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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ellen B. Marshall
202-879-9320
Streamlined Sales Tax Project Announces May Meeting
(Washington, DC, April 12, 2001). Officials with the Streamlined Sales Tax Project have announced that the Project will hold its next meeting on May 7 and 8, 2001 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. During the meeting, the Project will receive progress reports from Work Groups and subgroups established at its last meeting in Dallas. A Project meeting will be held on May 8, with the meeting open to the public and a comment period provided. Project Work Groups will also meet over the course of the two-day meeting with most of the sessions open to the public.
Project co-chairs, Diane L. Hardt (Wisconsin Department of Revenue) and Charles D. Collins (North Carolina Department of Revenue) also announced that Maine and Washington have increased their support of state efforts to streamline and simplify sales and use tax laws. By Executive Order of Governor Angus King of Maine and Governor Gary Locke of Washington, these states are now Participating states in the Project, increasing the number of Participating states in the Project to 32.
At its meeting in Dallas, the Project identified issues and features on which it would concentrate during the year 2001. "The subgroups established at the March Project meeting have already made substantial progress on a number of issues," commented Charles Collins, North Carolina Department of Revenue, a co-chair of the Project. At the Milwaukee meeting, the Project expects to receive progress reports on several issues, including rounding, exemption processing, telecommunications sourcing, bad debts, and definitions.
Ongoing discussions on additional issues, such as the definition of tangible personal property and leases and rentals, are also expected. "Uniform definitions are one of the most important items in the streamlined system," Collins stated. Two subgroups addressing tangible personal property and leases and rentals have been meeting separately with industry representatives working in these two areas. "These subgroups are making progress—and the input and recommendations from the private sector have been very helpful," Collins concluded. Although a report for tangible personal property and leases and rentals will not be presented to the Project until late June, the subgroups will be providing a status report on their activities to the states at the Milwaukee meeting. (For a complete listing of issues being addressed by the Project, go to the Project’s website, www.streamlinedsalestax.org, and click on "2001 Timeline".)
"The discussions on these issues are a continuation of discussions that the Project has been conducting for the past year," commented Diane L. Hardt, Wisconsin Department of Revenue, and a co-chair of the Project. "All of these issues are an integral part of the simplification measures that are the most critical component of a streamlined sales tax system," Hardt concluded. The Project will prepare papers on each issue highlighting such items as the complexity of the issue, its impact on tax collection, the effect on states, and possible alternatives. The issue papers will be available to state representatives for review and discussion when consideration is given to adding features to the agreement.
At its March meeting, the Project also addressed several items of unfinished business from its project teleconference of January 24. The Project also requested additional clarification on the concerns about privacy guidelines and bad debts. These issues will be addressed in papers in future meetings. The Project co-chairs confirmed that representatives of the Project will participate in the cost of collection study with the retail community and noted that Mr. Collins and Ms. Hardt were working with the study’s steering committee. The Project determined that it would not be necessary to add a governance section to the Project’s Act since it was the intention of the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Project for states passing either the Project Act or the NCSL Act to continue to work together to finalize the agreement.
The Project continues to encourage states to pass as many of the simplification measures as possible this year.
On April 5, 2001, Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AR) signed HB 2170, the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Administration Act, into law. Huckabee’s action marks the fourth state to enact sales and use tax simplification legislation since March 1. (Kentucky, Wyoming, and Utah have also enacted simplification legislation.) An additional 22 state legislatures are actively considering simplification legislation with several more states expected to take significant steps toward enactment in the coming weeks.
Complete details on the upcoming Milwaukee Project meeting, including the agenda and instructions on how to register to attend, can be downloaded from the Project’s website (click on "Meetings"). Throughout 2001, the Project anticipates meeting approximately every 60 days with the next meeting tentatively scheduled for late June in Raleigh, North Carolina.