2022 legislative review
Sen . Mona Das , D-Kent , is majority caucus vice chair in the Senate .
was part of an effort to make biomass and renewable energy more economically viable for mills . The bill would protect familywage jobs that include good healthcare and retirement benefits , particularly in rural communities . Economic conditions and the pandemic have created a lot of uncertainty , and this bill provides predictability in pulp and paper manufacturing through extending this exemption . This bill easily made it out of the house 97-0 before failing to even get a hearing in the Senate .
HB 2091 drug warehousing / b & o tax
Failed / AWB Opposed
AWB opposed this bill , sponsored by Rep . Lauren Davis , D-Shoreline , which would have increased the B & O tax rate on businesses that warehouse and resell prescription drugs , taking the rate from 0.138 % to 0.484 %. The bill would have directed the net difference in B & O tax collected from these businesses to the Recovery Pathways Account . Fortunately ,
this bill failed to move forward and died in committee .
SSB 5459 credit card processing b & o exemption
Failed / AWB Supported
AWB supported this bill , sponsored by Sen . Mark Mullet , D-Issaquah , which would have provided a B & O tax deduction for interchange fees or network fees received by a payment card processing company . About five years ago the Department of Revenue ( DOR ) sought to dramatically increase the base upon which certain businesses pay B & O . Historically these businesses only paid tax based on their very small portion of the merchant discount fee . ( The fee is typically around $ 3 on a $ 100 transaction , and the payment processing component of the fee is usually around 25 cents ) DOR has asserted that payment processors must now pay B & O based on the entire merchant discount fee because those funds reside on their system for a period of time . ( Usually for just a few seconds .) That is tantamount to nearly doubling the tax on the merchant discount fee , a cost that will have to be passed on to their customers as often the tax would be more than what certain businesses charge for processing . This bill passed out of the Senate 38-10 . It did not come up for a vote in the House .
SB 5554 local net income taxes
Failed / AWB Opposed
AWB opposed this bill , sponsored by Sen . Bob Hasegawa , D-Seattle , which would have authorized a county , city , or town to levy a graduated tax on personal or business net income if the jurisdiction made a corresponding reduction in the amounts collected in certain uniform local taxes . This bill would have also provided that any reduction in existing taxes must be made prior to or in conjunction with a jurisdiction levying a personal or business net income tax and would have repealed the existing statute prohibiting a local government from levying a net income
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