January 25, 2005 |
2005-R-0106 (Revised) | |
PROPERTY TAX EXEMPTIONS CREATED OR EXPANDED 1994-2004 | ||
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By: Judith Lohman, Chief Analyst Kevin McCarthy, Principal Analyst John Rappa, Principal Analyst | ||
You asked for a list of the property tax exemptions the General Assembly created or extended between 1994 and 2004. You also requested brief information concerning the legislative origin of each exemption provision.
The General Assembly created or expanded property tax exemptions 57 times in the decade from 1994 through 2004. Of the 57 provisions, 27 originated in committees, 20 were added to bills by floor amendments (18 House amendments, two Senate amendments), and 10 were enacted as part of emergency certified bills. Nine of the emergency certified provisions were enacted in regular or special sessions occurring in 2000 through 2004.
Table 1 lists each exemption by year, along with a brief description, the public act and bill numbers, and where it originated. The list does not include changes in state reimbursements for exemptions or state payments in lieu of taxes. It also excludes procedural changes, such as filing deadline extensions or waivers.
Table 1: Property Tax Exemptions, 1994-2004
Public Act |
Bill |
Description |
Origin |
1994 | |||
94-145 |
5485 |
Establishes local option abatements on certain food manufacturing plants and amusement parks. |
Planning & Development |
94-157 |
5101 |
Expands the types of renewable energy systems subject to local option exemptions. |
Energy & Technology |
94-175 |
5651 |
Broadens exemption eligibility criteria for veterans of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. |
House amendment (LCO number cannot be determined) |
94-201 |
5127 |
Establishes a local option exemption for certain types of farms. |
House amendment (LCO number cannot be determined) |
94-208 |
5268 |
Expands the local option exemption for personal property owned by nonprofit ambulance companies. |
Planning & Development |
94-241 |
271 |
Provides for the creation of enterprise corridor zones, making firms within them eligible for property tax exemptions and abatements. |
Commerce |
94-247 |
5698 |
Broadens the types of property in entertainment districts eligible for exemptions. |
Planning & Development |
1995 | |||
95-283 |
6998 |
(1) Extends, from four to five years, the exemption for new and newly acquired manufacturing equipment and (2) makes machinery and equipment used to make motion pictures and video and sound recordings eligible for the exemption. |
Finance, Revenue & Bonding |
1996 | |||
96-222 |
93 |
Makes retail product distribution facilities eligible for enterprise zone tax benefits. |
Transportation |
96-252 |
5430 |
Extends the manufacturing equipment and machinery exemption to include investments by biotechnology companies. |
House Amendment “B” (LCO 6300) |
96-265 |
509 |
Exempts certain newly purchased and registered large commercial motor vehicles from property tax. |
Transportation |
1997 | |||
97-109 |
1270 |
Establishes a local option exemption for contaminated property that is remediated and redeveloped. |
Finance, Revenue & Bonding |
97-235 |
1015 |
Establishes a local option exemption for information technology improvements costing more than $ 100,000. |
Energy & Technology |
97-275 |
6549 |
Establishes a local option exemption for property that a water company is required to acquire. |
Energy & Technology |
97-282 |
1176 |
(1) Extends the exemption on large commercial vehicles to vehicle lessees, (2) broadens the exemption of machinery and equipment used by the biotechnology industry, and (3) exempts property leased by state colleges and universities to nonprofit organizations. |
Finance, Revenue & Bonding |
1998 | |||
98-28, § 45 |
5005 |
Eliminates the 2006 sunset on the local option exemption for renewal energy technologies. |
Energy & Technology |
98-125 |
5670 |
Authorizes local option exemption for vehicles owned and retrofitted for use by people with disabilities. |
Finance, Revenue & Bonding |
98-146 |
481 |
Extends for five years the manufacturing facility property tax exemption for facilities manufacturing medicinal chemical and botanical products that employed at least 1,000 workers. |
House Amendment “A” (LCO 4543) |
98-179, § 11 |
5434 |
Exempts Capitol City Economic Development Authority (CCEDA) from paying property taxes on convention center. |
House Amendment “A” (LCO 5571) |
98-207 |
528 |
Extends local option tax abatement to recreation and transportation facilities. |
Finance, Revenue & Bonding |
98-242 |
5662 |
Authorizes up to 100% real and personal property tax exemption for communications businesses. |
House Amendment “B” (LCO 5113) |
98-262, § 18 |
5681 |
Authorizes up to 100% local option exemption for commercial fishing apparatus valued at or over $ 500 and that is subject to corporation tax. |
House Amendment “D” (LCO 4564) |
98-1, June Special Session, § 98 |
6001 |
Extends for five years the manufacturing facility property tax exemption for facilities manufacturing pharmaceutical products that employ at least 1,000 workers. |
Emergency Certification |
1999 | |||
99-241, § 43 |
1127 |
Exempts the Adriaen’s Landing sportsplex, parking facilities, and convention center site from property taxes. |
House Amendment “A” (LCO 12071) |
99-272 |
6870 |
Authorizes up to $ 1,000 local option exemption for resident volunteer firefighters, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, and ambulance drivers. |
House Amendment “D” (LCO 15015) |
99-272 |
6870 |
Exempts not-yet-operational manufacturing machinery and equipment that would otherwise qualify for the manufacturing machinery and equipment exemption. |
House Amendment “B” (LCO 15023) |
99-272 |
6870 |
Makes more people eligible for the wartime service veterans’ property tax exemptions. |
House Amendment “A” (LCO 9693) |
99-272 |
6870 |
Authorizes up to 100% local option exemption for federally funded modifications to veterans’ homes. |
Finance, Revenue & Bonding |
2000 | |||
00-120 |
5757 |
Authorizes up to 100% local option exemption for fire- or weather-damaged personal property meeting specified criteria. |
Planning & Development |
00-120 |
5757 |
(1) Extends the local option exemption for volunteer emergency services personnel to otherwise eligible nonsalaried civil preparedness directors and nonresident volunteers. (2) Authorizes an alternative method of calculating the exemption. |
House Amendment “B” (LCO 4080) |
00-130 |
608 |
Authorizes up to 100% local option exemption for personal property belonging to a nonstock corporation providing citizenship classes. |
Finance, Revenue & Bonding |
00-170, §§ 30 & 38-39 |
523 |
Authorizes local option exemptions for properties being developed under the Urban and Industrial Sites Reinvestment Program. |
Commerce (sSB 450, died in Senate); Senate Amendment “A” (LCO 5311) |
00-170, § 27 |
523 |
Grants a five-year extension of the 80% property tax abatement for facilities and newly acquired machinery and equipment to financial institutions with at least 4,000 qualified employees. |
Senate Amendment “A” (LCO 5311) |
00-192, § 50 |
5922 |
Authorizes up to 100% local option exemption for new school buses. |
House Amendment “A” (LCO 5473) |
00-192, § 86 |
5922 |
Authorizes properly tax credits for manufacturing or biotechnology machinery and equipment meeting narrow criteria. |
House Amendment “A” (LCO 5473) |
00-206 |
5107 |
Authorizes local option property tax credits to homeowners who agree to restrict the sale of their properties to low- and moderate-income people. |
Housing |
00-214 |
5888 |
Extends the local option property tax exemption for motor vehicles adapted for use by people with disabilities to those owned by their parent or guardian. |
Finance, Revenue & Bonding |
00-215 |
5885 |
Authorizes up to 100% local option exemption for surviving spouses of police officers or firefighters killed in the line of duty. |
House Amendment “A” (LCO 4123) |
00-229 |
5865 |
Exempts real and personal property owned or leased by a nonprofit organization for a nonprofit nursing, rest, or residential care home. |
Finance, Revenue & Bonding |
00-1, JSS, § 26 |
6001 |
Extends commercial fishing apparatus exemption to apparatus bought but not actually used. |
Emergency Certification |
2001 | |||
01-187 |
1333 |
Extends local option tax relief to volunteer civil preparedness staff. |
House Amendment “B” (LCO 8525) |
01-6, June Special Session, § 17 |
2001 |
Gives companies manufacturing pharmaceutical, medicinal chemical, and botanical products an extra five years to continue receiving an 80% property tax exemption on machinery and equipment installed in a manufacturing facility if (1) it meets specified job targets and (2) the economic development commissioner approves. |
Emergency Certification |
01-6, June Special Session, § 82 |
2001 |
Allows towns to increase the mandatory exemption for up to $ 100,000 of farm equipment by an additional $ 100,000. |
Emergency Certification |
01-9, June Special Session, § 81 |
7507 |
Allows towns participating in CHFA’s urban rehabilitation home ownership program to provide a five-year deferral of assessment increases resulting from participation. |
Emergency Certification |
01-9, June Special Session, § 86 |
7507 |
Allows towns to fix taxes and assessments on a power plant’s real and personal property during and after its construction instead of only after. Applies only to power plants that complete construction after 7/1/98. |
Emergency Certification |
2002 | |||
02-87 |
5434 |
Eliminates owner-occupation requirement for local option property tax credits triggered by an affordable housing deed restriction. |
Housing |
02-137 |
5625 |
Allows towns to increase local option property tax assessment reduction for low-income wartime veterans or surviving spouses from a maximum of $ 1,000 to a maximum of $ 10,000. |
House Amendment “B” (LCO 4863) |
02-4, May 9 Special Session, § 7 |
700 |
Expands applicability of PA 01-9 § 86 (see above) to power plants completed after 7/1/02 and also allows the town to fix the assessment at less than full amount. Applies only to a permanent electric generating facilities that filed applications with the Connecticut Siting Council between 1/1/02 and 3/31/02. |
Emergency Certification |
02-4, May 9 Special Session, § 18 |
700 |
Allows renewal of defense-dependent municipality designation for two two-year periods rather than one. Designation gives manufacturing facilities in town property tax exemptions for non-defense economic development projects and entitles the town to a state grant equal to 50% of lost revenue. |
Emergency Certification |
02-5, May 9 Special Session, § 15 |
701 |
For FY 2003, expands the Adriaen’s Landing housing projects that qualify for property tax benefits from those receiving a minimum of $ 5 million in CCEDA funding to a minimum of $ 3 million. |
Emergency Certification |
2003 | |||
03-44 |
5264 |
(1) Increases maximum income levels for local option veterans’ property tax exemption. (2) Allows towns to exempt up to 10% of the property’s value instead of a maximum of $ 10,000. |
Planning & Development |
03-234 |
5215 |
Creates a local option exemption for up to $ 100,000 of assessed value of farm buildings other than a farmer’s house. |
Planning & Development |
03-269 |
1098 |
Extends exemption to one leased passenger vehicle for active duty armed forces members, wartime and disabled veterans, and others eligible. |
Finance, Revenue & Bonding |
03-270 |
1099 |
Establishes property tax exemption for temporary housing owned by nonprofit charity and used for specified purposes. |
Finance, Revenue & Bonding |
2004 | |||
04-40 |
600 |
Allows active duty service members or veterans to keep receiving certain veteran’s property tax exemptions when they move to a different town during the assessment year. |
Finance, Revenue & Bonding |
04-115 |
5588 |
Makes several changes in how forestland qualifies for 490 tax relief. |
House Amendment “A” (LCO 3025) |
04-241 |
62 |
Expands optional property tax relief for certain volunteers to include volunteer canine search and rescue teams. |
Public Safety |
04-2, May Special Session, §§ 76 & 77 |
5801 |
Retroactively restores the mandatory $ 1,000 property tax exemption for the disabled that was suspended for 2003. |
Emergency Certification |
JL/KM/JR: ro/ts