Last year I was reading an article about our fearless political leaders drafting a new bill with the purpose of taxing timeshare exchange transactions. With a couple million exchanges each year at $150 each, this was an easy target for congress. It had the potential to raise at least $30,000,000 per year. The hub-bub ensued and there were articles written and insults began to fly. The resort developers, exchange companies, timeshare owners etc were all angry. Hey this is a direct tax on our lifestyle, right?

ARDA, the PAC for the timeshare industry, jumped into the ring and pushed hard to get this proposed timeshare bill snuffed out. Politicians facing an enormous federal deficit are looking for any way to create new and sustainable revenues. No one will be spared.

My stance at that time is the same as it is today: If there is no fee for a timeshare exchange then there is no way to tax it, right? Months later we launched Timeshare Juice.

Timeshare Exchange Tax Article http://bit.ly/96ewAD

For the time being, the political forces that be have backed off of this proposal. They are not pursuing a tax on timeshare exchange. I say “for the time being” because I believe it is just a matter of time before they try again to tax timeshare exchange. It’s not just timeshare exchange, it’s any way they can raise money, they will try. It’s not personal, just business.

The point I am driving home is that this is yet another reason to get rid of timeshare exchange fees. With no fees to tax they will leave us timeshare owners alone. Not only does it save us money in transaction fees and taxes but it gets politicians out of our hair. Hmmm, that might be our new slogan…Marketing dept, are you listening. Thoughts?