New Sales Taxes Begin Thursday

Business owners across the state are sweating the possible effects of a nearly ten percent price increase on business that goes into effect tomorrow. Thousands of businesses statewide will have to add state and local sales taxes to the services they sell under a recent state law that extends the taxes to services not previously taxed. An El Dorado dry-cleaner opener estimates the changes will add about 75 cents to the seven-dollar-and-95 cents it costs to dry clean a business suit. The Legislature raised the state sales tax this year from five-point-one-two-five percent to six percent to generate additional revenue for a court-ordered public education overhaul. Expanding the higher sales tax to services from dry cleaning, body piercing, and campground rentals to pet grooming, security system monitoring and wrecker and towing services, will add about 24 million dollards annually to the 370 million dollars in new taxes the Legislature raised this year to pay for overhauling an unconstitutional state public education system. Other services that will be taxed for the first time, beginning tomorrow, include: --Collection and disposal of solid wastes. --Cleaning parking lots and gutters. --Industrial laundry services. --Mini-warehouse and self-storage rental services. --Body piercing, tattooing and electrolysis services. --Pest control services. --Security and alarm monitoring services. --Boat storage and docking fees. --Furnishing camping spaces or trailer spaces at public or privately owned campgrounds, except for federal campgrounds, on less than a month-to-month basis. --Pet grooming and kennel services. --Locksmith services. Under the new law, "locksmith services" means repairing, servicing, or installing locks and locking devices, whether the locks and locking devices are: --Incorporated into real property. --Incorporated into tangible personal property. --Locks separate and apart from other property.