Regulatory Analysis

Alabama has enacted HB 527, establishing a food sales tax holiday from May 1 through June 30, 2026. During this period, qualifying food items will be exempt from Alabama state sales tax. Eligible items are defined as those that qualify for purchase under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The full text of HB 527 […]

The Washington legislature recently enacted Senate Bill 6346 imposing several changes to the sales tax law. Last October, Washington imposed sales tax on custom software, live presentations and a wide range of new services. The new law modifies and clarifies the scope of these services beginning July 1. Specifically, SB 6346: Expands the existing exemption […]

SD HB 1245, effective July 1, 2026, allows municipalities to impose a temporary sales tax not exceeding 1% to assist with funding capital improvement projects. Any ordinance must be approved by voters before implementation. More information may be found here.

Effective July 1, 2026, SD HB 1254, allows a sales tax exemption for soil amendments if used in agriculture and 500 pounds or more are sold in a single sale.More information may be found here.

Effective July 1, 2026, SD SB 96, allows counties to enact a 0.5% sales tax pending approval by voters. If approved, the county sales tax revenue is dedicated to assist in reducing county property taxes.More information may be found here.

South Dakota (SD) SB 245, signed by the governor on March 12, 2026, captures revenue from the scheduled state sales tax increase (4.2% to 4.5% in July 2027) and dedicates it to a homeowner property tax reduction fund to help alleviate local property taxes.More information may be found here.

Manitoba recently released their fiscal 2026 budget, which, among other provisions, contains several provisions that will affect the Retail Sales Tax. More specifically, beginning on July 1, 2026, the RST exemption on basic groceries will be extended to apply to additional food and beverages for human consumption sold by grocery stores (such as ready-to-eat prepared […]

Beginning April 1, 2026, Maryland will implement a PaintCare Recovery Program. The program will impose various fees on the sale of architectural paint in the state to fund recycling and disposal. More information may be found here.

The Rhode Island Department of Revenue recently found that sales of access to online databases should be subject to sales and use tax as this is considered the sale of vender-hosted prewritten computer software. In the decision, the Department noted that “searchability” (i.e., the ability to research/retrieve information) from a database is a main factor […]

Effective January 1, 2026, Chicago has increased the rate of its Personal Property Lease Transaction Tax from 11% to 15%. Further changes can be found here.

Ohio HB 186, signed by the governor on Dec 19, 2025, cancel’s the expanded August 2026 sales tax holiday as a part of a legislative package aimed at restructuring property taxes in the state. Historically, the sales tax holiday is over a two week period and broadly encompassing. More information may be found here.

Chicago will reduce its Motor Vehicle Lessor Tax from $2.75 per rental period to $0.50 per rental period. This tax is imposed on the lease of motor vehicles within Chicago on a daily or weekly basis and is charged per the rental period in the lease agreement. This change is effective on January 1, 2026. […]

Beginning January 1, 2026, Chicago will impose a new retail liquor tax of 1.5% on the sale of alcoholic beverages purchased for consumption off the premises where the alcohol was purchased. Further changes can be found here.

Effective January 1, 2026, the state level discount available for timely filed sales and use tax returns in Colorado has been removed. This discount is termed as a “service fee” in Colorado. Please note, this change does not impact local level service fees in Colorado. This change is included in the Colorado Department of Revenue’s […]

Effective January 1, 2026, the Colorado Waste Tire Fee on the sale of new motor vehicle and trailer tires will increase to $2.00 from $0.50.

Earlier this year the Washington state legislature enacted Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5801 (Chapter 417, Laws of 2025) changing a number of taxes and fees related to motor vehicles and other forms of transportation. As part of this law the additional 5.9% sales tax imposed on retail car rentals of 30 days or less will […]

The Colorado Department of Revenue published local sales and use tax changes effective January 1, 2026. Changes include rate increases and newly imposed sales taxes in jurisdictions such as Pagosa Springs. More information concerning the January 1, 2026 local changes may be found here.

Earlier this year, Manitoba passed their budget for 2025-2026, which includes provisions to impose the retail sales tax on cloud computing services (e.g. SaaS, IaaS, PaaS). Examples of such services include software subscriptions, data storage services, and remote computer processing services. More information may be found in Bulletin 033.