84R560 CJC-D
By: Hughes H.B. No. 3626
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the allocation of certain surplus state revenue for
periodic reductions in the state sales tax rate.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter G, Chapter 403, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 403.108 to read as follows:
Sec. 403.108. SALES TAX REDUCTION FUND. (a) The sales tax
reduction fund is a special fund in the state treasury outside the
general revenue fund. The comptroller shall administer the fund.
(b) The comptroller shall deposit to the credit of the fund
money that would be transferred to the economic stabilization fund
under Subsections (b), (c), (d), and (e), Section 49-g, Article
III, Texas Constitution, on the transfer dates described by
Subsections (b) and (c) of that section, but for the limitation
prescribed by Subsection (g) of that section. Interest earned on
money in the fund is credited to the fund.
(c) Money in the fund may be used only for a state sales tax
reduction period under Section 151.051, Tax Code, and is not
subject to appropriation unless transferred to the general revenue
fund as provided by that section.
SECTION 2. Section 151.051, Tax Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 151.051. SALES TAX IMPOSED. (a) A tax is imposed on
each sale of a taxable item in this state at a rate determined by the
comptroller as provided by this section.
(b) Except as provided by this section, the [The] sales tax
rate is 6-1/4 percent of the sales price of the taxable item sold.
(c) Not later than August 1 of each odd-numbered year, the
comptroller shall determine whether there are sufficient balances
in the sales tax reduction fund so that 90 percent of the balances
would equal or exceed the amount necessary to reimburse the general
revenue fund for the estimated amount of state sales tax revenue the
state would forgo if the state sales tax rate were reduced by at
least one-tenth of one percent during the last calendar quarter of
the state fiscal biennium beginning September 1 of that year.
(d) If the comptroller determines under Subsection (c) that
90 percent of the balances in the sales tax reduction fund would
support a reduction in the state sales tax rate for the period
described by Subsection (c), the comptroller shall declare a
reduced sales tax rate for that period. The comptroller shall
determine the reduced sales tax rate for that period. The reduced
rate must be a rate that is a whole-number multiple of one-tenth of
one percent lower than the rate otherwise provided by Subsection
(b).
(e) The comptroller shall publish notice of the reduced rate
and the calendar quarter for which the rate is reduced in the Texas
Register, shall mail notice of the reduced rate to each permit
holder, and may provide notice by other means the comptroller
determines prudent.
(f) On the day after the last day of the period for which the
state sales tax rate is reduced under this section, the comptroller
shall calculate the positive difference between the estimated state
sales tax revenue anticipated to be collected during the period for
which the sales tax rate is reduced and the estimated state sales
tax revenue that would be collected during the same period if the
sales tax rate were not reduced during that period. Except as
provided by Subsection (g), the comptroller shall transfer from the
sales tax reduction fund to the general revenue fund an amount of
money equal to the amount calculated as provided by this
subsection.
(g) Before making the transfer required by Subsection (f),
the comptroller shall determine what portion of the amount of money
calculated as provided by that section would have been deposited to
the credit of a dedicated account in the general revenue fund under
the constitution of this state or general law in effect on January
1, 2015, had the sales tax rate not been reduced under Subsection
(d). The comptroller shall deposit to the credit of each of those
dedicated accounts the amount of money that would have been
deposited to the account had the sales tax rate not been reduced.
(h) The comptroller shall make the determination required
by Subsection (c) according to available statistical data
indicating the estimated amounts to be deposited to the credit of
the sales tax reduction fund under Section 403.108, Government
Code. The comptroller may require taxpayers or other entities that
remit taxes to the comptroller to report to the comptroller
additional information necessary to make the determination under
Subsection (c).
(i) The comptroller shall adopt rules to implement this
section.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.