B&O Tax Increases for Service Industry
It has been a busy 36 hours since we last talked to you. I wanted to give you all an update on where we stand right now.
-The House passed the compromise revenue package Saturday afternoon. We worked hard to put together a trailer bill in the house that would follow the revenue package and remove the portion of the bill that taxes Real Estate agents. I would like to thank the following house members for signing on to that bill: Goodman, Van De Weghe, Maxwell, Williams, Upthegrove, Kelly, Conway, Liias, Orwall, Simpson, Appleton, Sells, Blake, Linville, Jacks, Rolfes, Driscoll, Hurst, Takko, and Carlyle and Larry Springer who was the go between for us on this trailer bill. Unfortunately, despite a long list of signers the Speaker decided to not allow any trailer bills at all. We are disappointed by this outcome but are working on other options.
-Now we turn again to Senator Ranker’s heroic efforts for us. This evening Bill Clarke and I met with Senator Ranker to discuss his strategy of running a bill that would make the new B&O Tax Credit work for how Real Estate Agents and Brokers report the B&O Tax. At that meeting he gave us language for a bill that would do just that, and we are now turning our attention to that approach. If passed, this would be a victory. It would be optional for offices to use it, but it would allow agents to be exempt from paying any B&O on the first $42,000 in gross receipts that they bring in, then on a sliding scale between $42,000-$70,000. The full 1.8% rate wouldn’t kick in until after an agent has brought in more than $70,000 in gross commissions. We believe the vast majority of our members would pay less in taxes under this formula then they are now paying at the 1.5% rate.
We will work this bill tomorrow in the House while Senator Ranker works it for us in the Senate. Time is now short and the Legislature will likely adjourn sometime Tuesday. While I am disappointed that we didn’t get the exemption, I believe that ultimately this tax credit will benefit our members, probably even more than an exemption would have. We will have a chance to go into further details at Suncadia, but wanted to give you all a quick update as to where we at right now. Stay tuned with 36-40 hours still left in this session who knows what we could still see.
This entry was posted on Monday, April 19th, 2010 at 11:39 am and is filed under goverment, news.
