Over Half of State Revenue Chairs Are New to the Job

A few weeks ago, we reported that roughly 20 percent of state legislators are freshmen legislators. What does that mean for chairs of the key revenue committees, and ultimately, the impact on tax policy? It turns out there are a number of consequential changes in revenue committees — there are 61 new revenue committee chairs this year! In fact, new chairs slightly outpace the 60 returning revenue chairs. In total, of the 121 revenue chairs, just over 50 percent of them are new to the role. (Some states have multiple chairs or multiple revenue committees, which is why there are more than 99 chairs.) 

New committee chairs bring new tax policy ideas. And without a track record, it’s more difficult to predict how successful freshman chairs will be in passing new bills out of committee and the legislature more broadly. Let’s take a look at a few of the prominent tax bills — excluding the complex budget talks happening in most states — that may come across the desk of this year’s revenue chairs.

• Arizona’s House passed HB 2003 to lower the corporate income tax to 2.5 percent by 2026. The House Ways and Means Committee is led by newly appointed Chair Neal Carter (R), and the bill now sits in the Senate Appropriations Committee and Rules Committee which are chaired by John Kavanagh (R), who formerly chaired the committee, and Senate President and new Chair Warren Petersen (R). 

• Missouri’s pair of new revenue chairs in both the House and the Senate may soon be presiding over SB 93, a phased-in reduction to the corporate income tax until it reaches 2 percent in 2027. This bill is sponsored by Rep. Denny Hoskins (R), the new Economic Development and Tax Policy Chair. 

• Montana’s freshmen Taxation Committee Chairs Rep. Paul Fielder (R) and Senator Greg Hertz (R) got an early win this year with MT SB 124, which was sponsored by Hertz. This bill adopts single-sales factor apportionment for the corporate income tax and was signed into law by Gov. Greg Gianforte last month. 

• Oklahoma is looking to repeal the state’s throwback rule with HB 1645. The bill earned approval through the House Appropriations and Budget Committee, chaired by first-timer Rep. Kevin Wallace (R), and subsequently passed the full House. 

New tax legislation is not limited to the corporate income tax, though. Data taxes, levied on the collection of consumer data, have been a hot topic, particularly with revenue chairs in a few states.

• New York is considering a controversial new tax on data (NY SB 2012), sponsored by Senate Finance Chair Liz Krueger (D). Illinois lawmakers are debating an extremely similar bill (SB 2307), sponsored by new Revenue Committee Chair Celina Villanueva (D). 

• The Iowa Senate Ways and Means Committee, which is chaired by returning Chair Dan Dawson (R), will likely take up IA SF 486, legislation that would establish a quarterly fee on social network sites.

It remains to be seen how much of this tax legislation will cross the finish line under this year’s crop of revenue chairs, but with more than 4,000 pieces of corporate tax legislation filed already, they certainly have a full plate of tax policy options. 

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