House Bill 17-40 is now with the Senate, which wants to make sure that the proposed increases are reasonable, he added.
The measure would increase business license fees by 100 to 5,900 percent.
Manglona, Ind.-Rota, said they will also look into possibility of a gradual increase in license fees.
He recalled that the bicameral conference committee on the austerity bill was supposed to propose revenue generating measures.
The Senate’s version of the bill, H.B, 17-45, had revenue generating provisions.
The conference committee members agreed to propose a separate revenue generating measure.
“The Senate’s version of the austerity measure in the beginning focused on sin taxes. What the [House] passed did not touch that particular area. I wished they would focus on the sin taxes first,” Manglona said.
Aside from increasing the excise taxes on cigarettes and alcoholic beverages, the Senate also wanted to increase the poker fees.
