Senator Brownsberger has recently submitted the following testimony on S.1451, An Act relative to payments in lieu of taxation of organizations exempt from the property tax: TO: Joint Committee on Revenue FROM: Senator William N. Brownsberger RE: S.1451 DATE: May 12th, 2015 I am writing in support of S.1451, An Act relative to …
Taxes
Film Tax Credit
In conjunction with his budget, Governor Baker proposed the elimination of the Film Tax Credit. On this issue, I agree with the Governor. While I am basically eager to encourage every job-creating industry in Massachusetts, the film tax credit is just too generous to one particular industry — no other industry receives a subsidy as deep as that offered by the film tax credit.
The Software Tax has been Repealed
As previously promised, both branches have now voted to repeal the software tax. It will shortly be laid upon the Governor’s desk and signed. The repeal is fully retroactive: If people have collected it from customers, they should return it. If they have remitted payments to the Department of Revenue, they can apply for the …
Software Tax will be Repealed
Legislative leaders announced today that they support the repeal of the software tax. The Governor made the same announcement yesterday. I am relieved by this announcement — it means a mistake will be fixed and we will avoid much future controversy. I had become convinced last month that the tax (a) was simply not computable …
Software Tax Update
The Department of Revenue has produced new guidelines about the application of the software services tax. These are draft guidelines which are still subject to change. The important idea in the new interpretation, which is an idea that I had been pushing, is that the tax should apply to modifications of pre-written software only when …
The Software Services Tax
I was pleased to report the successful completion of legislative efforts to pass a transportation funding package. It represented the main product of the first leg of the legislative session and was a very necessary and difficult thing to do. I fully supported it and accept full responsibility for every element of it. Unfortunately, it …