by David Safier
First the part of HB 2581 I understand. If passed, this bill would allow individuals to raise their yearly private school tuition tax credit contributions from $500 to $750 — a 50% hike. That means a couple's contribution would go from $1,000 to $1,500. Since every dollar of tax credit is a dollar that doesn't go into the state budget, consider this another budget cut. Wanna bet it comes out of public schools' hides?
The part I don't understand — I studied English in college, not legislation-ese — says, I think, that makers and distributers of alcoholic beverages can contribute to the corporate private school tuition tax credit, which is separate from the personal tax credit. Maybe they were restricted under previous legislation? I'm thinking Cindy McCain and her beer fortune here, not to mention others who make their money selling liquor.
A special BfA shoutout to anyone who can translate that part of the bill for me and our readers.
Remember the expansion made in the tax credits for the 400 special needs kids when the vouchers were ruled unconstitutional? That was a tax credit for fire insurance premiums for corporations. It was another tax credit for the same corps that already participated in the corporate tax credit program to give more to the STOs specifically for the tuition of special needs kids.
To my eye, this bill re: beer/winery/wholesale bev. distributors reads similarly. This is a tax credit taken against “luxury tax liabilities” these companies/farms pay. I don’t believe beer co’s were exempt in prior legislation, it’s just the tax liability they are able to use their credit towards is the “luxury tax liability” and therefore, this might be yet another way these companies can write down their end of the year tax obligations to the state.
Being that different companies fall into different tax liabilities depending upon their industry, this may be a better way for beer companies to write off their tax debt than under existing legislation. So it’s just another way to drain the state coffers.
Again, this is a first glance look guess.
(sorry if there are spelling issues or typos. this section has loaded wonky and I’m having a hard time editing.)
Maybe the next step is to fund schools through alcohol sales students?