Bills Introduced in the Rhode Island Senate (Taxation Focus), January 18-20
Targeted Changes with Statewide Impact
| S0053 | Lowers the gas tax from 32 to 28 cents per gallon. |
| S0054 | No tolls for crossing the Mt. Hope Bridge (Comment: Unless, of course, the legislature approves them in the future by repealing this change.) Companion to H5056 |
| S0055 | Would impose the state’s sales-tax on clothing items costing more than $500. |
| S0057 | Applies the state sales tax to “storage, use, or other consumption in this state of any new or used boat”. (Comment: Has this been cleared with John Kerry?). |
| S0058 | Raises the estate tax threshold to $1.5 million from $850 thousand beginning in 2013, and then indexes it to inflation. |
| S0059 | According to the official explanation, this bill is supposed to exempt gum, candy, confectionaries and soft drinks sold through vending machines and priced less than $3 from the sales tax. However, given the way the bill is actually worded, it also removes the sales tax exemption from “prepared foods” that are currently exempt AND exempts the “prepared foods” that are currently not exempt. (Comment: Whichever young legislator made this apparent error may want to seek the advice of the Majority Leader, on avoiding such missteps in the future. Oh, wait…) |
re: S0057
Sen. Tassoni hates to see something that is actually helping the economy I guess.