Chamber supporting designers in tax fight
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, April 7, 2008
High Point — This city's Chamber of Commerce has lent its support to designers fighting a proposed North Carolina state sales tax on their services.
The N.C. Department of Revenue wants designers to collect a 6.75% sales tax on consulting fees from clients who also purchase products from them. The state also wants to collect thousands of dollars in back taxes, penalties and interest from designers who had not collected the tax on such fees in past years.
The High Point Chamber Board of Directors said it voted unanimously to oppose the tax. Chamber officials said the issue is unfair to designers, who they view as an "integral part of the effort to market home furnishings in High Point."
"The success of the furniture industry is vital to the economy of High Point and the state of North Carolina," said High Point Chamber Board Chairman Jerry Camp in a statement. "As champions of free enterprise, the chamber joins our professional designers in opposition to this unfair collection."
Board members Brian Casey, who also is president of the High Point Market Authority, and Joe Carroll, publisher of Furniture/Today, agreed that designers should not be required to pay the tax and urged their colleagues to support the opposition.
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