Report Title:

Police Officers; Income Tax Exemption

 

Description:

Provides an income tax exemption to police officers employed by the city and county of Honolulu.

 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1202

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO HONOLULU POLICE OFFICERS.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The purpose of this Act is to exclude the regular base salary of sworn police officers of the city and county of Honolulu from calculation of state gross income, adjusted income, and taxable income.

The caliber and training of Honolulu police officers have made the department a recruiting ground for mainland police departments, where many experienced officers are leaving Honolulu for higher paying jobs and a lower cost of living. This loss of experienced officers and the lack of sufficient numbers of qualified recruits have resulted in numerous vacancies and staffing shortages of sworn officers.

This Act temporarily provides a financial incentive intended to assist in the retention of officers and the attraction of qualified applicants until a more permanent solution can be implemented.

SECTION 2. Section 235-7, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) There shall be excluded from gross income, adjusted gross income, and taxable income:

(1) Income not subject to taxation by the State under the Constitution and laws of the United States;

(2) Rights, benefits, and other income exempted from taxation by section 88-91, having to do with the state retirement system, and the rights, benefits, and other income, comparable to the rights, benefits, and other income exempted by section 88-91, under any other public retirement system;

(3) Any compensation received in the form of a pension for past services;

(4) Compensation paid to a patient affected with Hansen's disease employed by the State or the United States in any hospital, settlement, or place for the treatment of Hansen's disease;

(5) Except as otherwise expressly provided, payments made by the United States or this State, under an act of Congress or a law of this State, which by express provision or administrative regulation or interpretation are exempt from both the normal and surtaxes of the United States, even though not so exempted by the Internal Revenue Code itself;

(6) Any income expressly exempted or excluded from the measure of the tax imposed by this chapter by any other law of the State, it being the intent of this chapter not to repeal or supersede any such express exemption or exclusion;

(7) The first $1,750 received by each member of the reserve components of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard of the United States of America, and the Hawaii National Guard as compensation for performance of duty;

(8) Income derived from the operation of ships or aircraft if the income is exempt under the Internal Revenue Code pursuant to the provisions of an income tax treaty or agreement entered into by and between the United States and a foreign country, provided that the tax laws of the local governments of that country reciprocally exempt from the application of all of their net income taxes, the income derived from the operation of ships or aircraft which are documented or registered under the laws of the United States;

(9) The value of legal services provided by a prepaid legal service plan to a taxpayer, the taxpayer's spouse, and the taxpayer's dependents;

(10) Amounts paid, directly or indirectly, by a prepaid legal service plan to a taxpayer as payment or reimbursement for the provision of legal services to the taxpayer, the taxpayer's spouse, and the taxpayer's dependents;

(11) Contributions by an employer to a prepaid legal service plan for compensation (through insurance or otherwise) to the employer's employees for the costs of legal services incurred by the employer's employees, their spouses, and their dependents [and];

(12) Amounts received in the form of a monthly surcharge by a utility acting on behalf of an affected utility under section 269-16.3 shall not be gross income, adjusted gross income, or taxable income for the acting utility under this chapter. Any amounts retained by the acting utility for collection or other costs shall not be included in this exemption[.] and

(13) The regular base salary of sworn police officers employed by the city and county of Honolulu."

SECTION 3. The department of taxation shall report to the legislature no later than the convening of the regular session of 2003 on the fiscal impact of extending this Act beyond its scheduled repeal.

SECTION 4. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This Act, upon its approval, shall:

(1) Apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2000;

(2) Be repealed on January 1, 2005; provided that section 235-7 shall be reenacted in the form in which it existed on the day before the effective date of this Act.

INTRODUCED BY:

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