Budget Adjustment Act language would reserve late payroll-tax receipts for childcare fund at year end

Summary

Staff from the tax department and Joint Fiscal Office told the Appropriations committee the House Budget Adjustment Act would codify a closeout process to reserve an estimate of fourth-quarter childcare payroll-tax receipts so funds due the Child Care Contribution Special Fund are not swept into the general‑fund closeout waterfall.

Legislative staff and tax department officials briefed the Appropriations panel on a proposed change to the Budget Adjustment Act intended to prevent childcare payroll-tax receipts from being captured by the general-fund closeout process.

Andrew Stein, chief operating officer of taxes, said the childcare contribution was implemented by folding a payroll assessment into existing withholding and personal income tax filings to reduce implementation costs. "We're talking about 80 to $82,000,000 a year," Stein said of the total annual receipts attributable to the child‑care contribution, and he explained most of that revenue arrives through withholding.

The problem, Stein and fiscal staff told lawmakers, is timing: withholding remittances arrive on a quarterly schedule ("October 25, January 25, April 25, and…

Budget Adjustment Act language would reserve late payroll-tax receipts for childcare fund at year end

Summary

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