Personal income taxes: voluntary contributions: Prevention of Animal Homelessness and Cruelty Fund.

Existing law allows an individual taxpayer to contribute amounts in excess of his or her personal income tax liability for the support of specified funds. This bill would allow an individual to designate on his or her tax return that a specified amount in excess of his or her tax liability be transferred to the Prevention of Animal Homelessness and Cruelty Fund, which would be created by this bill. The bill would require the Franchise Tax Board to revise the tax return form to include a space for the designation of contributions to the fund when another voluntary designation is removed from the form or there is space, whichever occurs first. This bill would require money contributed to the fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to be allocated to the Franchise Tax Board and the Controller for reimbursement of costs, as provided, and to the Department of Food and Agriculture for the development of a mechanism to provide ongoing public awareness through activities that will promote the charitable tax deduction for the fund and seek continued contributions and the distribution of grants on a competitive basis to, among others, a city, county, or city and county animal control agency or shelter, as specified, for the purpose of supporting spay and neuter activities by that entity to prevent and eliminate cat and dog homelessness. The bill would provide that these provisions would remain in effect only until January 1 of the 5th taxable year following the first appearance of the Prevention of Animal Homelessness and Cruelty Fund on the tax return, or January 1, 2022, whichever occurs first, but would further provide for an earlier repeal if the Franchise Tax Board determines that the amount of contributions estimated to be received during a calendar year will not at least equal the minimum contribution amount, as defined, for that calendar year, in which case these provisions would be repealed on December 1 of that year.