As WPRI.com recently reported, Rhode Island’s most recent tax credit disclosure report shows that the Rhode Island-based CVS Corporation received $15.6 million, or 87%, of the $17.9 million awarded through the state’s six major tax incentive programs. CVS’s largest tax break was a $14.5 million tax credit under the state’s Jobs Development Act, which reduces a company’s income tax bill if it increases employment.
Rhode Island’s Division of Taxation released the report under a 2008 law that requires it to annually report the names and addresses of those who received six state tax credits in the preceding year. Taxpayers that receive any of the six credits must also report any bonds, grants, loans, loan guarantees, matching funds, or tax credits they received from a state governmental entity or state or public agency during the preceding fiscal year.
Rhode Island is among 33 states that disclose information about recipients of at least one of their state business tax credits, exemptions, and other tax expenditures, according to a 2012 OLR report. But the format and online accessibility of the information varies widely.
This past session, the Connecticut legislature considered a bill that would have required the Department of Economic and Community Development to create online electronic databases allowing people to search, retrieve, and download data for the state’s economic assistance and tax credit programs (HB 6566). The bill passed the House, but died on the Senate Calendar at the end of the session.
