SUPPORT THE ONLY ORGANIZATION LOBBYING FOR DEALERS: WORKING FOR YOU

WHAT YOU GET WHEN YOU JOIN NEEDA

In 2008, NEEDA will give you more dealer information on NEEDA NEWSLETTER -- a major part of the NEEDA website. NEEDA also offers a system for contacting your member of Congress, following legislation, and getting industry information and contacts. You will receive the NEEDA Congressional Directory.

NEEDA is the only organization lobbying in 2008 for emergency equipment and EMS dealers: Your national voice. NEEDA will hold a meeting for you at the Fire Instructors (FDIC) show in Indianapolis and the Fire Chiefs show and will accompany you any time you come to Washington to see your legislators.

NEEDA was formed ten years ago and since then has won repeal (1997) of Section 1555 Federal Centralized Cooperative Purchasing and elimination of emergency apparatus and equipment from Section 1122 in 1999. This aggressive, hard-hitting advocacy work is financially supported only through the dues paid by you as a member.

NEEDA opposes new Federal authority which gives the US General Services Administration power to offer its contractors factory-direct sales to all state and local governments (part of the anti-terrorism program). This puts the Federal distribution system in direct competition with the dealer distribution system represented by NEEDA.

NEEDA opposes the US Treasury's plan to take 3% from every dealer sale (Federal, state and local) as a withholding. The 3% withholding scheme is designed to discourage companies from failing to pay taxes on sales income. NEEDA says the 3% withholding authority must be repealed by Congress. Withholding 3% of every sale a dealer makes is unfair, and exceptionally dumb in that the Federal cost of keeping track of the 3% and refunding it at the end of every tax year will cost more than the program gains. Many states have announced their opposition to the 3% withholding scheme. There are bills in the US Senate and the US House of Representatives to repeal the 3% withholding plan before the Treasury Departments issues guidelines and before the IRS starts enforcing this new rule.

NEEDA also opposes the Defense Logistics Agency practice of giving special preference to DLA contractors over local dealers.

NEEDA opposes the expansion of the Federal Prison Industries into the state and local market, as proposed by the Bush Administration and some members of Congress. Prisons selling goods normally made by the lawful fire industry companies makes no sense, is antagonistic to the free enterprise system, and results in poor products taking jobs away from employees in dozens of fire and emergency response companies.

The association continues to oppose expansion of prison industries into the refurbishing and repair of emergency vehicles. NEEDA supports the elimination of the monopoly Federal prison industries have on the Federal market for certain emergency products. NEEDA opposes Federal prisons from making products for sale to the state and local government market and to the commercial retail market.

Again in 2008, NEEDA is the only fire industry association working to repeal a Federal law which requires that buyers withhold 3% from all payments they owe to dealers. The 3% would be forwarded to the IRS which, upon evaluatoin of the dealer's tax returns, would release the 3%. If for any reason IRS raises any objection to the dealer's tax submissions, IRS will keep the 3% owed to the dealer. This law was passed to stop a very small handfull of instances in which Federal taxes were overdue.

NEEDA maintains that to take 3% from every local, state and Federal sale a dealer makes is unfair and a totally absurd method of tax enforcement. Small businesses will be hurt, government buyers will be burdened with complicated record keeping and dealers will be the rediculous position of having to plead with the IRS to return the unfairly withheld 3% on every sale made during the previous year.

'Most in the fire industry don't realize how serious this problem is for dealers' Kenton Pattie, Executive Director of NEEDA, stated. 'We are the ones whose money is going to be confiscated and who have to work hard to make the sale and then have to work hard again to get our just payment made whole by the IRS. The 3% withholding scheme is an absurd abuse of small businesses by the Federal government. The law should be repealed before the US Treasury Department puts it into effect.'

US Rep Wally Herger (CA-2): "In less than 4 years, 3 percent of all payments made by a government to a business or individual providing goods or services will be withheld as a "prepayment" on taxes. This will needlessly reduce cash flows for thousands of businesses across the U.S. Today's bill merely delays 3 percent withholding implementation for one year, but that does not solve this real and pressing problem. What Congress should do is follow the broader proposal my friend Kendrick Meek of Florida and I have introduced, repealing withholding outright." Pairing a scaled-back one-year delay with the Majority's repeal of the Private Collection Agency program wrongly splits the broad-based full repeal initiative. The Meek-Herger proposal has 219 cosponsors from both parties.

In 2008 NEEDA is fighting to stop the expansion of Section 1122 of the Defense Authorization Act of 1994 into the non-bid purchase of products which are not used to fight or prevent drug crime. The way Section 1122 has grown in recent years gives the Executive Branch a channel to re-establish Federal Centralized Cooperative Purchasing to which Congress said 'No' in 1997. Section 1122 is already being used to channel goods for police and communications equipment and certain products that are shared by law enforcement and emergency departments. These products are purchased by state and local governments without any opportunity for local dealers as the orders are placed directly with your manufacturers. Dealers may only be sought if a GSA 1122 manufacturer does not have a product or declines to sell or ship the product.

NEEDA has also opposed a Federal regulation affecting cylinders (Department of Transportation RSPA 98-3684 HR 220). Dealers testing cylinders will be affected by a dramatic and unnecessary increase in the cost of testing equipment with less assurance of safety for first responders using cylinders.

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION 2008

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Pay $600 in 2008 by check. : National Emergency Equipment Dealers Association NEEDA, PO BOX 220, ANNANDALE VA 22003 703 850 8552 (Kenton Pattie, Executive Director) KENTONP1@AOL.COM