Hey WA Martial Arts Supporters, Washington state residents in particular. (especially Eastern Washington) We've been told by lawmakers that if we want this punishing and obviously unfair retail sales tax removed from martial arts in WA State we need YOU to call, write and email YOUR legislators as often as you can until our bill is passed. An important window, but not hope, is closing this week. We've done what we can for you. We have bills alive in the Senate and House right now but we're losing momentum. This is not a trivial issue. At up to 10.1% sales tax on tuition, workshops, testing, lessons and more this is a really, really big deal. Martial arts will never be the same. It is hurting participants, families and schools right now and it's just plain wrong. Many are apathetic but we are still fighting because it's not about us. It's about future generations! This year might be our last chance. We've demonstrated what happened and proved it was unfair and a mistake to many but the longer this goes on the less likely they'll support repealing the tax. We have created strong support in Olympia but our community is so small we're getting lost. It's so important you take the actions we're advocating. We've been told over and over it is contact from constituents that changes legislators minds. We all need your help. Especially in Eastern Washington where there aren't many martial arts schools. They don't seem to care and we get caught in between the Eastern/Western Washington animosity. It's actually easy and doesn't take that much time. Call the Senator and both Representatives in YOUR district. (Email is also needed but a phone call or visit is more likely to make an impact) Warning: please do this ONLY where you live and if you own a business wherever that is located too. Use this website to get the information you need and write it down: http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/ You need to tell them you live in their district and you want them to fix this. Ask your Senator to make sure SB5220 or SB5205 get's a hearing, out of committee and a vote in the Senate. Ask your Representative to make sure HB1032 gets out of committee and a vote in the House of Representatives. Your legislator isn't going to answer the phone so don't worry. Tell their staff member, leave a voicemail, send an email, send a letter. Forward every message you see from us to all your friends and ask them to do the same. If you need a quick refresher on the issue we wrote another summary for you below. It's now or never. Sincerely, The Washington Martial Arts Association New summary of the issue. In 2015, through passage of HB1550, the State of Washington singled out just one educational service and business type for taxation as retail sales rather than service and without any notification to that business community. This means up to 10.1% sales tax on every facet of the educational process. This treatment is unfair, harmful and stifling growth and job creation. HB1550 was requested by the Department of Revenue. The change for martial arts businesses was a minor part of an overall effort to simplify the taxation, and future auditing, of amusement and recreation activities and businesses. HB1550 accomplished simplification by inappropriately lumping any business teaching martial arts into the legal definition of health clubs/sports and recreation centers. This is nonsensical given that according to NAICIS, their WA State business licenses and decades of rulings in the State of Washington, martial arts and self defense ARE education services. Adding to the inconsistency and unfairness is that other similar business types were either not included at all, or protected through exemption, including dance, ballet, gymnastics, tai chi, yoga and chi gong studios as well as instruction in swimming, riding, diving, golf and other activities. As martial arts was not a focus of HB1550 the impact on martial arts was not disclosed in the bill summaries given to legislators nor does the NAICIS code for martial arts appear to have been used in the fiscal impact studies prior to passage. As a consequence very few legislators even knew and this presumably explains why no warning was given to a single member of the business community that legislation was under consideration and no business owners or participants of the activity were able to testify in opposition before passage. Hundreds attended public hearings in Olympia and thousands of WA residents have signed petitions and have emailed and called legislators in support since. In 2016 a bill was passed in the House 97-0 but didn’t get a vote in the Senate, in part, because of perception it was a tax exemption rather than fixing a broken law. The passage of HB1550 has created an unfair and inconsistent business environment amongst virtually identical businesses. Martial arts teachers with the skill to create businesses and jobs face unfair competition from government run community centers where martial arts is not taxed. Non-profit martial arts schools are simultaneously given tax exempt status as educational services by the Federal government but defined under state law as Athletic & Fitness facilities that primarily offer physical fitness services and taxed as retail sales as a consequence. Treatment of any educational service as a retail sales item hinders the ability to educate and for the businesses themselves to grow and thrive. This has already proven to be the case. Many experienced business owners are reporting overall loss of membership between 2015-2017, decreased revenue and record cancellations. Self defense training, bully prevention and access to cultural enrichment is all being hindered because of current law. Passage of HB1032, SB5220 or SB5205 will simply return martial arts businesses to their proper, prior classification as services and do not create an inconsistent or unprecedented tax preference.