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Legislative auditor recommends changes to multiple tax preferences, finds emissions and reporting gaps
Summary
JLARC presented nine tax-preference reviews to the Senate Ways and Means Committee, recommending action on eight. Key findings: natural-gas transport preferences fell short of emissions targets; Puget Sound Energy and Toad Maritime Alaska identified as major beneficiaries; JLARC urged continued exemptions with added reporting and improved metrics for several preferences.
The legislative auditor told the Senate Ways and Means Committee on Jan. 15 that nine tax-preference performance reviews completed for 2025 merit legislative action on eight of them.
The reviews, presented by Aileen Mezzona of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC), examined a range of preferences — from tax treatment of natural gas used in transportation to preferential B&O rates for travel agents and a property-tax exemption for nonprofit low-income housing developers. The auditor recommended continuing some exemptions, modifying others to require better reporting or performance metrics, and allowing unused preferences to expire.
Mezzona said the review of preferences related to compressed and liquefied natural gas was among the most detailed. The report found that three preferences reduced the cost of using natural gas for transportation but that the legislature’s emissions‑reduction targets were not met because “fewer ships and vehicles use natural gas as a transportation…
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