ICTA wins another one for coin buyers

The Industry Council for Tangible Assets has notched another sales tax win.
Congratulations.
Alabama becomes the 37th state to exempt sales of gold, silver, platinum and palladium bullion and money, ICTA’s David Crenshaw reports.
Numismatic commerce can blossom thanks to Gov. Kay Ivey. She signed into law Senate Bill 156 on March 6 to create a sales and use tax exemption on U.S.. coins and currency and precious metals bullion sales.
Of course, she isn’t the only one who deserves the high praise of collectors.
“The bill’s author, Senator Tim Melson along with its House sponsor, Representative Ron Johnson, championed the bill through the legislature,” said Phil Darby (J & P Coins and Currency in Helena).
“Alabama coin businesses and collectors owe them a debt of gratitude,” Darby said.
Collectors and bullion buyers often don’t care about politics.
They just do business in states where they are not whacked when they make their purchases.
Fortunately for all of us, ICTA and its allies in the state’s coin dealer community do the heavy lifting.
According to Crenshaw, in the summer of 2016, Darby and Steve Caiola (Alabama Gold Refinery of Homewood) started collaborating with ICTA to obtain the exemption.
Darby and Caiola hired Graham Champion of Public Strategies in Montgomery, Alabama’s capital city, as the campaign’s lobbyist.
Darby, Caiola, Champion, ICTA treasurer Pat Heller and Crenshaw, who is ICTA’s chief operating officer, met with the state’s department of revenue deputy commissioner Michael Gamble to lay the exemption’s groundwork.
The first legislation died last year.
In the next legislative session, Champion secured Rep. Johnson to sponsor House legislation.
“We promoted the sales tax exemption as a legitimate jobs and economic development issue with the legislators,” Champion said.

We were pleased with the unanimous support of our legislation in both houses, recognizing the benefits to the state’s revenue, to in-state businesses, and to in-state investors and collectors from eliminating the sales tax,” Champion said.

Crenshaw says the new law takes effect June 1.
Alabama is now eligible to host a national coin show such as the Whitman Coin & Collectibles Expo.
“We have discussed the possibility of hosting a show in Alabama. However, we have been reluctant because of the sales tax obstacle,” said Mary Burleson, president of Whitman Publishing.
Perhaps the creation of a new coin show will demonstrate to the 13 remaining states the economic benefits of this sales tax exemption.
Buzz blogger Dave Harper won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog for the third time in 2017 . He is editor of the weekly newspaper “Numismatic News.”.