AROUND THE STATES By Scott Riehl E Georgia Property Tax Workgroup Forming LFA MEMBERS are forming a workgroup that will tackle a personal property tax dilemma facing Georgia’s family-owned farms. Th e issue centers on inconsistent application—by both local assessors and state auditors—of the personal property tax exemption for equipment with a lease purchase agreement under §48-5-41.1(c). Th is provision provides a tax exemp-tion for equipment if it is under a lease-purchase agreement and used in production by a family-owned qualifi ed farm. Association members alerted ELFA that local assessors are frequently not conforming to House Bill 374 passed in 2015. Th at law meant to defi ne and clarify a “lease purchase agreement” but left it undefi ned. Th ese local asses-sors at times make their own interpre-tation denying an exemption or state auditors overturn the exemption rul-ing against the norm, which is a nom-inal payment upon the end of the lease in order to transfer ownership. Until a ruling is obtained or the law is changed or clarifi ed and “lease-purchase agree-ment” is clearly defi ned, farmers will continue to be potentially penalized for their choice in fi nancing. ELFA has briefed and obtained the support of Georgia Senate and House agriculture and fiscal leaders in re-sponse to their requests for informa-tion about this issue. Th ose wishing to participate in the workgroup should send complete contact information to Scott Riehl, ELFA Vice President of State Government Relations, at sriehl@ elfaonline.org. Louisiana Commission Chairman Hears ELFA Concerns ELFA State Government Relations Vice President Scott Riehl has worked with Rep. Julie Stokes, Chairman of the Louisiana Sales Tax Streamlining and Modernization Commission, to ensure that legislation draft ed by the Commission will resolve tax problems created by the legislature earlier this year. Scott Riehl and ELFA member Chris Bucher of Whitney Bank met with Rep. Stokes in her legislative dis-trict at her invitation to seek resolu-tion to the double sales tax on leased equipment. Not even factoring in the tens of millions of dollars in transactions lost to the current tax imbalance, en-actment of the ELFA-supplied fi x in next year’s legislation to restore the sale-for-resale exemption will relieve the equipment leasing industry of this extra sales tax amounting to an esti-mated $110 million yearly. New York Data Security Proposal Affects ELFA Members On Nov. 14, ELFA filed opposition comments to the New York Depart-ment of Financial Services (NYDFS) Proposed Cybersecurity Requirements for Financial Services Companies. Under the proposed regulations the NYDFS could impose civil penalties, at a minimum, against “Covered En-tities” who violate the regulations and are defi ned as “any Person operating under or required to operate under a license, registration, charter, certifi -cate, permit, accreditation or similar authorization under the banking law, the insurance law or the fi nancial ser-vices law.” Th e proposal exempts some smaller entities. ELFA has joined with the New York Business Council and other allies in an eff ort to address this proposal. ELFA’s comments can be view State Advocacy webpage at www. elfaonline.org/advocacy/state-issues. ■ For more information, please contact Vice President of State Government Relations Scott Riehl at sriehl@ elfaonline.org. PIXOME/ SHUTTERSTOCK The ELFA-supplied fi x in next year’s legislation will relieve the industry of this extra sales tax amounting to an estimated $110 million yearly. 50 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 EQUIPMENT LEASING & FINANCE MAGAZINE