Sen. William A. Walaska (D-Dist. 30, Warwick) has submitted bills aimed at tax reform for the 2016 legislative session. Ranging from auto excise tax to minimum corporate tax, the legislation seeks to make the tax code more equitable and ease some of the burden.

The first bill (2016-S 2044) would amend car tax statutes so that the assessment of used motor vehicles would be based on the average trade-in price, rather than the retail price.

When the state, several years ago, eliminated the $6,000 statewide auto excise tax exemption, allowing cities and towns to lower the exemption to as little as $500, owners of vehicles once untaxed began receiving tax bills, while others were being taxed on a vehicle that was suddenly assessed as much as $5,500 more than in the previous year.

“Just because auto owners have gotten used to a higher bill during the past few years does not make things right,” Walaska said in a statement. “With the elimination of the excise tax exemption at the state level, some communities saw an open door to grabbing more money from their residents. Instead, they should have been looking for ways to make the hike as painless as possible.”

The second bill (2016-S 2039) would reduce the minimum corporate tax from $450 to $250.

“Last year we dropped the minimum corporate tax by $50,” said Walaska, “but it just wasn’t enough. We talk about making things easier for small business in Rhode Island. We need to drop it to $250.”

The third bill (2016-S 2053) would change municipal property tax revaluation from every three years to every five years.

 “As communities and the state continue to face difficult budget years, our goal should be to find ways to help save money,” said Walaska. “Readjusting the municipal revaluation process is a very significant way to do that.”

Under current law, every Rhode Island community must conduct a full property revaluation every nine years. Three years after that is done, and then another three years after that, communities must conduct a statistical revaluation (update). Finally, on the ninth year after the initial comprehensive revaluation, another full revaluation must be done.

“That is four revaluations in the space of nine years, and even with the state reimbursing communities for part of the cost of the interim statistical reviews, that is a lot of money being spent by local communities and the state,” said Walaska. “A couple of decades ago, when things were booming and home values were soaring, it benefited communities to do revaluations more often so the community could collect more taxes on the increased values of properties. Things are different today, and I believe property values will not change a great deal if the revaluation is conducted every five years instead of every three years.”

In addition to these bills, Senator Walaska has introduced these pieces of tax reform legislation:

2016-S 2035 would exempt the trade-in value of pickup trucks weighing 14,000 lbs. or less from the sales and use tax.

2016-S 2036 would repeal the sales tax on pet care services.

2016-S 2066 would increase the value of all net taxable estates for the purpose of the estate and transfer tax to $2,500,000.

The bills have been referred to the Senate Finance Committee, except the property tax revaluation bill, which has been referred to the Senate Housing and Municipal Government Committee.