Rep. Decker files bill to delay tax effect of manufacturing classification when annual list is late

Representative Marjorie C. Decker of Cambridge filed House Bill No. 3076 on Jan. 15, 2025, proposing changes to how manufacturing-corporation classifications affect municipal assessments of machinery used in business.

The bill, submitted to the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court as a petition and recorded as House Docket No. 2203 and House Bill No. 3076, would amend section 2 of chapter 58 of the General Laws. As filed, the amendment says that “if the commissioner fails to forward said list to a board of assessors prior to July 1 of any fiscal year, any classification of a corporation as a manufacturing corporation shall not affect the assessment of machinery used in the conduct of business pursuant to clause sixteenth of section 5 of chapter 59 until the next fiscal year.”

The filing also proposes a separate change to section 2 to alter the timing of applications for manufacturing classification. The submitted text replaces the word “Any” with the phrase, in part, “Any corporation that first files an application with the commissioner seeking classification as a manufacturing corporation prior to or during January of the calendar year for which it seeks such classification, and any other.” The filing as provided ends with the words “and any other.” and does not include further language clarifying that clause.

The bill text identifies the statutory references it would alter: section 2 of chapter 58 and clause sixteenth of section 5 of chapter 59 of the General Laws. The filing does not include fiscal notes, committee referral, public testimony, or a recorded vote; it is a petition filed for consideration in the current legislative session.

If enacted as written, the first quoted amendment would mean that a municipal assessor could not apply a manufacturing-corporation designation to change the assessment of machinery for the fiscal year in which the Department of Revenue (referred to in the bill as “the commissioner”) failed to forward the annual list to the board of assessors before July 1; the change would delay any effect on machinery assessment until the following fiscal year. The bill filing does not specify estimated revenue impacts, implementation steps, or administrative rules that would follow.

The bill was filed on Jan. 15, 2025; further procedural steps (committee assignment, hearings, or votes) are not recorded in the filing document.