STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2074

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2440

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Water, Land, and Agriculture, to which was referred S.B. No. 2440 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FARMS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to create an exclusion from income tax for the first $50,000 of income earned by farmers whose annual gross income is $200,000 or less.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Farm Bureau, Hawaii Cattlemens Council, and one individual.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Agriculture, Department of Taxation, and Tax Foundation of Hawaii.

 

     Your Committee finds that the growth of small, diversified farming businesses adds to and diversifies Hawaii's economy.  Your Committee finds that the creation of an exclusion from income tax for the first $50,000 of income earned for such businesses will encourage the growth of new, small, and diversified farming businesses, will not significantly affect tax collections by the State, and will improve the long-term economic well-being of the State.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Deleting the word "annual" from the term "annual gross income";

 

     (2)  Amending the term "farmer" to include gross income from the sale of farm products to customers in any location; and

 

     (3)  Defining the term "farm products" as production from agricultural activities described in section 205‑4.5(a)(1), (2), and (3), Hawaii Revised Statutes.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water, Land, and Agriculture that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2440, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2440, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water, Land, and Agriculture,

 

 

 

________________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair