BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 2321 Page 1 Date of Hearing: May 11, 2016 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Lorena Gonzalez, Chair AB 2321 (Rodriguez) - As Amended April 20, 2016 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Transportation |Vote:|16 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | |Revenue and Taxation | |9 - 0 | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill: 1)Requires the DMV, in collecting use taxes, to code transactions to specific addresses when vehicles or vessels involved in private party transactions are registered in order to ensure that remittance of tax revenue by the State Board of Equalization (BOE) is made to the specific city or county in AB 2321 Page 2 which the purchaser resides. 2)Requires the BOE to reimburse the DMV for costs associated with this bill. FISCAL EFFECT: One-time costs of around $225,000 for the DMV to reprogram its collection of the use tax for private party transfers of ownership. These costs will be reimbursed by the BOE pursuant to an interagency agreement with the DMV. The BOE's costs are in turn borne by local governments, which contract with the BOE to administer local Sales and Use Tax (SUT) revenues. The BOE will also incur minor absorbable administrative costs. As discussed below, this bill will result in some minor reallocation among cities and counties of about $70 million in SUT revenues. COMMENTS: 1)Background. Currently, the BOE collects the SUT on a 7.5% statewide base rate, composed of a state portion and a local portion for cities and counties. The local portion is referred to as the Bradley-Burns Local SUT (Bradley-Burns) and is fixed at 1.25% of the sales price of tangible personal property. The use tax is imposed in lieu of the sales tax for the privilege of the property's storage, use, or other consumption in California. The use tax is generally imposed on out-of-state purchases brought into California, but also AB 2321 Page 3 applies in private party transactions of vehicles and vessels. For use tax transactions that cannot be easily identified to a specific location, the BOE generally distributes the local portion through countywide pools. Under this process, local use tax revenues are prorated into pools for each city in the county and the unincorporated area of the county, at a ratio based upon each jurisdiction's total share of local SUT revenues generated in the county. Current law requires the purchaser of a vehicle or vessel in a private party transaction to pay use tax, including both Bradley-Burns and applicable district-specific taxes to the DMV during registration of the vehicle or vessel. (As of April 1, 2016, 31 California counties, 132 cities, and 7 towns impose SUT higher than the base rate due to voter approval of additional district taxes.) The DMV then transmits all use tax collections to the BOE. For the purposes of allocating Bradley-Burns, the DMV codes taxes collected from the applicant to the county in which the vehicle is being registered. The BOE then remits the taxes to the county of jurisdiction for distribution through the countywide pool. The DMV collects approximately $70 million annually in Bradley-Burns revenue on behalf of the BOE. For purposes of allocating district-specific taxes, the DMV codes taxes collected from the applicant to the specific city or county jurisdiction in which the vehicle is being registered. 2)Purpose. This bill proposes that the DMV code, and the BOE remit, Bradley-Burns revenues in a process similar to that AB 2321 Page 4 established for district taxes, so that the 1.25% of Bradley-Burns revenues can be directly allocated to fund general purposes in the specific city or county where it is paid. This bill is supported by the California State Association of Counties and the League of California Cities. Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081