Lobbyists for the Illinois Self Storage Association (ISSA) were at the State Capitol last night awaiting information about an amendment that seeks to add a service tax to 44 industries, possibly including self-storage. In reviewing the language of the amendment proposed for House Bill 1665, ISSA staff believes the bills sponsor does in fact understand the difference between warehousing and self-storage, which leaves self-storage excluded from the service tax.

In late 2009, the ISSA contracted with lobby firm Cook-Witter, a government-advocacy service provider, to fight House Bill 174, which would have instituted a 6 percent sales tax on self-storage. But unlike HB 174, which focused exclusively on self-storage and passed only the Senate before the close of the spring 2010 session, HB 1665 does not appear to include the self-storage industry. Cook-Witter is attempting to shore up this opinion at the Capitol.

Sponsored by Representative William Davis, HB 1665 refers to specific services as "enumerated in the North American Industry Classification System. When referencing storage, it refers only to those numbers linked to warehousing and storage, not self-storage.

If ISSA is correct in its interpretation of the amendment, it will mean a major legislative victory for self-storage operators statewide.