Zebrowski, D'Urso, Gottfried, Pichardo, Abinanti, De La Rosa, Sepulveda, Schimminger, Galef,
Cahill, Cook, Peoples-Stokes, Jones, Blake, Niou, Seawright
MLTSPNSR
Simon, Thiele
Add §627-d, Tax L; add §85, St Fin L; add §1306-b, RPT L
Authorizes personal income taxpayers to make a gift to excellence in public school education whereby the gift is dedicated to the school district in which the taxpayer resides; such monies shall be deposited into the account for the district for which the gift is intended; monies shall be paid to school districts on July 1 for the school year commencing in the succeeding calendar year, and shall reduce the school taxes of each taxpayer making such a gift.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9678A
SPONSOR: Englebright TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the tax law, the state finance law and
the real property tax law, in relation to authorizing personal income
taxpayers to make a gift to the school district they reside in
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
The purpose of this bill is to allow school taxes to be paid as charita-
ble donations.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
The tax law is amended by adding a new section 627-d to create the "Gift
to Excellence in Public School Education" fund (the "fund"). Starting
January 1, 2019, an individual may contribute to the fund for the school
district that they live in. The contribution made shall not reduce the
amount of state tax owed by that individual.
The state finance law is amended by adding a new section 85 to authorize
the Comptroller and the Commissioner of Taxation and Finance to create
an individual fund for each school district in the state.
The real property tax law is amended by adding a new section 1306-b to
state that the amount of taxes to be levied for any school year shall be
reduced by the amount of the revenue a school district receives for the
school year from the Gift to Excellence in Public School Education. The
assessor of each school district shall use such revenue to reduce the
school tax liability of a parcel owned by each person in the school
district that made a gift to the fund.
JUSTIFICATION:
Since 1913 state and local taxes have been deductible against federal
income taxes. The intent is to prevent placing a tax on a tax and to
acknowledge localities often spend tax money that directly benefits and
is appropriate to such locality.
This legislation will allow New Yorkers to continue to deduct their
local school taxes by making those payments as charitable contributions
to the newly established Gift to Excellence in Public School Education
funds in every school district in the state.
The new federal tax law only allows state and local tax deductions up to
$10,000, but charitable contributions remain unchanged.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill 2018.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE-AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
Undetermined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9678--A
IN ASSEMBLY
January 31, 2018
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ENGLEBRIGHT, ZEBROWSKI, D'URSO, GOTTFRIED,
PICHARDO, ABINANTI, DE LA ROSA, SCHIMMINGER, GALEF, CAHILL, COOK,
PEOPLES-STOKES, JONES, BLAKE, NIOU, SEAWRIGHT -- Multi-Sponsored by --
M. of A. SIMON, THIELE -- read once and referred to the Committee on
Ways and Means -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the tax law, the state finance law and the real property
tax law, in relation to authorizing personal income taxpayers to make
a gift to the school district they reside in
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The tax law is amended by adding a new section 627-d to
2 read as follows:
3 § 627-d. Gift to excellence in public school education. Effective for
4 any tax year commencing on or after January first, two thousand nine-
5 teen, an individual in any taxable year may elect to contribute to the
6 school district account, within the gift to excellence in public school
7 education fund, for the school district in which such individual
8 resides. Such contribution shall be in any whole dollar amount and shall
9 not reduce the amount of state tax owed by such individual. The commis-
10 sioner shall include space on the personal income tax return to enable a
11 taxpayer to make such a contribution. Notwithstanding any other
12 provision of law all revenues collected pursuant to this section shall
13 be credited to the appropriate account in the gift to excellence in
14 public school education fund and used only for those purposes enumerated
15 in section eighty-five of the state finance law.
16 § 2. The state finance law is amended by adding a new section 85 to
17 read as follows:
18 § 85. Gift to excellence in public school education fund. 1. There is
19 hereby established in the joint custody of the comptroller and the
20 commissioner of taxation and finance a special fund to be known as the
21 "gift to excellence in public school education fund".
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14216-04-8
A. 9678--A 2
1 2. The comptroller shall establish, within the gift to excellence in
2 public school education fund, a separate account for each school
3 district in the state.
4 3. Such fund shall consist of all revenues received by the department
5 of taxation and finance, pursuant to the provisions of section six
6 hundred twenty-seven-d of the tax law, and all other moneys appropri-
7 ated, credited or transferred thereto from any other fund or source
8 pursuant to law. All such revenue received shall be allocated and depos-
9 ited into the school district account designated for each contribution
10 constituting such revenue. Nothing contained in this section shall
11 prevent the state from receiving grants, gifts or bequests for the
12 purposes of the fund and depositing them into the appropriate accounts
13 of the fund.
14 4. Moneys in each account of the fund received for a taxable year
15 shall be payable by the comptroller on July first to the school district
16 for which the account exists in the calendar year next succeeding the
17 taxable year in which such moneys were collected. In addition, the
18 comptroller shall provide, on or before April first, notice to each
19 school district and assessor for such district, of the amount of moneys
20 from the fund that the school district will receive.
21 5. To the extent practicable, the commissioner of education shall
22 ensure that all monies received during a fiscal year are expended prior
23 to the end of that fiscal year.
24 6. On or before the first day of February each year, the comptroller
25 shall certify to the governor, temporary president of the senate, speak-
26 er of the assembly, chair of the senate finance committee and chair of
27 the assembly ways and means committee, the amount of money deposited in
28 the gift to excellence in public school education fund during the
29 preceding calendar year as the result of revenue derived pursuant to
30 section six hundred twenty-seven-d of the tax law.
31 7. On or before the first day of February each year, the commissioner
32 of education shall provide a written report to the temporary president
33 of the senate, speaker of the assembly, chair of the senate finance
34 committee, chair of the assembly ways and means committee, chair of the
35 senate committee on education, chair of the assembly education commit-
36 tee, and the public. Such report shall include how the monies of the
37 fund were utilized during the preceding calendar year and shall include:
38 (i) the amount of money dispersed from the fund;
39 (ii) recipients of awards from the fund;
40 (iii) the amount awarded to each;
41 (iv) the purposes for which such awards were granted; and
42 (v) a summary financial plan for such monies which shall include esti-
43 mates of all receipts and all disbursements for the current and succeed-
44 ing fiscal years, along with the actual results from the prior fiscal
45 year.
46 § 3. The real property tax law is amended by adding a new section
47 1306-b to read as follows:
48 § 1306-b. Effect of gift to excellence in public school education upon
49 certain parcels. 1. The amount of taxes to be levied for any school year
50 shall be reduced by the amount of the revenue a school district receives
51 for the school year from the gift to excellence in public school educa-
52 tion. Furthermore, such revenue shall be used by the assessor of a
53 school district to reduce the school tax liability of a parcel owned by
54 each person residing in the school district who made a gift to excel-
55 lence in public school education pursuant to section six hundred twen-
56 ty-seven-d of the tax law in an amount equal to such gift.
A. 9678--A 3
1 2. Annually, on or before July first, the commissioner of taxation and
2 finance shall transmit to each assessor for a school district, the name,
3 address and amount of the gift made, of each person residing in such
4 district who made a gift to excellence in public school education pursu-
5 ant to section six hundred twenty-seven-d of the tax law.
6 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
