STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2222
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2006
RE: S.B. No. 3274
S.D. 1
Honorable Robert Bunda
President of the Senate
Twenty-Third State Legislature
Regular Session of 2006
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committees on Human Services and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 3274 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LONG-TERM CARE REFUNDABLE CAREGIVER TAX CREDIT,"
beg leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to provide a refundable caregiver tax credit to eligible caregivers who care for qualified care recipients.
Your Committees received testimony in support of the measure from the Faith Action for Community Equity Public Health Committee, the Hawaii Alliance for Retired Americans (HARA), and the Policy Advisory Board for Elder Affairs (PABEA). Your Committees received comments on the measure from the Department of Taxation and TaxBill Service.
Family care providers provide an invaluable service to the relatives for whom they provide care. Your Committees find that family caregivers either assist relatives so they can remain in their own homes, or provide care for a family member who lives with the care provider.
Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:
(1) Adding a definition of "qualified care recipient" that allows the tax credit to be claimed for the care of a care recipient who has resided with the taxpayer for over six months in a taxable year or for a care recipient who has received over fifty per cent of the care recipient's financial support from the taxpayer;
(2) Amending the definition of "eligible taxpayer" to include an adjusted gross income limitation of fifty thousand dollars;
(3) Clarifying that the tax credit is refundable;
(4) Removing inapplicable provisions relating to the recapture of tax credits; and
(5) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and style.
As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3274, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3274, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Health,
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____________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair |
____________________________ SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair |
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