Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that reduces taxes for certain businesses, effective January 1, 2013.

Highlights:

• Increases the earned income tax credit from 7 percent to 15 percent of the federal earned income credit after January 1, 2012 (Sec. 1).

• Appropriates $25 million per year to both the business property tax credit fund and the enterprise property tax credit fund (Sec. 18).

• Limits appropriations to no more than $125 million in any one fiscal year for either the business property tax credit fund and the enterprise property tax credit fund (Sec 18). 

• Authorizes the following types of business property and enterprise property to be eligible for tax credits (Sec. 20):
• Commercial property;
• Industrial property; and
• Railway property.

• Specifies that property that is already subject to a federal tax credit because it is rented to low-income individuals and families is not eligible for tax credits established by this law (Sec. 20).

• Exempts the following items of telecommunications properties from taxation (Sec. 6):
• Central office equipment including, but not limited to, motor vehicles, aircraft, furniture and office equipment ; and
• Qualified telephone company property including, but not limited to, means poles, aerial cable, underground cable, and buried cable.

• Exempts from taxation certain property of cable television companies including, but not limited to, the following (Sec. 45):
• Wire;
• Cable; and
• Fiber-optic cable.

• Specifies that telecommunication properties will be taxed only on their qualified telephone property that exceeds the following amounts (Sec. 6):
• Beginning 2013, the value that exceeds $4 million;
• Beginning 2014, the value that exceeds $8 million;
• Beginning 2015, the value that exceeds $12 million;
• Beginning 2016, the value that exceeds $16 million; and
• Beginning 2017 and each assessment year thereafter, the value that exceeds $20 million.

• Specifies that cable television company properties will be taxed only on their property that exceeds the following amounts (Sec. 45):
• Beginning 2013, the value that exceeds $2 million;
• Beginning 2014, the value that exceeds $4 million;
• Beginning 2015, the value that exceeds $6 million;
• Beginning 2016, the value that exceeds $8 million; and
• Beginning 2017 and each assessment day thereafter, the value that exceeds $10 million.

• Establishes a business property tax credit fund and an enterprise property tax credit fund and specifies that the amount of tax credits will be determined by the Department of Revenue (Secs. 18 & 31).

• Specifies that “multiresidential property” is included in the list of types of property that are exempt from taxation on structural improvements (Secs. 41 & 42).

• Defines “multiresidential property” as any of the following types of property, not including hotels, motels, or inns or other buildings where rooms are usually rented for less than one month (Sec. 42):
• Parcels of land on which property is placed that is owned by someone other than the owner of the property and is rented or leased for residential use;
• Assisted living facilities; and
• A portion of a building that is inhabited and a “proportionate share” of the land on which the building is located, as long as the land is part of the same parcel as the building.

Full Bill Text