BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                      



           ------------------------------------------------------------ 
          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                  AB 2638|
          |Office of Senate Floor Analyses   |                         |
          |1020 N Street, Suite 524          |                         |
          |(916) 651-1520         Fax: (916) |                         |
          |327-4478                          |                         |
           ------------------------------------------------------------ 
           
                                         
                                 THIRD READING


          Bill No:  AB 2638
          Author:   Eng (D)
          Amended:  7/5/12 in Senate
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE  :  5-3, 6/28/12
          AYES:  Wolk, DeSaulnier, Hernandez, Liu, Yee
          NOES:  Dutton, Fuller, La Malfa
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Kehoe

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE  :  Senate Rule 28.8
           
           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  50-27, 5/29/12 - See last page for vote


           SUBJECT  :    State government:  fiscal affairs

           SOURCE  :     State Controller John Chiang


           DIGEST  :    This bill requires the Board of Equalization 
          (BOE), and the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) to submit a new 
          report to the Legislature and DOF, on or before December 1 
          of each calendar year on the tax effect of tax expenditures 
          with an annual revenue loss of more than $5 million.  BOE 
          and FTB shall include the most recent data to characterize 
          the economic, tax, and demographic profile of claimants of 
          tax expenditures over $5 million, as specified.

           ANALYSIS  :    Existing law requires the Department of 
          Finance (DOF) to submit a tax expenditure report to the 
          Legislature each year by September 15th.  Tax expenditures 
                                                           CONTINUED





                                                               AB 2638
                                                                Page 
          2

          are defined to be "a credit, deduction, exclusion, 
          exemption, or any other tax benefit as provided by the 
          state."  The report must include specified information.

          As part of the Budget, DOF must provide to the Legislature 
          total recommended state general fund expenditures and 
          estimated, including any proposed, state general fund 
          revenues, including:

           A five-year infrastructure plan,

           An estimate of total general fund resources recommended 
            for the budget year and three following fiscal years, and

           A projection of anticipated general fund expenditures for 
            the budget year and three following fiscal years.

          This bill requires BOE, and the FTB to submit a new report 
          to the Legislature and DOF, on or before December 1 of each 
          calendar year on the tax effect of tax expenditures with an 
          annual revenue loss of more than $5 million.  BOE and FTB 
          shall include the most recent data to characterize the 
          economic, tax, and demographic profile of claimants of tax 
          expenditures over $5 million, including:

           An estimate or range of estimates for the state and local 
            revenue loss for the current and two subsequent fiscal 
            years, including partial sales tax exemptions when BOE 
            has obtained the information.

           Anticipated revenue loss from the final fiscal committee 
            analysis of the act that established the tax expenditure, 
            adjusted for inflation, if available.

          For sales and use tax expenditures, the report shall 
          identify to the extent possible, at a minimum, revenue loss 
          for the most recent tax year for which the full tax year 
          data is available and estimated revenue loss for the 
          current state fiscal year and subsequent fiscal year by 
          industry code.  The report shall also include the following 
          information for each expenditure:

           For the most recent fiscal year for which a full year of 
            data is available, Average, median, highest, and lowest 

                                                           CONTINUED





                                                               AB 2638
                                                                Page 
          3

            amounts claimed by taxpayer gross sales, and amounts 
            claimed, rejected, and disallowed,

           Usage data for the same or similar tax expenditure 
            adopted by other states with similar economics, business 
            entity types, and tax laws,

           Any other distinguishing tax characteristics, including 
            other expenditures claimed.

          BOE shall report the information required only to the 
          extent that it has the information, and may reflect BOE 
          staff estimates or taxpayers' self-reported data.

          For personal income and corporation income and franchise 
          tax expenditures, the report shall identify the revenue 
          loss for each expenditure for the most recent taxable year 
          for which a full year of data is available, the current 
          fiscal year, and the budget year, in the following 
          categories:

           The claimant's adjusted gross income,

           The taxpayer's tax liability,

           By region and industry code,

           Average, median, highest, and lowest amounts claimed by 
            taxpayer bracket,

           Amounts claimed and disallowed,

           Usage data for the same or similar tax expenditure 
            adopted by other states with similar economics, business 
            entity types, and tax laws,

           Any other distinguishing tax characteristics, including 
            other expenditures claimed.

          This bill requires DOF's tax expenditure report to 
          additionally include the year of enactment of the tax 
          expenditure, and the anticipated revenue loss included in 
          the final fiscal committee analysis of the act that 
          established the tax expenditure, adjusted for inflation.  

                                                           CONTINUED





                                                               AB 2638
                                                                Page 
          4

          The measure also specifies that partial tax exemptions 
          instead of partial year exemptions be included as part of 
          sales and use tax expenditures.

          This bill also requires in the information that DOF must 
          submit to the Legislature with the budget an estimate of 
          the loss of revenue dues to the expenditure in the upcoming 
          fiscal year.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  Yes   
          Local:  No

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  8/8/12)

          State Controller John Chiang (source)
          American Federation of State, County and Municipal 
          Employees
          California Federation of Teachers
          California Labor Federation
          California School Employees Association
          California Tax Reform Association
          Service Employees International Union, California

           OPPOSITION  :    (Verified  8/8/12)

          California Manufacturers and Technology Association
          California Taxpayers Association

           ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT  :    Supporters argue that given the 
          state's massive budget deficit, this is a common sense bill 
          which seeks to shed increased light on and scrutinize state 
          tax expenditures which cost the state billions of dollars 
          every year.  Furthermore, many of these tax expenditures 
          are no longer serving their intended purpose and only serve 
          to reduce state tax revenues.

           ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION  :    Opponents argue, "The bill does 
          not require the use of dynamic revenue modeling that would 
          provide a credible estimate of the true impact of tax of 
          the true impact of tax expenditures on taxpayer behavior 
          and thus the impact on tax revenues.  Reports based on only 
          static analysis would be misleading for policymakers and 
          should not be relied upon to make important tax policy 
          decisions."  

                                                           CONTINUED





                                                              AB 2638
                                                                Page 
          5

           

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  50-27, 5/29/12
          AYES:  Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Block, 
            Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, 
            Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter, Chesbro, Davis, 
            Dickinson, Eng, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, 
            Gatto, Gordon, Hayashi, Roger Hern�ndez, Hill, Huber, 
            Hueso, Huffman, Lara, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, 
            Mitchell, Monning, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel P�rez, 
            Portantino, Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, 
            Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
          NOES:  Achadjian, Bill Berryhill, Conway, Cook, Donnelly, 
            Beth Gaines, Garrick, Gorell, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, 
            Harkey, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Logue, Mansoor, Miller, 
            Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Silva, Smyth, 
            Valadao, Wagner
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Cedillo, Fletcher, Hall


          AGB:n  8/8/12   Senate Floor Analyses 

                         SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

                                ****  END  ****




















                                                           CONTINUED