Income share agreements: postsecondary training: gross income exclusion.

Existing law prescribes the manner in which contracts or agreements may be created. The California Constitution prohibits usury, which is the loan or forbearance of any money, goods, or things at a rate of interest in excess of specified rates, but exempts certain transactions and lenders from these provisions, and allows the Legislature to exempt additional classes of person by statute. This bill would authorize an individual to enter into income share agreements with any person for payments to or on behalf of that individual for costs associated with a postsecondary training program or any other program designed to increase the individual's human capital, employability, or earning potential in exchange for agreeing to pay to the holder of the income share agreement, defined as the ISA funder, a specified percentage of the individual's future income, subject to certain terms and conditions, and would define terms for these purposes. The bill would exempt these income share agreements from the usury provision of the California Constitution. The Personal Income Tax Law imposes taxes upon taxable income and the Corporation Tax Law imposes taxes according to, measured by, or upon net income, as specified. Those laws generally define "gross income" as income from whatever source derived, except as specifically excluded, and provide various exclusions from gross income. This bill would provide an exclusion from gross income under the Personal Income Tax Law for payments made under an income share agreement to or on behalf of an individual who commits to pay a specified percentage of his or her future income, as provided. This bill would specify how payments of future income received by a holder of an income share agreement, as defined as the ISA funder, would be treated for purposes of calculation of gross income under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax.