Senate leaders this weekend offered a revised revenue package to the House of Representatives that would raise $816 million as part of a balanced budget solution to close a $2.8 billion budget gap.
We'll post video this afternoon of Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown and SDC Chairman Ed Murray explaining the package to reporters. (UPDATE: You can find it here)
In the meantime, the revised package drops the proposed sales tax increase from two-tenths of 1 percent to one-tenth of one percent while still retaining the proposed Working Families Tax Rebate. It also would increase the existing tax on beer by 50 cents per gallon with micro-brews exempted while extending the sales tax to candy and gum with in-state producers getting a jobs tax credit. The new package also assumes the House position on proposed tobacco taxes to include all tobacco products, not just cigarettes.
The Revised Senate Proposal (in millions)
| Business Impacts, including court cases and loopholes | |
| Direct Seller B&O Exemption | 154.7 |
| Minimum Nexus Standards | 84.3 |
| B&O Exemption for Property Management – excluding nonprofits | 6.9 |
| B&O Tax on Corp. Directors | 2.1 |
| Sales Tax Livestock Nutrients | 1.3 |
| PUD Privilege Tax Clarification | 1.1 |
| Tax Debt Corp Liability | 4.5 |
| Homestreet – Partial Fix | 3.9 |
| Tax Avoidance – REET and use tax; review on B&O | 8.2 |
| Coal | 10.9 |
| Wind Power – limit | 7.8 |
| Limited Bad Debt Deduction | 1.7 |
| Temporary Service rate to 1.75%; excluding hospitals, realtors, scientific R&D, May 1 effective date; Doubling the Small Business Credit for service businesses | 196.0 |
| B&O Tax on Manufacturing of Food Products | 4.1 |
| Convention Center | 15.0 |
| Subtotal: | 502.5 |
| Consumer Impacts | |
| Sales tax on Bottled Water – Effective May 1 | 35.3 |
| Cigarettes & Tobacco – Effective May 1 – except OTP is 10/1/10 | 101.4 |
| Sales tax of .10 effective 6/1/10; Implementing the Working Families Tax Credit | 90.3 |
| Beer; additional tax of 50cents/gallon; micro exempt | 57.8 |
| Candy/gum w/jobs credit | 29.0 |
| Subtotal: | 313.8 |
| TOTAL | 816.3 |