COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH

OVERSIGHT DIVISION



FISCAL NOTE



L.R. No.: 0379-01

Bill No.: SB 45

Subject: Children and Minors; Family Services Division; Revenue Dept.; Social Services Dept.; Taxation and Revenue-Income

Type: Original

Date: January 15, 2001




FISCAL SUMMARY



ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON STATE FUNDS
FUND AFFECTED FY 2002 FY 2003 FY 2004
General Revenue ($68,971) ($420,292) ($437,104)
Total Estimated

Net Effect on All

State Funds

($68,971) ($420,292) ($437,104)



ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON FEDERAL FUNDS
FUND AFFECTED FY 2002 FY 2003 FY 2004
Total Estimated

Net Effect on All

Federal Funds

$0 $0 $0



ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON LOCAL FUNDS
FUND AFFECTED FY 2002 FY 2003 FY 2004
Local Government $0 $0 $0

Numbers within parentheses: ( ) indicate costs or losses.

This fiscal note contains 3 pages.

FISCAL ANALYSIS



ASSUMPTION



Officials of the Office of Administration (COA) - Budget and Planning (BAP) state this bill will allow foster parents that care for a child for at least 10 months out of the calendar year to claim the dependent deduction. According to the Department of Social Services, in 2000 there were 18,186 children in foster care in Missouri and 5,397 of these stayed with the same family for a least 10 months. The dependency deduction is $1,200 and a marginal tax rate of 6% is assumed. Since this proposal does not have an effective date the Department of Revenue indicate that the deduction would not go into effect until tax year 2002. A 4% annual growth rate is assumed.



Officials of the Department of Revenue (DOR) state this legislation authorizes a foster parent to claim a dependency deduction on their state income tax return for foster children in their custody at least ten months.



The number of taxpayers eligible to take this deduction is unknown at this time. The Division of Taxation anticipates this deduction will increase the processing time for tax returns by at least 10 seconds. One temporary tax season employee (a cost of $6,067) for every 150,000 returns filed claiming this deduction (key entry) and one Tax Processing Tech I for every 4,000 pieces of correspondence received regarding the credit will be needed. The Division of Taxation will also need one Tax Processing Tech I for every 20,000 additional errors generated by this legislation.



This legislation will require modifications, including edits to the individual income tax systems. The Division of Taxation estimates these modifications, including programming changes, will require 1,730 hours of contract labor, at a cost of $57,713. State Data Center implementation costs will be $11,258. Modifications to the income tax returns and schedules will be completed with existing resources.



Officials of the Department of Social Services (DOS) assume this proposal would not fiscally impact their agency.





FISCAL IMPACT - State Government FY 2002

(6 Mo.)

FY 2003 FY 2004
GENERAL REVENUE FUND



Loss - General Revenue Fund

Dependency exemption for qualified foster child





$0




($420,292)




($437,104)


Cost - Department of Revenue

Reprogramming costs





($68,971)




$0




$0
ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON

GENERAL REVENUE FUND



($68,971)


($420,292)


($437,104)




FISCAL IMPACT - Local Government FY 2002

(6 Mo.)

FY 2003 FY 2004
$0 $0 $0

FISCAL IMPACT - Small Business



No direct fiscal impact to small businesses would be expected as a result of this proposal.



DESCRIPTION



This act allows foster parents to receive a dependency exemption on their state income tax returns. Section 143.161 currently describes who is entitled to a dependency exemption. A new subsection is added to waive the fifty percent support threshold for foster parents if any foster child has lived within the home for at least ten months of the year.



This legislation is not federally mandated, would not duplicate any other program and would not require additional capital improvements or rental space.



This legislation will decrease Total State Revenues.



SOURCES OF INFORMATION



Office of Administration - Budget and Planning

Department of Revenue

Department of Social Services





Jeanne Jarrett, CPA

Director

January 15, 2001