LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                          Austin, Texas

                           FISCAL NOTE
                       74th Regular Session

                          March 1, 1995



 TO:     Honorable John T. Montford, Chair      IN RE:  Senate Bill No. 401
         Committee on Finance                           By: Ellis, et al.
         Senate
         Austin, Texas







FROM: John Keel, Director

In response to your request for a Fiscal Note on Senate Bill No.
401 (Relating to the payment, and procedures to enforce payment,
of taxes and fees collected by the comptroller.) this office has
determined the following:

This bill would implement the Comptroller's Gaining Ground
Recommendation GG17 by amending the Tax Code to state that a
person required to collect, truthfully account for, or pay over a
tax who fails to do so would be liable for a penalty equal to the
total amount of tax, in addition to any other penalty provided by
law.  For the purposes of this section, a "person" would be
defined as an officer or director of a corporation or association
or a member of a partnership who has a duty to perform with
respect to the collection, accounting, or payment of a tax.

The Comptroller would be authorized to impose a penalty of five
percent of tax due on a person who is required to remit the tax
to the Comptroller by means of electronic funds transfer and does
not do so.  The penalty would be in addition to any other penalty
provided by law.

The law promulgated by this bill would enable the Comptroller to
more efficiently and equitably administer, collect, and enforce
the revenues for which the Comptroller is responsible.

The probable fiscal implication of implementing the provisions of
the bill during each of the first  five years following passage
is estimated as follows:
         






 
          Fiscal  Probable Revenue    Probable Revenue 
          Year       Gain to the       Gain to State   
                   General Revenue    Highway Fund 006 
                      Fund 001                         
                                                       
          1996           $21,800,000         $1,000,000
          1997            21,800,000          1,000,000
                                                       
          1998            21,800,000          1,000,000
                                                       
          1999            21,800,000          1,000,000
          2000            21,800,000          1,000,000
                                                       
                                                       
                                                       

       Similar annual fiscal implications would continue as long as the
provisions of the bill are in effect.

No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is
anticipated.




Source:   Comptroller of Public Accounts
          LBB Staff: JK, SM, DF