84R4904 CJC-D
By: Birdwell S.B. No. 743
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.
The fund consists of:
(1) money transferred to the fund in accordance with
Subsection (b);
(2) money deposited to the credit of the fund in
accordance with Subsection (c); and
(3) interest earned on money in the fund.
(b) The comptroller shall transfer money to the fund as
directed by the legislature in the General Appropriations Act or by
other law.
(c) 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.
(d) 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, or an account in 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 the 90th day of each state fiscal year,
the comptroller shall determine whether there are sufficient
balances in the sales tax reduction fund so that 95 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 for a period of not
less than two consecutive days.
(d) If the comptroller determines under Subsection (c) that
95 percent of the balances in the sales tax reduction fund would
support a reduction in the state sales tax rate for at least the
period described by Subsection (c), the comptroller shall declare a
reduced sales tax rate. The comptroller shall determine the length
of the period during which the sales tax rate will be reduced, and
the reduced sales tax rate for that period, in a manner that
provides for the greatest reduction in the sales tax rate for the
longest period of time possible given the comptroller's
determination of the fund's available balance under Subsection (c).
The reduced sales tax rate must be a rate that is a whole-number
multiple of one-tenth of one percent lower than the tax rate
otherwise provided by Subsection (b) and must take effect on the
first day of a calendar quarter.
(e) The comptroller shall publish notice of the reduced
state sales tax rate and the period during which the sales tax rate
is reduced in the Texas Register, shall mail notice of the reduced
sales tax 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 subsection 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 state 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 adopt rules to implement this
section.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.