Bill > SB561

This bill establishes a new "corporate low wage tax" imposed on large corporations (those with global gross income over one billion dollars) that pay employees a "low wage," defined as an hourly wage that, when multiplied by 2,080 hours, results in an income less than 200% of the federal poverty level for a family of three, and this tax is calculated at one dollar per hour for each low-wage hour worked. The revenue generated from this corporate low wage tax will be distributed to a newly created "preschool program fund," which will be administered by the Children, Youth and Families Department to support licensed preschool programs that provide early childhood developmental readiness services, with specific criteria for funding applications and program oversight, and this new tax will apply to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2015, while the provisions related to the preschool programs themselves will take effect on January 1, 2016.