Opinion ID: 1292946
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: summary of referred legislation

Text: According to the briefs of the parties, the measure repeals an existing exemption from state taxation of PERS payments but provides a compensating benefit to PERS members which once a year pays the members the amount which they have paid in taxes, because of the former exemption's repeal, with interest. A currently available state exclusion from income, subtracted from income to compute the taxable amount, is also modified in several ways so that federal, state, and local public agency retirees may exclude up to $5,000 of retirement income from taxable income if they meet a gross income test. A trust account is established to pay PERS retirees the annual benefit. An $18 million dollar payment from the general fund is deposited in the trust account but the public agencies which employed the affected state and local PERS members are obligated to ultimately pay the new benefit through the trust account. A task force is created to recommend to the legislature what to do after 1990.