Tuesday, January 19, 2011

This week is an important one for the health care debate and for Vermont’s fiscal future. Out congressional delegation was here this morning to stand with the governor on Vermont’s independent effort to launch a single payer system. The long awaited report on alternate designs of a state run system is due out tomorrow. Last Thursday while were traveling to Montreal, the Blue Ribbon Tax Structure Commission released its report. Go here to read it. It is of definite concern to members of the VBA. The Commission’s recommendation on expansion of the sales tax to services including professional services will be a concern for your clients. Here is a portion of the Executive Summary as it will apply to you:

RECOMMENDATION 2: BROADEN THE SALES TAX BASE

• 2A: Levy the general sales tax on all consumer-purchased services with limited exceptions for certain health and education services and business-to-business service transactions.

• 2B: Eliminate all consumer-based sales tax expenditures retaining only the exemptions for food and prescription drugs.

• 2C: Cut the sales tax rate from 6 percent to 4.5 percent.

The full discussion is found at pages 49 to 51. The minority perspective, authored by Commissioner William Sayre, can be read at pages 65 to 69. There will be a lot more to come on this topic; stay tuned. And stay ready to get involved as this moves through the process.

On the Senate floor this morning, S. 1 passed with amendment. There was some language added that clarifies that county clerks will continue to process passport applications. The amendment language calls for an MOU between the court administrator and the assistant judges. I can’t provide a link to the language as it was not published in the calendar; instead the proponents of the amendment, Senators Illuzzi and Flory handed it out as the bill was taken up. it can be read in the Senate Journal of today; that should be online later.

On the agenda for this week is a meeting with the Tax Commissioner about the new ePTTR; if you’re on the Property Law Section list serve you know how much discussion there’s been about it. I’ll report back after tomorrow afternoon’s meeting. also, the Senate Judiciary will discuss child support and license suspension issues tomorrow late morning; once again, I’ll keep you posted.

Thanks for reading.