LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
 
TAX/FEE EQUITY NOTE
 
79TH LEGISLATURE 2nd CALLED SESSION - 2005
 
August 11, 2005

TO:
Honorable Kent Grusendorf, Chair, House Committee on Public Education Reform, Select
 
FROM:
John S. O'Brien, Deputy Director, Legislative Budget Board
 
IN RE:
HB8 by Swinford (Relating to property tax relief and protection of taxpayers, certain taxes, fees, and property, and other matters relating to the financing of public schools; providing civil and criminal penalties; making an appropriation.), As Introduced

Table 1

House Bill 8, As Introduced:  Summary of Elements

 

Revenue Changes in Fiscal 2007

·               Increase state sales tax rate to 7 percent.

·               Expand sales tax to include auto repair, certain internet access services, and certain computer goods and services.  Provide prior contract exemption. Repeal sales tax timely filer discount.

·               Increase motor vehicle sales, motor vehicle rental over 30 days and boat and boat motor sales tax rates to 7 percent.  Require presumptive value of certain motor vehicle transactions.

·               Increase cigarette tax rate to $1.41 per pack.

·               Increase tax rate on certain other tobacco products.

·               Expand current franchise tax to include certain non-corporations and certain transactions.  Eliminate double taxation of certain capital.

·               Reduce cap on school district maintenance and operations tax rate to $1.22 per $100 valuation.  Provide for $7,500 increase in school district residence homestead exemption.

·               Improve delinquent collection abilities.

 

Dollar Value of Revenue Changes in Fiscal 2007

 

·               $3,643.7 million property tax reduction, $3,690.2 million increase in other state and local taxes, $46.5 million net tax increase (this amount does not include dynamic revenue impacts).

 

Initial Impact in Fiscal 2007

 

·              Net reduction to business, net increase to individuals.

 

Major Industry Initial Impact in Fiscal 2007

 

·               Largest dollar decrease:  $377.2 million to the finance, insurance and real estate industry; largest percentage decrease in overall tax liability:  4.8 percent, to the finance, insurance and real estate industry.

·               Largest dollar increase:  $269.4 million to the service industry; largest percentage increase in overall tax liability:  4.9 percent, to the service industry.

 

Final Incidence of Changes Effective in Fiscal 2007

 

·               Lowest income level ($0 to low $10,000s income range):

               $66.3 million increase, or 3.3 percent.

 

·               Middle income level (low $40,000s to low $50,000s income range):

               $103.9 million increase, or 2.6 percent.

 

·               Highest income level (low $140,000s and above):

               $284.4 million decrease, or 2.0 percent.


 

Initial Tax Impact by Industry:

 

House Bill 8, As Introduced, was analyzed using the LBB’s multi-tax model to determine the initial impact of the proposed changes relative to current state and local tax law.  The results of the analysis are shown in Table 2 below.

 

Table 2

Comparison of Initial Tax Impact under

Current Law vs. House Bill 8, As Introduced

Fiscal Year 2007

Comparisons Include Property Tax, Sales and Excise Taxes and Taxes on Business

 

Industry / Business

Current Law (millions)

Share of     Total

HB 8

Liability (millions)

Share of     Total

Dollar Change (millions)

Share of  Dollar Change

Percent Change from Current Law

Agriculture

 690.2

2.05%

$ 659.7

1.97%

($  30.5)

12.35%

(4.42)%

Mining

3,782.8

11.23%

3,756.7

11.24%

(  26.1)

10.57%

(0.69)%

Utilities and Trans.

4,177.6

12.40%

4,124.5

12.34%

(  53.1)

21.50%

(1.27)%

Construction

1,128.7

3.35%

1,165.6

3.49%

  36.9

(14.94)%

3.27%

Manufacturing

4,636.7

13.77%

4,554.4

13.62%

(  82.3)

33.32%

(1.77)%

Trade

3,028.0

8.99%

3,059.3

9.15%

  31.3

(12.67)%

1.03%

Information

2,866.5

8.51%

2,851.1

8.53%

(  15.4)

6.23%

(0.54)%

Fin., Ins., Real Estate

7,817.7

23.21%

7,440.5

22.25%

( 377.2)

152.71%

(4.82)%

Services

5,552.4

16.49%

5,821.8

17.41%

269.4

(109.07)%

4.85%

Subtotal Industry

$33,680.6

100.0%

$33,433.6

100.0%

($ 247.0)

100.0%

(0.73)%

 

 

 

 

 

 

Individuals/Consumers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Residential, Single Family

$16,186.7

 

$14,191.7

 

($1,995.0)

 

(12.32)%

Sales & Excise Taxes

$17,708.0

 

$19,996.5

 

$2,288.5

 

12.92%

Total Taxes on Individuals

$33,894.7

 

$34,188.2

 

$ 293.5

 

0.87%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total – All Taxes

$67,575.3

 

$67,621.8

 

$  46.5

 

0.07%

 


 

Tax Incidence by Income Group

 

Economists commonly distinguish between the initial “impact” of a tax and its “incidence.”  The initial impact of a tax falls on taxpayers legally liable to pay the tax, while the incidence refers to the ultimate payer of the tax.  For example, the initial impact of a business tax falls on the firm incurring the tax liability. Over time, to varying degrees, the tax cost is  “shifted” so that the ultimate burden of the tax falls either to consumers in different retail prices, to employees in changed wages, to owners of land and capital in different investment returns, or most likely, to some combination of all three. The degree to which a tax can be shifted, and the amount of time that elapses before a tax can be shifted, depend on the type of tax and the competitiveness of capital, labor, input material and product markets.

 

The results of this analysis for tax law changes effective with this proposal are shown in Table 3 and Table 4.

 

Table 3

Tax Incidence by Income Decile

Current Law vs. House Bill 8, As Introduced

Taxes Effective in Fiscal Year 2007

Comparisons Include Property Tax, Sales and Excise Taxes and Taxes on Business

 

Decile

Expanded Family Range (Dollars)

Current Law Tax (millions)

HB 8

Tax (millions)

Change in Tax (Millions)

Percent Change in Tax

1

$0

to

$13,415

$2,009.5

$2,075.8

$  66.3

3.30%

2

$13,415

to

$22,833

2,315.9

2,380.9

  65.0

2.81%

3

$22,833

to

$31,735

2,999.9

3,085.9

  86.0

2.87%

4

$31,735

to

$41,463

3,303.0

3,393.4

  90.4

2.74%

5

$41,463

to

$51,750

4,076.2

4,180.1

103.9

2.55%

6

$51,750

to

$64,325

4,734.5

4,832.7

  98.2

2.07%

7

$64,325

to

$79,271

5,679.8

5,753.8

  74.0

1.30%

8

$79,271

to

$100,593

6,860.2

6,907.8

  47.6

0.69%

9

$100,593

to

$140,853

8,547.9

8,479.9

(  68.0)

(0.80)%

10

Over

 

$140,853

13,910.3

13,625.9

( 284.4)

(2.04)%

 

Total

 

 

$54,437.2

$54,716.2

279.0

0.51%

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Summary of Tax Incidence Findings

 

House Bill 8, As Introduced would ultimately increase the taxes of all households by $279.0 million for tax law changes effective in 2007. The difference between the initial increase in revenue of  $46.5 million in fiscal 2007 and the ultimate increase of $279.0 million in tax incidence is primarily due to the exporting of some of the tax changes to non-Texas consumers and businesses, changes in federal tax liability, and the absorption of some of the tax changes by business profits, some of which are received by non-Texas shareholders and business owners. 

 

 

Table 4

Effective Tax Rate by Income Decile

Current Law vs. House Bill 8, As Introduced

Taxes Effective in Fiscal Year 2007

Comparisons Include Property Tax, Sales and Excise Taxes and Taxes on Business

 

Decile

Expanded Family Range (Dollars)

Current Law Effective Rate

HB8

Effective Rate

Current Law Effective Rate Less HB 8

 Effective Rate

Percent Change in Effective Rate

1

$0

to

$13,415

32.52%

  33.59%

   1.07%

3.29%

2

$13,415

to

$22,833

  15.26%

  15.69%

   0.43%

2.82%

3

$22,833

to

$31,735

  12.90%

  13.27%

   0.37%

2.87%

4

$31,735

to

$41,463

  11.02%

  11.32%

   0.30%

2.72%

5

$41,463

to

$51,750

   9.97%

  10.23%

   0.26%

2.61%

6

$51,750

to

$64,325

   9.61%

   9.81%

   0.20%

2.08%

7

$64,325

to

$79,271

   9.32%

   9.44%

   0.12%

1.29%

8

$79,271

to

$100,593

   9.03%

   9.09%

   0.06%

0.66%

9

$100,593

to

$140,853

   8.52%

   8.45%

(   0.07)%

(0.82)%

10

Over

 

$140,853

   6.62%

   6.49%

(   0.13)%

(1.96)%

 

Total

 

 

   8.90%

   8.94%

   0.04%

0.45%

 

Summary of Effective Rate Findings

 

House Bill 8, As Introduced would ultimately increase the effective rate for all households by 0.45 percent for taxes effective in fiscal year 2007. The effective tax rate is the aggregate amount of tax in a given income class divided by the aggregate amount of personal income in that class.


Source Agencies:
LBB Staff:
JOB, WP