ICTA achieves Minnesota sales tax exemption
Way to go, Minnesota.
A partial sales tax exemption has been signed into law by Gov. Mark Dayton.
This happy news was announced by the Industry Council for Tangible Assets.
ICTA is our numismatic/bullion lobbying group.
It says this is state number 35 out of 50 to enact a complete or partial sales tax exemption.
The exemption becomes effective July 1.
It applies only to .999 fine gold, silver, platinum, or palladium bars or rounds.
It does not apply to coins of less purity or collectible coins generally.
ICTA credits American Numismatic Association presidential candidate Gary Adkins for doing most of the heavy lifting.
“The Minnesota dealer and collector communities owe Gary Adkins a debt of gratitude for his perseverance and generosity,” said ICTA’s executive director, Kathy McFadden.
Adkins returned the compliment.
"The ICTA partnership was invaluable to the successful conclusion of our efforts,” Adkins said.
Also deserving to take a bow, according to ICTA, is Lee Orr.
Adkins credits Bill Himmelwright of PQ Coins in Minneapolis, MN, as a key player in the successful effort.
Perhaps we owe Wall Street a tiny bit of thanks as legislators apparently were trying to even the playing field among various investments.
ICTA quotes the new statute as saying, “The intent of this subdivision is to eliminate the difference in tax treatment between the sale of precious metal bullion and the sale of stock, bullion ETFs, bonds, and other investment instruments.”
In prior decades, hard money investments were deliberately penalized by the federal government specifically to tilt the field in favor of Wall Street.
Perhaps Wall Street forgot to send its lobbyists or didn’t think this important.
For this we should be grateful.
The statute as quoted by ICTA spells out that the exemption applies to “‘precious metal bullion’ meaning bars or rounds that consist of 99.9 [.999] percent or more by weight of either gold, silver, platinum, or palladium and are marked with weight, purity, and content.”
The exemption doesn’t apply to jewelry, works of art, or scrap metal.
Well done, ICTA.
Coin collectors do not like paying sales tax on what they buy.
It is important that they know that ICTA is the organization that has been working hard for 35 years to guard their interests.
Buzz blogger Dave Harper has twice won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog and is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."
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