Dear Freehold Community,

In this past legislative session, house bill 5814 was passed reclassifying the sale of live presentations as a retail sale and therefore subject to sales tax. Included in “live presentations” are classes. We had hopes of a reprieve but none has come and this new tax goes into effect on 10/1/25. Freehold now has to collect a 10.35% sales tax on tuition.

We urge you to contact your legislators to let them know your opinion of this new tax. We did hear back from one legislator that they could take this up in the short session starting Jan 2026, “to correct errors in the biennial budget and/or the revenue bills that pay for it.”

We appreciate the challenges the State budget is facing and the amount of revenue collected from small non-profits offering enrichment and career alternatives to our community will not solve their problem. It will however adversely impact our community and costs to students.

Please reach out if you have questions.  We truly appreciate your participation in Freehold’s endeavor.

Onward,

Robin Lynn Smith
Co-Artistic Partner