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Municipal Revenue & Taxation <br />1-S Health Care Insurance Programs <br />Metro Cities supports legislative efforts to control health insurance costs, but opposes <br />actions that undermine local flexibility to manage rising insurance costs. Metro Cities <br />encourages a full examination of the rising costs of health care and the impacts on city <br />employers and employees. Metro Cities also supports a study of the fiscal impacts to <br />both cities and retirees of pooling retirees separately from active employees. <br />1-T State Budget Stability <br />Metro Cities strongly supports a state revenue system that provides for stability, <br />flexibility and adequacy in the system, reduces the volatility of state revenues and <br />improves the long- term balance of state revenues and expenditures. Metro Cities <br />supports a statutory budget reserve minimum that is adequate to manage risks and <br />fluctuations in the state's tax system and a cash flow reserve account of sufficient size so <br />that the state can avoid short term borrowing to manage cash flow fluctuations. <br />Metro Cities also supports an examination of the property tax system and the <br />relationships between state and local tax bases, with an emphasis on state budget cuts <br />and their impact on property taxes. State budget deficits must be balanced with statewide <br />sources and must not further reduce funding for property tax relief programs and aids to local <br />governments that result in local governments bearing more responsibility for the costs of <br />services that belong to the state. <br />1-U Taxation of Electronic Commerce <br />Metro Cities supports efforts to develop a streamlined sales and use tax system to <br />simplify sales and use tax collection and administration by retailers and states. Metro <br />Cities supports policies that encourage remote retailers to collect and remit state sales <br />taxes in states that are complying with the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement. <br />Metro Cities opposes legislation that allows accommodation intermediaries such as online <br />travel companies a tax exemption that terminates obligations to pay hotel taxes to state <br />and local governments, or otherwise restricts legal actions by states and localities. In 2011 <br />the Legislature clarified that these services are subject to state sales tax. Metro Cities <br />supports additional statutory changes to further clarify that all lodging taxes, whether <br />administered by the state or locally, apply to total charges, including charges for services <br />provided by accommodation intermediaries. <br />1-V Payments for Services to Tax Exempt Property <br />Metro Cities supports city authority to collect payments from tax exempt property <br />owners to cover the costs of services to those entities similar to statutory authority for <br />special assessments. Metro Cities opposes legislation that would exempt nonprofit <br />entities from paying user fees and service charges. <br />2018 Legislative Policies <br />8 <br />