[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 12, Volume 1]
[Revised as of January 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 42CFR433.68]

[Page 79-82]
 
                         TITLE 42--PUBLIC HEALTH
 
  CHAPTER IV--CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF 
                 HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES--(Continued)
 
PART 433--STATE FISCAL ADMINISTRATION--Table of Contents
 
     Subpart B--General Administrative Requirements State Financial 
                              Participation
 
Sec. 433.68  Permissible health care-related taxes after the transition period.

    (a) General rule. Beginning on the day after a State's transition 
period, as defined in Sec. 433.58(b), ends, a State may receive health 
care-related taxes, without a reduction in FFP, only in accordance with 
the requirements of this section.
    (b) Permissible health care-related taxes. Subject to the 
limitations specified in Sec. 433.70, a State may receive, without a 
reduction in FFP, health care-related taxes if all of the following are 
met:
    (1) The taxes are broad based, as specified in paragraph (c) of this 
section;
    (2) The taxes are uniformly imposed throughout a jurisdiction, as 
specified in paragraph (d) of this section; and
    (3) The tax program does not violate the hold harmless provisions 
specified in paragraph (f) of this section.
    (c) Broad based health care-related taxes. (1) A health care-related 
tax will be considered to be broad based if the tax is imposed on at 
least all health care items or services in the class or providers of 
such items or services furnished by all non-Federal, non-public 
providers in the State, and is imposed uniformly, as specified in 
paragraph (d) of this section.
    (2) If a health care-related tax is imposed by a unit of local 
government, the tax must extend to all items or services or providers 
(or to all providers in a class) in the area over which the unit of 
government has jurisdiction.
    (3) A State may request a waiver from CMS of the requirement that a 
tax program be broad based, in accordance with the procedures specified 
in Sec. 433.72. Waivers from the uniform and broad-based requirements 
will automatically be granted in cases of variations in licensing and 
certification fees for providers if the amount of such fees is not more 
than $1,000 annually per provider and the total amount raised by the 
State from the fees is used in the administration of the licensing or 
certification program.
    (d) Uniformly imposed health care-related taxes. A health care-
related tax will be considered to be imposed uniformly even if it 
excludes Medicaid or Medicare payments (in whole or in part), or both; 
or, in the case of a health care-related tax based on revenues or 
receipts with respect to a class of items or services (or providers of 
items or services), if it excludes either Medicaid or Medicare revenues 
with respect to a class of items or services, or both. The exclusion of 
Medicaid revenues must be applied uniformly to all providers being 
taxed.
    (1) A health care-related tax will be considered to be imposed 
uniformly if it meets any one of the following criteria:
    (i) If the tax is a licensing fee or similar tax imposed on a class 
of health care services (or providers of those health care items or 
services), the tax is the same amount for every provider furnishing 
those items or services within the class.
    (ii) If the tax is a licensing fee or similar tax imposed on a class 
of health care items or services (or providers of those items or 
services) on the basis of the number of beds (licensed or otherwise) of 
the provider, the amount of the tax is the same for each bed of each 
provider of those items or services in the class.
    (iii) If the tax is imposed on provider revenue or receipts with 
respect to a class of items or services (or providers of those health 
care items or services), the tax is imposed at a uniform rate for all 
services (or providers of those items or services) in the class on all 
the gross revenues or receipts, or on net operating revenues relating to 
the provision of all items or services in the State, unit, or 
jurisdiction. Net operating revenue means gross charges of facilities 
less any deducted amounts

[[Page 80]]

for bad debts, charity care, and payer discounts.
    (iv) The tax is imposed on items or services on a basis other than 
those specified in paragraphs (d)(1) (i) through (iii) of this section, 
e.g., an admission tax, and the State establishes to the satisfaction of 
the Secretary that the amount of the tax is the same for each provider 
of such items or services in the class.
    (2) A tax imposed with respect to a class of health care items or 
services will not be considered to be imposed uniformly if it meets 
either one of the following two criteria:
    (i) The tax provides for credits, exclusions, or deductions which 
have as its purpose, or results in, the return to providers of all, or a 
portion, of the tax paid, and it results, directly or indirectly, in a 
tax program in which--
    (A) The net impact of the tax and payments is not generally 
redistributive, as specified in paragraph (e) of this section; and
    (B) The amount of the tax is directly correlated to payments under 
the Medicaid program.
    (ii) The tax holds taxpayers harmless for the cost of the tax, as 
described in paragraph (f) of this section.
    (3) If a tax does not meet the criteria specified in paragraphs 
(d)(1)(i) through (iv) of this section, but the State establishes that 
the tax is imposed uniformly in accordance with the procedures for a 
waiver specified in Sec. 433.72, the tax will be treated as a uniform 
tax.
    (e) Generally redistributive. A tax will be considered to be 
generally redistributive if it meets the requirements of this paragraph. 
If the State desires waiver of only the broad-based tax requirement, it 
must demonstrate compliance with paragraph (e)(1) of this section. If 
the State desires waiver of the uniform tax requirement, whether or not 
the tax is broad-based, it must demonstrate compliance with paragraph 
(e)(2) of this section.
    (1) Waiver of broad-based requirement only. This test is applied on 
a per class basis to a tax that is imposed on all revenues but excludes 
certain providers. For example, a tax that is imposed on all revenues 
(including Medicare and Medicaid) but excludes teaching hospitals would 
have to meet this test. This test cannot be used when a State excludes 
any or all Medicaid revenue from its tax in addition to the exclusion of 
providers, since the test compares the proportion of Medicaid revenue 
being taxed under the proposed tax with the proportion of Medicaid 
revenue being taxed under a broad-based tax.
    (i) A State seeking waiver of the broad-based tax requirement only 
must demonstrate that its proposed tax plan meets the requirement that 
its plan is generally redistributive by:
    (A) Calculating the proportion of the tax revenue applicable to 
Medicaid if the tax were broad based and applied to all providers or 
activities within the class (called P1);
    (B) Calculating the proportion of the tax revenue applicable to 
Medicaid under the tax program for which the State seeks a waiver 
(called P2); and
    (C) Calculating the value of P1/P2.
    (ii) If the State demonstrates to the Secretary's satisfaction that 
the value of P1/P2 is at least 1, CMS will automatically approve the 
waiver request.
    (iii) If a tax is enacted and in effect prior to August 13, 1993, 
and the State demonstrates to the Secretary's satisfaction that the 
value of P1/P2 is at least 0.90, CMS will review the waiver request. 
Such a waiver will be approved only if the following two criteria are 
met:
    (A) The value of P1/P2 is at least 0.90; and
    (B) The tax excludes or provides credits or deductions only to one 
or more of the following providers of items and services within the 
class to be taxed:
    (1) Providers that furnish no services within the class in the 
State;
    (2) Providers that do not charge for services within the class;
    (3) Rural hospitals (defined as any hospital located outside of an 
urban area as defined in Sec. 412.62(f)(1)(ii) of this chapter);
    (4) Sole community hospitals as defined in Sec. 412.92(a) of this 
chapter;
    (5) Physicians practicing primarily in medically underserved areas 
as defined in section 1302(7) of the Public Health Service Act;
    (6) Financially distressed hospitals if:

[[Page 81]]

    (i) A financially distressed hospital is defined by the State law;
    (ii) The State law specifies reasonable standards for determining 
financially distressed hospitals, and these standards are applied 
uniformly to all hospitals in the State; and
    (iii) No more than 10 percent of nonpublic hospitals in the State 
are exempt from the tax;
    (7) Psychiatric hospitals; or
    (8) Hospitals owned and operated by HMOs.
    (iv) If a tax is enacted and in effect after August 13, 1993, and 
the State demonstrates to the Secretary's satisfaction that the value of 
P1/P2 is at least 0.95, CMS will review the waiver request. Such a 
waiver request will be approved only if the following two criteria are 
met:
    (A) The value of P1/P2 is at least 0.95; and
    (B) The tax complies with the provisions of Sec. 
433.68(e)(1)(iii)(B).
    (2) Waiver of uniform tax requirement. This test is applied on a per 
class basis to all taxes that are not uniform. This includes those taxes 
that are neither broad based (as specified in Sec. 433.68(c)) nor 
uniform (as specified in Sec. 433.68(d)).
    (i) A State seeking waiver of the uniform tax requirement (whether 
or not the tax is broad based) must demonstrate that its proposed tax 
plan meets the requirement that its plan is generally redistributive by:
    (A) Calculating, using ordinary least squares, the slope (designated 
as (B) (that is. the value of the x coefficient) of two linear 
regressions, in which the dependent variable is each provider's 
percentage share of the total tax paid by all taxpayers during a 12-
month period, and the independent variable is the taxpayer's ``Medicaid 
Statistic''. The term ``Medicaid Statistic'' means the number of the 
provider's taxable units applicable to the Medicaid program during a 12-
month period. If, for example, the State imposed a tax based on provider 
charges, the amount of a provider's Medicaid charges paid during a 12-
month period would be its ``Medicaid Statistic''. If the tax were based 
on provider inpatient days, the number of the provider's Medicaid days 
during a 12-month period would be its ``Medicaid Statistic''. For the 
purpose of this test, it is not relevant that a tax program exempts 
Medicaid from the tax.
    (B) Calculating the slope (designated as B1) of the linear 
regression, as described in paragraph (e)(2)(i) of this section, for the 
State's tax program, if it were broad based and uniform.
    (C) Calculating the slope (designated as B2) of the linear 
regression, as described in paragraph (e)(2)(i) of this section, for the 
State's tax program, as proposed.
    (ii) If the State demonstrates to the Secretary's satisfaction that 
the value of B1/B2 is at least 1, CMS will automatically approve the 
waiver request.
    (iii) If the State demonstrates to the Secretary's satisfaction that 
the value of B1/B2 is at least 0.95, CMS will review the waiver request. 
Such a waiver will be approved only if the following two criteria are 
met:
    (A) The value of B1/B2 is at least 0.95; and
    (B) The tax excludes or provides credits or deductions only to one 
or more of the following providers of items and services within the 
class to be taxes:
    (1) Providers that furnish no services within the class in the 
State;
    (2) Providers that do not charge for services within the class;
    (3) Rural hospitals (defined as any hospital located outside of an 
urban area as defined in Sec. 412.62(f)(1)(ii) of this chapter;
    (4) Sole community hospitals as defined in Sec. 412.92(a) of this 
chapter;
    (5) Physicians practicing primarily in medically underserved areas 
as defined in section 1302(7) of the Public Health Service Act;
    (6) Financially distressed hospitals if:
    (i) A financially distressed hospital is defined by the State law;
    (ii) The State law specifies reasonable standards for determining 
financially distressed hospitals, and these standards are applied 
uniformly to all hospitals in the State; and
    (iii) No more than 10 percent of nonpublic hospitals in the State 
are exempt from the tax;
    (7) Psychiatric hospitals; or
    (8) Providers or payers with tax rates that vary based exclusively 
on regions, but only if the regional variations are coterminous with 
preexisting political

[[Page 82]]

(and not special purpose) boundaries. Taxes within each regional 
boundary must meet the broad-based and uniformity requirements as 
specified in paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section.
    (iv) A B1/B2 value of 0.70 will be applied to taxes that vary based 
exclusively on regional variations, and enacted and in effect prior to 
November 24, 1992, to permit such variations.
    (f) Hold harmless. A taxpayer will be considered to be held harmless 
under a tax program if any of the following conditions applies:
    (1) The State (or other unit of government) imposing the tax 
provides directly or indirectly for a non-Medicaid payment to those 
providers or others paying the tax and the amount of the payment is 
positively correlated to either the amount of the tax or to the 
difference between the Medicaid payment and the total tax cost.
    (2) All or any portion of the Medicaid payment to the taxpayer 
varies based only on the amount of the total tax payment.
    (3) The State (or other unit of local government) imposing the tax 
provides, directly or indirectly, for any payment, offset, or waiver 
that guarantees to hold taxpayers harmless for all or a portion of the 
tax.
    (i) An indirect guarantee will be determined to exist under a two 
prong ``guarantee'' test. This specific hold harmless test is effective 
September 13, 1993. In this instance, if the health care-related tax or 
taxes on each health care class are applied at a rate that produces 
revenues less than or equal to 6 percent of the revenues received by the 
taxpayer, the tax or taxes are permissible under this test. When the tax 
or taxes are applied at a rate that produces revenues in excess of 6 
percent of the revenue received by the taxpayer, CMS will consider a 
hold harmless provision to exist if 75 percent or more of the taxpayers 
in the class receive 75 percent or more of their total tax costs back in 
enhanced Medicaid payments or other State payments. The second prong of 
the hold harmless test is applied in the aggregate to all health care 
taxes applied to each class. If this standard is violated, the amount of 
tax revenue to be offset from medical assistance expenditures is the 
total amount of the taxpayers' revenues received by the State.
    (ii) If, as of August 13, 1993, a State has enacted a tax in excess 
of 6 percent that does not meet the requirements in paragraph (f)(3)(i) 
of this section, CMS will not disallow funds received by the State 
resulting from the tax if the State modifies the tax to comply with this 
requirement by September 13, 1993. If, by September 13, 1993, the tax is 
not modified, funds received by States on or after September 13, 1993 
will be disallowed.

[57 FR 55138, Nov. 24, 1992, as amended at 58 FR 43181, Aug. 13, 1993; 
62 FR 53572, Oct. 15, 1997]