AURORA, Colo. — The city of Aurora is considering a tax on coin-operated machines, according to The Denver Post.
“A Laundromat can’t charge sales tax, nor can a (self-service) carwash,” said John Zayac, owner of two self-service Pro Clean Auto Washes, in the article. “In a Laundromat, you can’t shorten the wash cycle to reduce cost to pay the tax. And at a carwash, it would cost me $30,000 per each carwash to add sales tax by upgrading the machines to accept credit cards. We charge a quarter. How are we supposed to add pennies to that?”
A recent audit of several coin-operated laundry facilities and carwashes in Aurora found that the city has never collected a 3.75 percent sales tax for renting the equipment used at these businesses, stated the article, such as vacuum hoses and washing machines used on-site.
“I understand that the city relies on sales taxes, and I understand that it’s the (tax division’s) job to find new ways to make money for the city,” asserted Zayac in the article. “But what you’re ending up with here is a small business owner having to pay an income tax because they can’t pass it on to the customer. This could also affect my employees and their benefits to some degree.”
According to Trevor Vaughn, manager of Aurora’s tax and licensing division, other cities located around Denver are considering or have started collecting similar taxes, reported the article, and it is time for Aurora to do the same.
This “compliance initiative,” explains Vaughn, will help the city bring in up to $300,000 in annual revenue, the article noted.
Read the entire article here.
