NOTE:  As provided in LFC policy, this report is intended only for use by the standing finance committees of the legislature.  The Legislative Finance Committee does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of the information in this report when used for other purposes.

 

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F I S C A L   I M P A C T   R E P O R T

 

 

 

SPONSOR:

Coll

 

DATE TYPED:

2/22/03

 

HB

943

 

SHORT TITLE:

Personal Income Surtax for Wildlife Programs

 

SB

 

 

 

ANALYST:

Neel

 

 

REVENUE

 

Estimated Revenue

Subsequent

Years Impact

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY03

FY04

 

 

 

 

$3,200.0

$3,200.0

Recurring

New Wildlife Conservation Fund

 

 

 

 

 

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Revenue Decreases)

 

Relates to:

 

HB 240, Personal Income Surtax for Wildlife Programs

 

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

 

LFC files

 

Responses Received From

 

Taxation and Revenue Department (TRD)

Department of Game and Fish (DGF)

 

SUMMARY

 

     Synopsis of Bill

 

House Bill 943 creates a new section of the Tax Administration Act that distributes a portion of the State’s personal income tax receipts to a newly created fund in the State Treasury.  The bill would create a new tax assessment in addition to existing taxes in the amount of two dollars ($2.00) for each federal exemption allowable for federal income tax purposes for each individual included in the return, or twelve dollars ($12.00), whichever is less.  This surtax would be referred to as the Wildlife Conservation Surtax.   The revenue generated would be deposited into the newly created Wildlife Conservation Fund.  Beginning with fiscal year 2005, the legislature would be able to appropriate money in this fund for use by the Department of Game and Fish.  The bill lists allowed uses of the funds.  The major uses are to fund the operations of the Conservation Services Division, the Wildlife Conservation Act and to acquire, lease, develop, land for wildlife habitat.

 

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

 

According to TRD, 828 thousand personal income tax returns were filed with the state in tax year 2001. These were distributed as follows: 318 thousand were married filing joint returns; 367 thousand were single returns; 8 thousand consisted of separate returns, while 135 thousand were filed by heads of household. The federal exemption generally totaled $2,900 per dependent in Tax Year 2001.

 

The estimate above assumes single filers will each pay $2 per return, joint filers will pay an average of $5.80 per return, separate filers will pay an average of $2.56 per return, and individuals filing as heads of household will pay an average of $5.04 per return.

 

These figures were developed partially by dividing the total number of exemptions claimed by the number of filers in each category, and are somewhat imprecise because: 1) there is no way to know how many exemptions taxpayers were allowed based on state tax return data, 2) the standard $2,900 exemption amount varies to some extent with income, and 3) in some cases – families with four children or more – taxpayers would opt for the $12 per return surcharge allowed by the proposal, rather than multiplying the number of dependents by $2.

 

Note: TRD’s assumptions do not to calculate population growth in the number of individuals filing tax returns. 

 

SN/njw