Economy & Business

Presented by Chris Sabick, Executive Director at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum.

For more information visit: eeevermont.org

Testimony of the Community Media Public Benefit Bill S.181 at the Senate Committee on Finance.

On Thursday, Senate Finance heard from Clare Buckley, Lobbyist for CTIA, the wireless industry association. Buckley presented an amendment to S.181 that CTIA requested to ensure that wireless providers would not be subject to the gross receipts tax on streaming providers. Later, Leg Counsel Kirby Keeton clarified that the definitions and language in draft 2.2 of S.181 should be sufficient to address the CTIA’s concerns. The Committee discussed voting on the bill, but decided to continue considering it until Friday.

S.181 Draft 2.2:
https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2024/WorkGroups/Senate%20Finance/Bills/S.181/Drafts,%20Amendments,%20and%20Legal%20Documents/S.181~Kirby%20Keeton~Draft%202.2,%203-13-2024~3-14-2024.pdf

Testimony of Gross Receipts Draft VAN Long Term Funding at the House Committee on Ways and Means.

On Wednesday, the House Ways & Means Committee took testimony on the HWM Committee Bill that would institute a 5% Gross Receipts Tax on internet streaming and satellite services to generate revenue for the Community Media Benefit Fund, that would then be appropriated annually to AMOs.

Kirby Keeton, legislative counsel, provided an update on two changes that were made in the current version of the bill (Draft 1.1). The version removes a specified penalty for those subject to the late filing or failing to file, instead leaving the penalty to the default under existing statute. Another change was to add a $1.1 million appropriation for the Department of Taxes to cover the cost of implementing a brand new tax. Jim Horwood, an attorney and one of the authors of the New York law on which the Committee bill is based, testified about what’s in the NY bill and why, and how that state’s context differs from Vermont. Lauren-Glenn Davitian provided testimony on the history of AMOs and the cable franchise fee in Vermont; on the revenue shortfall in the cable franchise fee system; and why the pole attachment tax is preferable to the gross receipts tax currently being considered. Committee questions focused on coverage - how to ensure communities not currently covered by cable districts can access PEG content equitably - and on the scale and extent of the revenue shortfall. Nancy Werner provided brief testimony on why the pole attachment tax is clean, legal, vetted, and easy to administer. She also noted the gross receipts tax in the current committee bill might run afoul of federal telecommunications law. Damon Stewart, Attorney with Dish Network and DIRECTV, testified in opposition to the bill on the basis that satellite providers do not access physical public infrastructure in the same way as cable companies, and also have their own PEG-like commitments under federal law, so a gross receipts tax would be discriminatory.

CCTV's Bobby Lussier interviews Stephanie Yu, Executive Director of Public Assets Institute about the State of Working Vermont Report from 2023.

From the report: "As in previous years, this report uses data from the U.S. Census—primarily one-year estimates from the American Community Survey—as indicators of Vermonters’ well-being. It also relies on data from the Vermont Department of Labor, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, and other sources. With Census indicators, we compare data from 2019, the most recent year unaffected by the Covid pandemic, with 2022 data, the most recent available. Where 2023 data are available from other sources, we have included them. The American Community Survey did not publish state-level estimates for 2020. And labor market statistics were hard to interpret as businesses closed and reopened. But by 2022 the data appear to reflect real trends rather than short-term, anomalous changes. This report also looks at how Vermont has been doing relative to other states. Where comparisons are useful, the report provides Vermont’s national rankings. A ranking of 1 is the best, with 50 being the worst."