Committee adopts third substitute to change tax-increment rules for HTRZ and downtown convention districts

The House Revenue and Taxation Committee on Feb. 26 adopted the third substitute to Senate Bill 26 and voted to recommend the bill favorably out of committee after sponsor and agency changes clarified how sales-tax increments and property-tax revenue may be used in redevelopment zones.

Senator Harper, the bill sponsor, told the committee the latest substitute incorporated technical fixes requested by the Tax Commission, bond counsel, Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County, and clarified uses and effective dates for both sales-tax and property-tax increments.

The bill narrows use of state sales-tax increment in convention-center reinvestment zones: only 50% of the state portion of sales tax generated in the downtown convention-center CCRZ may be used for the district, while 100% of local-option sales tax remains available for that zone. The bill also…