Last Chance to Support
Material Supplier Sales Tax Reform
Contact Your STATE SENATOR Today
and Urge Him/Her to Override Gov. Romney's Veto!

On Sunday, June 25, Gov. Mitt Romney vetoed MRLDA's section of House Bill 5057, "An Act Relative to Economic Development in the Commonwealth." The bill amends the current sales tax law to permit building material suppliers to receive an additional 30 days to remit their sales tax receipts to the Department of Revenue.

Please fax or e-mail the attached letter to your state senator and urge him/her to override the Governor's veto of the building material supplier sales tax reform language.

1. To find your state senator you must use a federal website: www.congress.org. Click on State Officials to find your state senator, the fax number, and e-mail address. Or call Aisha Tator at 800-292-6752, she will be happy to locate that information for you.

2. Please fax or e-mail the attached letter (below) on your company letterhead to your state senator. A copy of this letter can also be found at www.nrla.org.

3. Please fax or e-mail a copy of any correspondence to: Aisha Tator, NRLA, at aisha@nrla.org or fax: 518-286-1949.

July 24, 2006

Dear Senator:

As an independent building material supplier, I am writing to ask for your SUPPORT in overriding Governor Romney's veto of Sections 54 and 55 of House Bill 5057, "An Act Relative to Economic Development in the Commonwealth." This bill amends the current sales tax collection law to permit building material suppliers to receive an additional 30 days to remit their sales tax receipts to the Department of Revenue.

Contrary to the Governor’s Veto Message, this language DOES NOT result in the net loss of any tax revenue to the state and will NOT provide an open-ended deferral of sales tax payment to the state. The states of New York, Vermont, Connecticut, and Rhode Island recognized the building material suppliers’ unique position within the construction industry and enacted laws to provide lumber dealers with additional time to remit their sales tax payments.

Since banks do not fund 100 percent of a project, independent lumber dealers provide "in-house" credit to local home builders to help fill a financing gap in the building process. Material suppliers are often required to remit the sales tax to the state before receiving payments from their customers. It is a system that we must utilize in order to remain competitive in the current business environment.

Under the current law, vendors are required to remit sales tax within twenty days after the end of each month, regardless of whether or not they have received payment from the customer. This forces building material suppliers to pay the sales tax on uncollected receipts. We are often forced to borrow funds to meet these payments. This imposes a strain on our monthly cash flow and diverts financial resources away from other needed business investments such as purchasing stock, hiring employees, or expanding our business operations. I believe this proposal will provide the necessary financial relief to our industry and enable hundreds of small home builders and re-modelers to secure the materials needed to build affordable housing in the Commonwealth.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,