Projo Biz Blog

Sasse said it was "premature" to say whether Carcieri would recommend proposals for tax cuts, but he added, "Tax reform is a possibility." Sasse did not provide details.

Carcieri's tax-reform panel, in its final report issued in March, proposed a number of changes, including elimination of the corporate income tax, a reduction of the individual income tax's top marginal rate, and an increase in the Rhode Island estate tax's exemption amount. Certain of the panel's proposals were eventually adopted, but most were not.

Costantino asked on Wednesday whether any tax-reform proposals would be revenue-neutral - in other words, whether in the aggregate the proposals would neither increase nor decrease state tax revenue. Sasse replied, "We haven't finished our work on that."

Sasse also said that Carcieri wants to improve Rhode Island's competitiveness from a tax standpoint, but added that it would be premature to discuss specifics.

Sasse also told the committee that "aggressive steps are being taken administratively" to collect delinquent state taxes.

At a recent Senate Finance Committee meeting, Sasse presented a report which said that the Department of Revenue has collected about $3.7 million in back taxes through a special computer, called a data warehouse, as of Sept. 30.

Overall, the agency has identified, through use of the data warehouse, more than 14,700 cases involving potential under-reporting or non-payment of taxes, which could result in about $23 million in potential tax assessments, according to the report.