House Bill No. 6959
               House Bill No. 6959

              SPECIAL ACT NO. 97-19


AN  ACT  ESTABLISHING  A  SALES  AND USE TAX STUDY
COMMITTEE.


    Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and House of
Representatives in General Assembly convened:
    (a)  The  Department of Revenue Services shall
establish a committee to review,  study  and  make
recommendations to the General Assembly concerning
the state laws governing sales and use taxes.  The
committee  shall  consist of: (1) The chairpersons
and  ranking  members  of   the   joint   standing
committee   of   the   General   Assembly   having
cognizance of matters relating to finance, revenue
and  bonding,  or  their designees; (2) one member
appointed by each of the following: The  Governor,
the  president  pro  tempore  of  the  Senate, the
speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  the
majority leader of the Senate, the majority leader
of the  House  of  Representatives,  the  minority
leader  of  the  House  of Representatives and the
minority  leader  of  the  Senate;  and  (3)   the
Commissioner of Revenue Services, or his designee,
and  two   additional   representatives   of   the
department  appointed  by  the  commissioner.  All
appointments shall  be  made  within  thirty  days
after  July  1,  1997. The commissioner shall call
the initial meeting of the committee, at which the
committee  shall elect one of its members to serve
as chairperson.
    (b)  The  committee  shall  study and evaluate
the general statutes and the  regulations  adopted
thereunder  concerning  sales  and  use  taxes and
shall recommend revisions necessary to update  and
clarify  the  general  statutes and make them more
understandable and  user-friendly.  The  committee
shall  also  engage in an analysis of the history,
rationale  and  estimated  revenue  loss  for  tax
expenditures  under  the  sales  and  use tax, and
shall recommend revisions necessary to change  the
tax by eliminating or changing redundant, obsolete
or unnecessary tax expenditures.
    (c)  The  committee  shall report to the joint
standing committee of the General Assembly  having
cognizance  of matters relating to finance revenue
and bonding no later than  February  1,  1998,  in
accordance  with  section  11-4a  of  the  general
statutes.

Approved June 27, 1997