[Vision2020] Secret Tax Deals Legal, says Wasden

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (July 17, 2008) Spokesman Review -

--------------------------------------------------------------

Secret tax deals legal, says Wasden

Attorney General's 12-page response
http://tinyurl.com/AGResponse
(and attached)

BOISE – Idaho's attorney general has concluded there was nothing illegal 
about secret tax deals struck by the state Tax Commission with large 
multistate corporations to excuse them from paying part of their Idaho 
taxes.

Key lawmakers greeted Attorney General Lawrence Wasden's legal opinion 
with relief, but said they now need to examine whether Idaho's laws should 
be changed.

"We need to look at things we can do better – policies and procedures, 
transparency and accountability and all those things," said Idaho Senate 
Tax Chairman Brent Hill, R-Rexburg. "It's not a matter now of pointing 
blame."
 
The deals were revealed in a whistleblower's report submitted by a 
longtime state tax auditor, Stan Howland, who complained to the governor 
and the Legislature that the secret deals are so frequent that 
corporations routinely protest their taxes to get their "Idaho tax break."

The attorney general's 12-page review, by Steven L. Olsen, chief of the 
civil litigation division, examined only whether state law had been 
violated. It found that tax commissioners are empowered by law to settle 
tax cases, as they did in those cited by Howland. "Further, the 
confidentiality of the settlements is mandated by statute," Olsen wrote in 
the opinion.

Sen. Kate Kelly, D-Boise, who along with Hill requested the attorney 
general's review, said the opinion focused on "a very narrow question, 
which is, 'Did anything illegal happen?' I think it's helpful," she 
said. "But it of course leaves begging the question of whether or not the 
law underlying the actions that took place is the appropriate law." 

Kelly, an attorney, said she's particularly concerned about the level of 
confidentiality involved in the deals.

Howland's report suggested the settlements were illegal because taxpayers 
weren't required to pay all of what they owed.

"As a matter of law, the commission's discretion in regard to settlements 
is less constrained than Mr. Howland's complaint suggests," Olsen wrote.

Pending is a review by an independent auditor appointed by Gov. Butch 
Otter to review the Tax Commission's actions and the whistleblower's 
allegations.

In addition, Idaho's Legislative Services Office is gathering information 
for all legislators on how the commission's practices compare to other 
states'. That report will be complete by mid-August, Hill said.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Seeya at Farmers' Market, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 
"We're a town of about 23,000 with 10,000 college students. The college 
students are not very active in local elections (thank goodness!)."

- Dale Courtney (March 28, 2007)


---------------------------------------------
This message was sent by First Step Internet.
           http://www.fsr.com/
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 20080716_AG_tax_letter.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 1245359 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20080717/bf25ff5e/attachment-0001.pdf