Imposes a corporate welfare tax on large employers equal to one hundred percent of the qualified federal benefits received by its employees for the taxable year and prohibits discrimination against job applicants who receive federal benefits.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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7089
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
April 5, 2019
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ORTIZ -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Ways and Means
AN ACT to amend the tax law, in relation to the imposition of a corpo-
rate welfare tax; and to amend the labor law, in relation to prohibit-
ing discrimination against individuals receiving federal benefits
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The tax law is amended by adding a new article 9-B to read
2 as follows:
3 ARTICLE 9-B
4 CORPORATE WELFARE TAX
5 Section 230. Definitions.
6 231. Imposition of tax.
7 232. Returns and payment of tax.
8 233. Deposit and disposition of revenue.
9 § 230. Definitions. For purposes of this article, the term:
10 1. "Large employer" shall mean, with respect to a calendar year, an
11 employer who employed an average of at least five hundred employees on
12 business days during the preceding calendar year and has an officer,
13 agent, trustee or representative within the state. For the purposes of
14 determining employer size:
15 (a) All persons treated as a single employer under subsections (b),
16 (c), (m), or (o) of section four hundred fourteen of the Internal Reven-
17 ue Code of 1986 shall be treated as 1 employer.
18 (b) In the case of an employer which was not in existence throughout
19 the preceding calendar year, the determination of whether such employer
20 is a large employer shall be based on the average number of employees
21 that it is reasonably expected such employer will employ on business
22 days in the current calendar year as determined by the commissioner.
23 (c) Any reference in this article to an employer shall include a
24 reference to any predecessor of such employer.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10717-01-9
A. 7089 2
1 2. "Qualified employee benefits" shall mean, with respect to a person
2 for a taxable year, the sum of the qualified federal benefits received
3 by individuals who are employees of such person for such taxable year.
4 3. "Qualified federal benefits" shall mean, with respect to an indi-
5 vidual, the following:
6 (a) The dollar value of supplemental nutrition assistance for which
7 the household, as defined in section 3(m) of the Food and Nutrition Act
8 of 2008, that includes such individual is eligible;
9 (b) The dollar value of meals that such individual or dependents of
10 such individual are eligible for under the school lunch program under
11 the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act and the school break-
12 fast program under section four of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966;
13 (c) The aggregate amount of the monthly assistance payments for rental
14 of a dwelling unit that the household of such individual is a member of
15 is eligible to have made on its behalf pursuant to section eight of the
16 United States Housing Act of 1937; and
17 (d) The amount of payments made under section 1903 of the Social Secu-
18 rity Act with respect to expenditures made by a state under a state
19 medicaid plan under title XIX of such Act, or a waiver of such plan, for
20 medical assistance for such individual or for dependents of such indi-
21 vidual.
22 4. "Employee" shall mean:
23 (a) any full-time or part-time employee;
24 (b) any individual who is a full-time or part-time independent
25 contractor, including any employee of such independent contractor, and
26 provides services to the employer, unless:
27 (i) the individual is free from control and direction in connection
28 with the performance of the service, both under the contract for the
29 performance of service and in fact;
30 (ii) the service is performed outside the usual course of the business
31 of the employer; and
32 (iii) the individual is customarily engaged in an independently estab-
33 lished trade, occupation, profession, or business of the same nature as
34 that involved in the service performed; and
35 (c) any individual who is a full-time or part-time joint employee,
36 provided that the employer possesses, reserves, or exercises sufficient
37 direct or indirect control over the essential terms and conditions of
38 employment of such employee.
39 § 231. Imposition of tax. Notwithstanding any other provision of this
40 chapter, or of any other law, for taxable years beginning on and after
41 January first, two thousand twenty, an annual tax is hereby imposed on
42 every taxpayer who is a large employer equal to one hundred percent of
43 the qualified employee benefits with respect to such taxpayer for such
44 taxable year.
45 § 232. Returns and payment of tax. 1. Every taxpayer subject to tax
46 under this article shall, on or before the fifteenth day of the fifth
47 month following the close of each of its taxable years, make and file a
48 return with the tax commission setting forth such information as the tax
49 commission may prescribe. Every taxpayer which ceases to be subject to
50 the tax imposed by this article shall make and file a return with the
51 tax commission on the date of such cessation, or at such other time
52 which the tax commission may require, covering each taxable year or
53 period for which no return was theretofore filed, setting forth such
54 information as the tax commission may require. Every taxpayer shall also
55 file such other returns and furnish such other facts and information as
56 the tax commission may require in the administration of this article.
A. 7089 3
1 2. The tax imposed by section two hundred thirty-one of this article
2 shall be payable to the tax commission in full at the time the return is
3 required to be filed. Such tax imposed on any taxpayer which ceases to
4 be subject to the tax imposed by this article shall be payable to the
5 tax commission at the time the return is required to be filed and all
6 other taxes of any such taxpayer, which pursuant to the provisions of
7 this section would otherwise be payable subsequent to the time such
8 return is required to be filed, shall nevertheless be payable at such
9 time.
10 3. The tax commission may grant a reasonable extension of time for
11 filing a return or for payment of a tax imposed by this article under
12 such conditions as it deems just and proper.
13 § 233. Deposit and disposition of revenue. All taxes, interest and
14 penalties collected or received by the tax commission under this article
15 shall be deposited and disposed of pursuant to the provisions of section
16 one hundred seventy-one-a of this chapter.
17 § 2. The labor law is amended by adding a new section 215-d to read as
18 follows:
19 § 215-d. Protection of individuals receiving federal benefits. No
20 employer, public or private, or such employer's duly authorized agent
21 shall make inquiries of an applicant for employment, or otherwise seek
22 information about such an applicant, including through the use of any
23 form or application, relating to whether such applicant receives federal
24 benefits.
25 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.