Senate Bill No. 229 Summary

• Counties may exempt business personal property from property taxation either through a majority vote ordinance by the county fiscal body or through a local public question approved by county voters (after December 31, 2012).

• The Department of State Revenue must separately account for sales tax collections from counties with business personal property exemptions, and the State Treasurer shall distribute 5% of monthly sales tax collections to the county treasurer for distribution among taxing units.

• County treasurers must deposit received sales tax distributions in a special fund and apportion them among taxing units in proportion to their property tax levy reductions.

• The Department of Local Government Finance must reduce the maximum permissible property tax levy of each taxing unit by an amount equal to the property taxes on business personal property that would have been first due and payable in the year the exemption takes effect.

• The exemption applies uniformly to all business personal property in a county, does not require taxpayer applications, and becomes effective on the first assessment date following either ordinance adoption or voter approval.