And so we find ourselves once again talking about tax breaks for yacht buyers.
Just think how much you would save on this baby
From capping the sales tax on yachts to phasing out the state business levy, some lawmakers are pushing for tax breaks even as others say the system is already riddled with too many special-interest exemptions.
The breaks are most often cast as a driver for economic development, and a Monday hearing on the yacht tax break was no exception.
Senate Bill 862 “is not about giving tax breaks to the rich. It is all about jobs and protecting our Texas economy,” said Sen. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, who pitched it before the Senate subcommittee on fiscal matters as necessary for the state to compete for boat business.
The subcommittee, which left the bill pending, is trying to have hearings on at least a representative sampling of the tax breaks that have been proposed, said its chairman, Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy. “Obviously, the question always becomes do they, at the end of the day, provide a benefit to the taxpayers overall?” said Hegar.
[…]
A similar measure sank two years ago. Backers emphasized then, as they are now, a decision by Florida to cap its sales and use tax at $18,000. They said that has prompted buyers to purchase and keep their boats in Florida.
As filed, the legislation would cap the amount of boat tax at $15,625 per retail sale, the amount typically paid for a $250,000 yacht. Taylor has a substitute to change that to $25,000.
The subcommittee left the bill pending while it awaits a new fiscal note on the change.
As noted, a similar bill was introduced last session, but it did not pass. The fiscal note for SB862 says it would cost $2,893,000 for the upcoming biennium, which is slightly more than the fiscal note of the previous bill. Perhaps the Legislative Budget Board is forecasting more yacht purchases for this biennium, or maybe it’s just that yachts are more expensive these days. In either case, I doubt that Taylor’s substitute bill will make that much difference in this department.
I expended all the snark I have on this two years ago. There’s only so much time available in a legislative session, and it really says something about John Davis and Larry Taylor that they think this particular issue, which would greatly benefit a very small number of people at the expense of the general revenue fund, is worth their limited time and energy. I haven’t even seen a bogus “economic benefit” report on behalf of the yachters, making the usual dubious claims about how much more money this would actually mean for Texas despite the fiscal note, which is telling in itself. As Rodney Ellis says in the story, our tax code is already an unmanageable jumble of bizarre, obscure, and often needless tax breaks that cost billions for no clear reason. We don’t need to add to that.
Let’s stop calling these exemptions, loopholes and tax breaks and call them what they really are…. entitlements….. since they feel they are entitled to not paying the tax due…. let’s see how they like this word used on them,no?