New Hampshire legislators are trying to make it more difficult for neighboring states to collect taxes from residents who cross the border to make tax-free purchases in the Granite State.
The New Hampshire Senate yesterday unanimously passed a bill, SB 5, that would prohibit retailers from disclosing private customer information to other states for the purpose of collecting certain taxes for those states. New Hampshire, which doesn't have a general sales tax, attracts out-of-town shoppers who don't want to pay taxes.
"It's not something that's really the vendor's job, to find out where someone is going to use something they buy," said New Hampshire Senator Peter Bragdon, who added that the bill is meant to protect the local retail trade, which he called a "critical part" of the state's economy.
The bill follows a move by Massachusetts officials to try to force a New England tire chain to charge Bay State residents a 5 percent tax on items purchased in New Hampshire. In 2003, the Massachusetts Department of Revenue audited several Town Fair Tire stores in New Hampshire after hearing that Massachusetts residents were driving up to buy tires from the Connecticut-based chain, which also operates stores in the Bay State.
Using invoices that contained addresses and some phone numbers, Massachusetts officials identified 313 sales made to Bay State residents. The state argues that the tire chain should have charged those customers a 5 percent "use tax" because the tires were likely to be used or stored in Massachusetts, not New Hampshire.
Yup, YOUR TAX DOLLARS USED to TRACK YOU DOWN!!!
Another TEA PARTY is DEFINITELY in order!!!!!
Town Fair Tire is fighting back, and its case is expected to be heard by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court this spring. David Nagle, a lawyer at Sullivan & Worcester LLP in Boston, which is representing Town Fair Tire, said he hopes for a decision by the end of the summer....
Oh, bend and spread, Taxachushitts!!!!
"Mascoma moving headquarters to N.H." by Erin Ailworth, Globe Staff | April 14, 2009
Biofuel company Mascoma Corp. plans to move its corporate headquarters from Boston to a new research laboratory in New Hampshire, company officials are expected to say today.
The move will consolidate most of Mascoma's operations, which, until now, have been divided among Boston; a demonstration facility in Rome, New York; and a lab in Lebanon, N.H., where many of the company's employees already are based. Researchers in Lebanon are working to convert plant material such as wood chips and corn stover into biofuel.
There are currently about 25 employees in Mascoma's Boston office. About a dozen jobs will be eliminated in the consolidation, Mascoma chief executive Bruce Jamerson said, either because employees don't want to relocate or their positions are redundant. That will leave the company with a workforce of about 90. Jamerson said Mascoma expects to complete the move by September and hopes to add more jobs over the next year. Staff in New York will be unaffected.
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