Sales Tax coming to our state

[copperglobe]

Been in the business for 30 years and we've fought the legislature off and on with them wanting to put sales tax on the car wash industry. Looks like they're going to pass new legislation this year to require it on all car wash types including tunnels, SS and IBA locations.

I can see how requiring sales tax on tunnels would be pretty straight forward with attendants charging the tax and membership pricing going up to compensate and how most tunnel customers probably pay with CC's.

For those of you that live in states with this requirement how do you go about compensating in SS, vacs and IBA locations for sales taxes? There are so many reasons why coin-op machines don't work fairly when sales tax is required- I won't get into that part.

What's your experience?

 

[Randy]

You should count your lucky stars you don’t do business in Washington State. We pay 10.2% on everything at the car wash, bay time, vac’s and vending and all items that are purchased out of state, like those from Kleen-rite we pay 10.2% use tax on those except vending items they are exempt until they are sold. The only thing you can do to compensate for paying the sales tax with self-serve coin boxes and older ACW’s is to raise your prices. All of our equipment has a sticker on the front stating that the price includes the 10.2% sales tax. It’s a real PITA to pay the sales tax every quarter, the process is very cumbersome.

 

[2Biz]

We just got hit with a 30% Property Tax increase...Including my Home! When there are enough people voting for these tax increases that have no skin in the game, its going to be a downward spiral like what Randy keeps talking about. They will pry $$$ out of our pockets by any means possible!

With the same voting day, the residents of the town I work in voted for a 30% income tax increase for the kind folks who work in that town! I wasn't allowed to vote on it since I didn't live there! And if you live in that town AND work there, you were exempt from the tax! Why wouldn't it get voted through?!?! Not a single person who lives there had 1 cent In the game! They had almost 100% "For" votes! Isn't that taxation without representation? Again, "THEY" will pry $$$ out of the hard working peoples' Pockets by any means possible.

It worries me at how far they will go before the TAXES they impose will completely KILL all small business or any business? Let alone the CW industry. Washing your car is not a necessity!

 

[Car_Wash_Guy]

What state OP?

 

[washnvac]

Like Randy said, use it as an opportunity to raise your prices and post signs as to why.

Since we have a little control over our destiny in this biz, I would imagine your reported sales go down as a result of this.

 

[copperglobe]

What state OP?

Utah. We'll find out next week when they release the bill in the legislature.

 

[mjwalsh]

There should be hearings before a tax committee. That is the time to present & hopefully not just as one person.

 

[OurTown]

For those of you that live in states with this requirement how do you go about compensating in SS, vacs and IBA locations for sales taxes?

We pay sales tax on vending items here in Ohio and it is included in our price. Our state and local together is 6.75%. We take our total sales for the period and divide it by 1.0675. Lets say the total was $1,000 then the actual sales amount we are paying the sales tax is $936.77. We pay $63.23 in sales tax. ($936.77 times the 6.75% rate) You might consider raising prices and putting up signs that not only explain the reason for the increase (government needs more money) but that the tax is included and the sale amount is actually less by X percentage. It seems like there was a discussion about Dixmor timers possibly having a sales tax feature some day but I can't remember the details. It could have been just a desire for Dixmor to add that feature.