By Mark Peterson
It’s a big deal to some recreational vehicle dealers and a situation Congress is once again being asked to address. Indiana Second District Congressman Rudy Yakym is leading the fight to bring tax parity to the RV industry. The outcome will likely impact the RV storage industry in years to come.
The measure is based on the goose and gander assumption that a tax policy that is good for the motorhome should be good for the camper and travel trailer. RV dealers commonly obtain financing to fill their lots with inventory. Sometimes the interest they pay is a fully deductible cost of doing business. Sometimes it is not.
“100% for motorized RV’s, your motor homes, but only 30% of that is deductible for travel trailers,” said Matt Rose, the RV director for the Indiana Manufactured Housing Association.
Towables account for about 85% of all units sold, and there appears to be no good reason for the creation of two classes of campers for tax purposes. A news release from Rep. Yakym says the disparity is the result of a bill drafting error that dates back to 2017.
The Congressman feels there is no time like the present to right the alleged wrong and that it is not too soon to provide tax incentives to an industry that had its most productive year ever in 2021.
Year to date through the end of May, RV wholesale shipments are down 49.6% this year compared to last. “Inventories were low, and interest rates were low, so we went from something that wasn’t a big problem a couple of years ago to a huge problem today,” Rep. Yakym said.
“You know, we’ve seen 10 or 11 years of straight growth in the RV industry. Things have definitely leveled off, so now it’s even more critical than ever that we do what we can both on the state level and federal level to help out our RV dealers here in Indiana,” said Matt Rose.
Mark Peterson is a reporter at South Bend-Elkhart WNDU-TV.
