 | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
|
« Is Tennessee's Hall Tax About to Be Declared Partially Unconstitutional? | Main | Happy Hanukkah » December 7, 2007The Long List
Some questioned whether the warning might have been "over the top.". Thanks to video and YouTube, I can demonstrate that the answer is, emphatically, no. On the video, Tennessee Revenue Commissioner Reagan Farr tells a joint legislative committee on taxes that the Revenue Department has "a long list" of loopholes in the current tax code that it hopes to close in the 2008 session of the state legislature. Farr said he will be discussing the proposals with Finance Commissioner David Goetz and Gov. Phil Bredesen soon. He made the comments on Dec. 5, 2007. Last year, the Revenue Department's "technical corrections" legislation included removing the sales tax exemption on propane purchased for the backyard barbecue grill, costing Tennesseans $3 million a year in higher taxes. Posted in Tennessee Government News
Comments
What lobby won a sales tax exemption on propane for the backyard barbecue grill? Posted by: Christian Grantham at December 7, 2007 11:19 AMThey exempted propane years ago because people heat their homes with it. But someone at Revenue realize that the exemption also meant when you buy a cannister of propane for your grill, it was exempt from sales taxes. So they changed the propane exemption to be only for "propane delivered to the home." So if you have a propane tank for heating your home, run a line from it to your grill to avoid the "barbecue tax." Posted by: Bill Hobbs at December 7, 2007 11:25 AMBill, can you or Robin Smith demonstrate how to run a line to your barbecue to avoid paying a sales tax on propane? If I'm going to spend a $1.80 I'd rather it be on some cheap hose rigged up to my home heating than to give it to the gubment. Posted by: Christian Grantham at December 7, 2007 12:25 PMI wouldn't recommend a cheap hose - I'd suggest you get a qualified installer to do it. Lots of homes with natural gas have lines run to the outdoor grills, so I assume it can be done with propane as well. For people who like to grill out a lot, but don't have a propane tank, they might consider having a propane tank installed so that their propane is tax free. Also, it beats the hassle of exchanging the cannisters every so often. The real question is not how to do it but why the Bredesen administration decided to slap a $3 million tax on grilling out in the middle of a billion-dollar-plus surplus. Posted by: Bill Hobbs at December 7, 2007 1:12 PMDefinitely get a qualified gas installer to make the additional split off your propane line. The same people can show you how to make a connection from a branch line to a gas grill that isn't a permanent installation. Let's hope there are better 'loopholes' than this. Posted by: Paul at December 10, 2007 8:19 AMThe underlying problem is that they think the money belongs to the government and not the people who earned it. They, and their liberal friends, live in a parallel universe where they only discuss how much we get to keep. Posted by: Raymond Baker at December 10, 2007 4:11 PMPost a comment
Comments Policy: Your comment is subject to deletion if it is off-topic or includes foul language or personal attack. Readers, please email me if you find comments that include egregious violations of this policy. Comments may not post immediately - do not post twice!
|
|||||||||||
A few days ago I wrote a 