Given the deadline of my March/April Business Pulse column [starting on Pg. 75] that focused on the 2025 Legislative Session and in particular the state budget that was written in mid-February, here is an update on the various tax bills that I covered as well the status of some other bills that impact business.
Tax Proposals:
The short answer is that all of the tax proposals that I mentioned in my column: HB 1319/creating a wealth tax, 1320/increasing the Business and Occupation Tax, 1334/Annual Property Tax increases, 1480/allowing a local real estate excise tax, and the idea of creating a new, statewide Jump Start Payroll Tax are all still alive and will be debated in the coming weeks as various budget plans are finalized and debated.
The state is facing an actual $6.6 billion budget “shortfall” that needs to be addressed before the legislature adjourns on April 27th. The Senate Republicans released their comprehensive budget proposal that increases state spending, addresses the $6.6 billion “deficit” without raising or creating any taxes this week. The House and Senate Democrats will release their separate budgets later this month. Both budgets are expected to include several tax increases from the above list as they want to increase state spending by another $10-$12 billion.
In addition, here is a list of some other bills that are moving in the session that may affect your business. We just passed a significant legislative deadline where all bills not related to the budget had to pass either the House or Senate. Those bills that survived this legislative cutoff will now be debated in the other legislative chamber.
HB 1921 – creating a vehicle mileage tax that would charge all drivers by the amount of miles they drive to pay for transportation projects. This new tax might eventually replace the current gas tax – this bill is still alive
SB 5041 – allows workers who choose to go on strike to be eligible for unemployment (UI) benefits, raising costs on all businesses – this bill passed the Senate and is now in the House
SB 5382 – would replace new restrictions on citizen-led ballot initiatives to make it nearly impossible to collect signatures to qualify them – this bill looks to be dead as it has not passed either the House or Senate
HB 1217 – would impose stateside rent control – this has passed the House and is now in the Senate
HB 1380 – allows homeless encampments statewide even if cities have passed their own restrictions on camps on public property and limit public drug use – this bill has not passed either chamber so looks to be dead this year
Please keep checking the WBA website’s Advocacy page for further updates.