Following the lead of a state law earmarked for hearing aids, Madison became the first city in the state to remove a local sales tax on the purchase of the devices.
Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation in March which eliminated the state sales tax on hearing aids but left it up to each municipality and county to approve ending the local sales tax locally.
At Monday’s council meeting, the city council unanimously approved eliminating the city sales tax on hearing aids.
“I think it is critical for folks who especially are elderly and on fixed income this is the time it’s needed and that is something that makes a difference,” said Mayor Paul Finley. “I can tell you my mom is a perfect example. She didn’t have hearing aids until she was about 84, 85 but I think she just decided she was tired of losing out on the conversation and she went and got hearing aids and now she’s involved in conversations she’s never been in before.”
The city should not have a noticeable loss of revenue with the exemption, according to City Attorney Brian Kilgore.
“The city looked at this and realized this is not going to impose any significant impact on our revenue,” said Kilgore. “If it were to pass that would exempt 3.5% of the normal sales tax that you have to pay. There’s a total of 9% that people normally pay, this would eliminate 3.5% of that.”
The ordinance will go into effect Oct. 1.
This story originally appeared in 256 Today.
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