WDL-03-2015-30-m
Montgomery County lawmakers have introduced bills to repeal the Texas business franchise tax this legislative session. Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe; Rep. Mark Keough, R-The Woodlands; and Rep. Will Metcalf, R-Conroe have each introduced legislation that would either repeal or substantially alter the franchise tax—a tax that was last revised in 2006 and is levied on businesses with more than $1 million in annual receipts. "There are a number of bills that are filed that address this issue," Keough's Chief of Staff Jason Millsaps said. "The tax was put [into effect] back in 2007 when we were in a budget shortfall, and it was designed to prop up the state budget to keep us from running a deficit. We have not run a deficit since and we actually have a surplus, so it is punitively taxing businesses' productivity." Franchise tax revenue is divided between the Texas General Revenue Fund and the Property Tax Relief Fund—which is used to reduce school district maintenance and operations tax rates, according to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. In 2014 the franchise tax generated about $4.73 billion for the state, according to the comptroller's office. In a speech delivered at a National Federation of Independent Business luncheon Feb. 3, Gov. Greg Abbott said lowering the franchise tax would help job creation, and that he would not approve any budget that does not include tax relief for small businesses. "It's a proven fact that lowering the business franchise tax is one of the best ways to stimulate job growth," Abbott said. "I will reject any budget that does not include tax relief to Texas businesses." Although proposals from local legislators all seek to address franchise tax concerns, such as taxes being levied on businesses that lost money that year, each proposal takes its own approach. "If a business ends up losing money for the year, where the IRS gives them a break on that and they don't pay taxes on their income if they lost money, the [franchise tax] margins would still require that [business] to pay taxes on their income that year even though they lost funds," Millsaps said. Creighton's bills—senate bills 186, 330 and 331—seek to repeal the tax by 2020 and require that in the interim Comptroller of Public Accounts Glenn Hegar find alternative revenue sources to replace funds lost by the state. The bills also seek to halt the taxation on businesses that are above the $1 million annual revenue margin but did not generate profit and propose a franchise tax rebate program to benefit businesses. Keough proposed the Business Tax Relief Act, or House Bill 321, which calls for the immediate repeal of the franchise tax. Metcalf co-authored HB 552 along with Rep. Dan Huberty, R-Humble, and also seeks to repeal the franchise tax by 2020, Chief of Staff Seth Juergens said.