retailers who occasionally have to file in other than their parish of location, such a system could be a "one-stop shop."

Unfortunately, the LATA website consultant advised that it might cost between $25,000 and $50,000 to set up such a system. Since the LATA is a non-profit organization, they do not have the resources to support such an effort.

Comments concerning issue from Roland Volk of TekInsight Services...if we could get most or all of the parishes on board, we could spread the up-front costs over say a three year time and 60 parishes. Some variables include the transaction volume and the ease of interfacing with the various parish back end sales tax accounting systems.

For a parish the size of Baton Rouge that has 20,000 sales tax vendors, we estimate that 2000 will sign up for online payment each year. The EFT costs for this volume would be $9,000/year. With hosting costs, the larger parishes could end up paying $20,000 per year and smaller parishes paying less.

This application would not only benefit the mid sized businesses, it would dramatically reduce clerical efforts and increase cash flow for the parishes. Currently the parishes get most of there payment close to the penalty date of the 20^th and typically are backlogged for 4-5 days. The interest value of this money during that time is significant.

The memo goes on to say that large national businesses would not want to go online for their sales tax payments. They prefer ACH Credit transactions submitted through their banks.

One might draw their own conclusion based on their individual jurisdictional taxpayers. However, in a recent address to Board Mike Curtis, Technology Committee, indicated that based on the numbers, this is a cost prohibitive issue.

Thanks Susan, we appreciate you!

 

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Amnesty programs have been used at least three times since the mid 1980s to offer a helping hand to individuals and small businesses with their "state" tax obligations.

Although not endorsed by all lawmakers, this program will extend to October 30, 2001. Some of our leaders think that such programs rewards those that break the law.

The 1998 program netted some $500,000 with the an average take per case at just over $100.

The administration wanted the program to extend to everyone, including those with issued challenges. The is a state program that provides for the payment of "taxes only" free of penalties and interest. It concludes October 30, 2001 and does not extend to local taxes.

 

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Streamlined sales tax progress...

The North Carolina legislature has passed the Streamlined Sales Tax Project (SSTP) model act and the conforming amendments. Wisconsin lawmakers have passed the SSTP model act. The conforming amendments are expected to follow when Wisconsin is able to budget for $17 million it would lose in conforming to the Act’s food and beverage sales provisions. There are now 19 states that have passed the Act. Sixteen have been signed into law and three are awaiting the governor’s signature.

(Tax express, July 30, 2001)

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If you work for an organization that makes its important decisions by committee, make sure you’re on the committee....

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Louisiana Association of Tax Administrators P.O. Box 398 Vidalia, LA 71373 Attn: Tom O’Neal, Secretary/Treasurer