CHAPTER 772
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 34
Proposing an amendment to Section 8 of Article X of the Constitution of Virginia, relating to limit of tax or revenue and the Revenue Stabilization Fund.
Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 2, 2010
Agreed to by the Senate, February 26, 2010
WHEREAS, a proposed amendment to the Constitution of Virginia, hereinafter set forth, was agreed to by a majority of the members elected to each of the two houses of the General Assembly at the regular session of 2009 and referred to this, the next regular session held after the 2009 general election of members of the House of Delegates, as required by the Constitution of Virginia; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the following amendment to the Constitution of Virginia be, and the same hereby is, proposed in conformity with the provisions of Section 1 of Article XII of the Constitution of Virginia, namely:
Amend Section 8 of Article X of the Constitution of Virginia as follows:
ARTICLE X
TAXATION AND FINANCE
Section 8. Limit of tax or revenue; Revenue Stabilization Fund.
No other or greater amount of tax or revenues shall, at any time, be levied than may be required for the necessary expenses of the government, or to pay the indebtedness of the Commonwealth.
The General Assembly shall establish the Revenue Stabilization
Fund. The Fund shall consist of an amount not to exceed ten fifteen
percent of the Commonwealth's average annual tax revenues derived from taxes on
income and retail sales as certified by the Auditor of Public Accounts for the
three fiscal years immediately preceding. The Auditor of Public Accounts shall
compute the ten fifteen percent limitation of such fund annually
and report to the General Assembly not later than the first day of December.
"Certified tax revenues" means the Commonwealth's annual tax
revenues derived from taxes on income and retail sales as certified by the
Auditor of Public Accounts.
The General Assembly shall make deposits to the Fund to equal
at least fifty percent of the product of the certified tax revenues collected
in the most recently ended fiscal year times the difference between the annual
percentage increase in the certified tax revenues collected for the most
recently ended fiscal year and the average annual percentage increase in the
certified tax revenues collected in the six fiscal years immediately preceding
the most recently ended fiscal year. However, growth in certified tax revenues,
which is the result of either increases in tax rates on income or retail sales
or the repeal of exemptions therefrom, may be excluded, in whole or in part, from
the computation immediately preceding for a period of time not to exceed six
calendar years from the calendar year in which such tax rate increase or
exemption repeal was effective. Additional appropriations may be made at any
time so long as the ten fifteen percent limitation established
herein is not exceeded. All interest earned on the Fund shall be part
thereof; however, if the Fund's balance exceeds the limitation, the amount in
excess of the limitation shall be paid into the general fund after appropriation
by the General Assembly.
The General Assembly may appropriate an amount for transfer from the Fund to compensate for no more than one-half of the difference between the total general fund revenues appropriated and a revised general fund revenue forecast presented to the General Assembly prior to or during a subsequent regular or special legislative session. However, no transfer shall be made unless the general fund revenues appropriated exceed such revised general fund revenue forecast by more than two percent of certified tax revenues collected in the most recently ended fiscal year. Furthermore, no appropriation or transfer from such fund in any fiscal year shall exceed more than one-half of the balance of the Revenue Stabilization Fund. The General Assembly may enact such laws as may be necessary and appropriate to implement the Fund.