54:10A-41 - Corporation Business Tax Study Commission
54:10A-41 Corporation Business Tax Study Commission.
31. a. There is established the Corporation Business Tax Study Commission, in but not of the Department of the Treasury, which shall conduct a continuous study and evaluation of the corporate tax law reforms adopted pursuant to P.L.2002, c.40, with specific reference to:
(1)whether the corporation business tax burden is fairly and equitably borne and distributed among corporations that are subject to the tax;
(2)whether profitable corporations doing business in New Jersey can avoid paying their fair share of taxes by using tax minimization or avoidance strategies that may include cross-border tax avoidance such as isolation of nexus-creating activities or the transfer of certain income to holding companies in low tax or tax haven jurisdictions, intragroup corporate transfer pricing techniques, use of special deductions or exclusions that manipulate income and costs between parent-subsidiary or affiliated companies that benefit large or multinational or multistate corporations over smaller businesses operating wholly within New Jersey;
(3)whether, without reducing anticipated revenues from that tax, the tax burden could be more fairly and equitably borne and distributed;
(4)whether the revenue and distributional impacts of the changes to the Corporation Business Tax Act (1945) enacted pursuant to P.L.2002, c.40 yield the recurring revenue goals that New Jersey must achieve to bring long-term structural balance to State finances; and
(5)whether New Jersey and its corporation business taxpayers would be better served by the use of a combined taxation under the unitary business concept.
b.The commission shall be composed of nine members as follows:
(1)two members, one appointed by each of the Senate Presidents;
(2)two members appointed by the Speaker of the General Assembly; and
(3)five members appointed by the Governor.
Each member shall be a resident of the State who has knowledge and expertise in the area of corporation income tax. Of the members appointed by the Governor, one shall be a member of the academic community, one shall be a certified public accountant, one shall be a member of the State tax bar, one shall represent large businesses, and one shall represent small businesses. The members appointed by the Speaker of the General Assembly shall not be members of the same political party, the members appointed by the Presidents of the Senate shall not be members of the same political party, and no more than three of the members appointed by the Governor shall be of the same political party.
c.Vacancies in the membership of the commission shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointments were made.
d.The members of the commission shall be appointed and shall hold their initial organizational meeting within 60 days after the enactment of this act. The members shall elect one of the members to serve as chair and the chair may appoint a secretary, who need not be a member of the commission. The members of the commission shall serve without compensation, but shall be eligible for reimbursement for necessary and reasonable expenses incurred in the performance of their official duties within the limits of funds made available to the commission for its purposes.
e.The commission shall meet at the call of the chair. The commission shall hold at least three public hearings and elicit testimony from the public at such times and places as the chair shall designate. A meeting of the commission shall be called upon the request of five of the commission's members and five members of the commission shall constitute a quorum at any meeting thereof.
f.The commission may employ and fix the compensation of an executive director, whose employment shall be in the unclassified service of the State. The executive director shall serve as secretary to the commission and carry out its policies under the direction of the chair.
g.The commission shall be entitled to call to its assistance and avail itself of the services of any State, county, or municipal department, board, bureau, commission or agency, as it may require and as may be available for its purposes, including the Director of the Division of Taxation, in the Department of the Treasury, who shall publish to the commission to the fullest extent possible under the confidentiality restrictions of R.S.54:50-9 such statistics, so classified as to prevent the identification of a particular report and the items thereof, as the commission may request, and the commission may employ stenographic and clerical assistance and incur traveling and other miscellaneous expenses as may be necessary in order to perform its duties, within the limits of funds appropriated or otherwise made available to it for its purposes.
h.The commission may meet and hold hearings at the places it designates during the sessions or recesses of the Legislature. The commission may issue interim reports and shall produce and provide a final report with findings and recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature, along with any legislative bills it desires to recommend for adoption by the Legislature, no later than December 30, 2003.
i.If the Director of the Division of Taxation determines that the final report of the commission has not been produced and provided by June 30, 2004, the director shall suspend the alternative minimum assessment determined pursuant to section 7 of P.L.2002, c.40 (C.54:10A-5a) for all privilege periods commencing after December 31, 2004. If, as a recommendation of its final report, the commission recommends the termination of the alternative minimum assessment imposed pursuant to section 7 of P.L.2002, c.40 (C.54:10A-5a), the assessment shall not be imposed for privilege periods beginning on or after January 1, 2005.
L.2002,c.40,s.31.