Amendment #27 to H4165

Transformative Development Tax Credit

Representatives Cabral of New Bedford, Heroux of Attleboro, Keefe of Worcester, Koczera of New Bedford, Schmid of Westport, Vega of Holyoke and Farley-Bouvier of Pittsfield moves to amend the bill by inserting after section 73 the following section:

SECTION 74.The following is hereby added to chapter 62 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2012 Official Edition:

Section 6M. Transformative Development Tax Credits.

(a) For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly requires otherwise:

“Awardable tax credits” for each fiscal year shall be an amount equal to the lesser of $25,000,000 and ten per cent of the net funds transferred or appropriated in the previous fiscal year from the general fund, as established by section 2 of Chapter 29 of the General Laws, to the commonwealth stabilization fund, as established by section 2H of Chapter 29 of the General Laws, whenever such net funds shall have a value greater than zero.

“Fund director” is the director of the Transformative Development Fund within the Massachusetts development finance agency, as provided in section 46 of chapter 23G.

“Taxpayer” is a person, firm, partnership, trust, estate, limited liability company or other entity subject to the income tax imposed by the provisions of this chapter or chapter 63 of the General Laws.

“Transformative development” is defined pursuant to section 1 of chapter 23G of the General Laws.

(b) (1) There shall be an Transformative Development Tax Credit. The commissioner, in consultation with the fund director, shall authorize annually, for the 15 year period beginning January 1, 2015 and ending December 31, 2030, an amount of such Transformative Development Tax Credits equal to the amount of awardable tax credits as defined in this section. The commissioner, in consultation with the fund director, shall develop regulations to administer the Transformative Development Tax Credit program.

(2) A taxpayer awarded an Transformative Development Tax Credit pursuant to subsection (c) of this section shall be allowed a credit against any tax imposed by this chapter or chapter 63 of the General Laws; provided that the credit against such tax shall be equal to the number of Transformative Development Tax Credits the taxpayer has been awarded by the fund director and wishes to use in a taxable year.  The credit allowable under this section shall be allowed for any taxable year until 2031. A taxpayer awarded an Transformative Development Tax Credit, pursuant to subsection (c), of this section may, with prior notice to and in accordance with regulations adopted by the commissioner, transfer the credits, in whole or in part, to any individual or entity, and the transferee shall be entitled to apply the credits against its tax liability with the same effect as if the transferee had been awarded the Transformative Development Tax Credit.

(c) The fund director may award Transformative Development Tax Credits to taxpayers executing property development projects that the fund director has determined has the potential to constitute transformative development in a gateway municipality, as defined in section 3A of chapter 23A of the General Laws, in order to subsidize the cost of such development projects provided that, in no event shall such subsidy exceed fifty per cent of the cost of the project. The fund director, after consultation with the commissioner, shall determine annually the number of Transformative Development Tax Credits that shall be awarded based on the amount of awardable tax credits. In the event that the fund director chooses in any fiscal year to award an amount of Transformative Development Tax Credits that is less than the amount of awardable tax credits for that fiscal year, the difference between the amount of awardable tax credits and the awarded Transformative Development Tax Credits for such fiscal years shall be available to be awarded by the fund director in succeeding fiscal years.

(d) The executive director of the Massachusetts development finance agency shall adopt regulations and guidelines necessary to ensure that no single transformative development project receives more than thirty per cent of the Transformative Development Tax Credits awarded in a fiscal year and that no more than fifty per cent of the Transformative Development Tax Credits awarded in a fiscal year are awarded in the same gateway municipality, as defined in section 3A of chapter 23A of the General Laws.

(e) The Massachusetts development finance agency shall include the following information regarding the award of all Transformative Development Tax Credits in the report published by the agency pursuant to section 46(m) of chapter 23G of the General Laws: (i) the name of every taxpayer awarded an all Transformative Development Tax Credit and the location of the development for which such award was made; (ii) the amount of each Transformative Development Tax Credit awarded to a taxpayer and the percentage of total project costs such award represents; and (iii) a finding describing why each of the projects receiving an award of an Transformative Development Tax Credit constitutes a transformative development project.

Additional co-sponsor(s) added to Amendment #27 to H4165

Transformative Development Tax Credit