Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that expands the retail tax and increases the tax on cigarettes and on gas.

Highlights:

• Expands the retail tax to include “computer system design services” (Secs. 23 & 24).

• Defines “computer system design services” as the planning, consulting, or designing of computer systems that integrate computer hardware, software, or communication technologies and are provided by a vendor or a third party (Sec. 23).

• Increases the cigarette tax from $0.10 to $0.15 for vendors of tobacco products (Sec. 19).

• Increases the gasoline tax from $0.21 to $0.24 per gallon of gasoline (Sec. 17).

• Requires the gasoline tax to be adjusted annually by the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index from the preceding year, effective January 1, 2015 (Secs. 18 & 37).

• Requires the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to appropriate at least $100 million annually to be spent on repairs and improvements to municipal ways and bridges (Sec. 4).

• Authorizes the revenue generated by the Department to be derived from the following areas (Sec. 27):
• Fees collected by the Registrar of Motor Vehicles;
• Funds contributed to the Motor Vehicle Inspection Trust Fund;
• Funds contributed to the Massachusetts Transportation Trust Fund; and
• Other funds directly collected by the department.

• Requires the Department to classify and fund the salaries and benefits of its employees as operating expenditures on or before June 30, 2016 (Sec. 29).

• Establishes a “value capture commission” to report on the effectiveness of the commonwealth’s current value capture policies and recommend whether certain policies from other jurisdictions be implemented (Sec. 31).

• The computer system design services retail tax provision has since been repealed by legislation passed by both chambers and approved by the Governor.

• In Massachusetts, a new bill number is assigned when a new version of the bill is drafted. The bill number was changed to H 3415 for the House Passage stage.

Full Bill Text