Vended laundries in Connecticut are facing a sales tax threat, since the states’ Governor Ned Lamont has unveiled his budget plan including an expansion of the sales tax base to new services – including laundry services.
Laundries play an integral role in providing a basic service to Connecticut residents who in most cases lack access to in-home laundry services. Therefore, taxing laundromat services is regressive, because these businesses serve low-income citizens who can’t afford to purchase washers and dryers on their own, whereas wealthier individuals will be excluded from this taxing.
There is also the risk that requiring sales tax collection from self-service laundry consumers would force laundry owners to purchase new equipment or pay for expensive upgrades to perfectly functioning existing equipment. Because the vast majority of vended laundries accepts payment by quarters only, taxing self-service laundry services would require either an additional 25 cents of tax – substantially increasing the end-cost of the service – or the purchase of new equipment to accept final costs in non-25-cent increments, resulting in an unnecessary and high-cost expense for business owners. For your information: the majority of states – 42 out of 45 – exempt self-service laundry from sales tax.