Factoid of the Month
July
Recently Passed Bills that Impact the General Fund...
Each spring the Idaho Division of Financial Management (DFM) identifies newly passed laws that will impact the state’s General Fund in the upcoming fiscal year. A summary of this year’s laws and their fiscal impacts are summarized in the table below. This table includes each bill’s number, a short description of each bill, and its fiscal impact on each tax revenue category.
Fifteen bills with fiscal impacts were passed in 2008. Most of these bills decrease the state’s FY 2009 General Fund, while a smattering of bills increase revenues. Not only do bills with negative fiscal impacts outnumber those with positive fiscal impacts four-to-one, but their dollar amounts dwarf the amounts for bills with positive fiscal impacts. Specifically, the sum of the bills that decrease next year’s revenue is $70.152 million, compared to $975,000 total for bills which increase revenues. The net impact is a $69.177-million decrease to the General Fund in FY 2009.
The Individual Income Tax is the category most heavily impacted by this year’s law changes. Its estimated $43.952-million decrease accounts for about 64% of next year’s net fiscal impact. The Corporate Income Tax has the next largest decrease of $19.175 million. The Sales Tax is expected to decrease $95,000. There is an estimated $6.180 million negative fiscal impact to Product Taxes. The Miscellaneous category receives a small increase of $225,000.
Two bills account for nearly 90% of 2009’s net impact. House Bill 615 updates the Idaho Code to include features of The Economic Stimulus Act of 2008. Its $38 million impact is evenly split between the Individual Income and Corporate Income taxes. House Bill 588 has a fiscal impact of $23.5 million. This bill increases the state’s grocery tax credit from $20 to $50 per qualified exemption in 2008 for Idaho households with less than $1,000 taxable income. The grocery tax credit for households with more than $1,000 of taxable income rises from $20 to $30 per exemption in 2008. It also raises the additional $15 credit for senior Idahoans to $20. In addition, it allows more Idahoans who are not required to file tax returns to claim the grocery tax credit.
