UPDATED: A slew of tax-related bills in the House today | Trail ...

A handful of bills set for debate on the House floor that deal with taxes in a number of ways. Of course we don?t know which tax cuts will end up in the final deal hammered out on the budget between the House and Senate.

But these votes will give us a fairly thorough look at where the House is, as a chamber, on tax relief. (And we can thank our own DMN reporter Bob Garrett for most of the info here.)

POSTPONED UNDER THURSDAY?HB 416 by House Ways and Means Chairman Harvey Hilderbran, R-Kerrville, would cost $2.5 million annually from the property tax relief fund by adjusting the tax burden on internet hosting companies ? a bill that would specifically benefit San Antonio-based Rackspace . Hilderbran has taken some heat over this bill from critics who say he?s doing a favor for a major campaign donor, and from smaller companies who complain that their competitors are being given an advantage. Hilderbran argues that Texas-based companies are actually disadvantaged by the current tax code and his legislation seeks to remedy that.

PASSED?HB 1133 by Rep. John Otto (VC of ways and means) would give telecom, cable and broadband companies up to $50 million annually (general revenue) in the 2014-2015 budget cycle (as well as the next cycle, according to the fiscal note) in the form of sales tax breaks on software and equipment they buy to provide their services. This has been endorsed by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst as part of the Senate?s tax relief package.

PASSED?HB 3536, also by Otto, helps Philip Morris and the big tobacco companies force a payment equivalent to their tobacco settlement payments onto the small, non-signatory tobacco companies. These companies (known as NSMs, or non-settling manufacturers) were not part of the 1998 tobacco settlement so, according to the author, can sell their cigs at a lower price and thus contribute to underage smoking (this is the argument in the analysis). The bill would also have the effect of raising prices on cigarettes and tobacco sold by Native American tribes. ?UPDATE ? they took out the tribes in the bill.

The fiscal note leaves wide open how much money the bill could bring in, but says this:

?Of the initial four settling states, Minnesota and Mississippi have imposed fees on NSMs. Information on the collection of such a fee in Mississippi is unclear as to fiscal outcome. Information for the fee in Minnesota indicates a decline in revenue, from initial collections in 2004 of $5.6 million to $2.8 million in 2012.?

POSTPONED UNTIL TUESDAY?HB 953?is a priority for the author, Rep. Angie Button, who is a big supporter of the idea that research and development be tied to the universities. This bill would give a franchise-tax credit for those activities, to the tune of?$10.3 million out of the state?s property tax relief fund for the 2014-15 biennium.

(On a related note,?HB 2780?by Houston GOP Rep. Gary Elkins allows institutes of higher education to create a special purpose corporation for R&D purposes. The fiscal note is inconclusive, as nobody knows how many of these would be created. This is not necessarily a tax bill, but it supports university R&D so we felt the need to mention it.)

HB 2770 by Dallas GOP Rep. Dan Branch would make us invest part of the Rainy Day Fund balance, as some complain the state only earns about .3% interest right now, and that could be more. It looks as though we?ll be leaving about $10B unspent after the session, so we?ll be watching this one, too.

There are others we?re watching, too:??aircraft parts, property leased to certain schools, clean energy, pollution control, landfill gas, data centers and insurance companies.

Stick with Trailblazers for updates!

Source: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2013/05/a-slew-of-tax-related-bills-in-the-house-today.html/

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