<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Re: Idaho tax commission scandal</TITLE>
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<DIV>T-</DIV>
<DIV>I am sharing your response to me with Moscow Vision 2020, since I included
V2020 in my original post.</DIV>
<DIV>Thanks for the update, and I am very pleased with your commitment to
resolving this issue</DIV>
<DIV>BL</DIV>
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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=ttrail@moscow.com
href="mailto:ttrail@moscow.com">Tom Trail</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, January 05, 2011 12:52 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=london@moscow.com href="mailto:london@moscow.com">Bill
London</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Re: Idaho tax commission scandal</DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV>Bill--This is a travesty. About four months ago I signed up with
Rep.</DIV>
<DIV>Ringo calling for an investigation (only one of two Republicans who
signed</DIV>
<DIV>on) of the activities of the Idaho Tax Commission. This request was
turned</DIV>
<DIV>down by the courts but another request backed by the IEA, AFT, and
several</DIV>
<DIV>school districts is now underway with the help of Bob Huntley. I've
indicated</DIV>
<DIV>that I'm willing to sign on in support as well.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I understand that Gov. Otter has a proposal that may be announced in
his</DIV>
<DIV>State of the State address. My information indicates it may be
patterned</DIV>
<DIV>after the Utah system (but I have no specific info on the proposal).
Rep.</DIV>
<DIV>Wendy Jaquet has drafted legislation patterned after the Montana system
which</DIV>
<DIV>professionalizes the Commission. I told her I would sign as a
co-sponsor</DIV>
<DIV>if she moves ahead with the legislation.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Anytime your have solid evidence of cronyism and favoritism plus
cutting</DIV>
<DIV>sweetheart deals with out of state companies and settling for 25 cents
on</DIV>
<DIV>the dollar major surgery is need.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Rep. Tom Trail</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite="" type="cite"><FONT size=+3 face="Times New Roman"><B>Open
letter to Tom Trail:</B></FONT><BR><FONT size=+3><B></B></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite="" type="cite">Please read today's editorial from the Tribune
(reprinted below) I hope you are as disgusted as I am with this
commission....</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite="" type="cite">What is going to happen to the Idaho Tax
Commission this year? Will the Republican Party allow this nest of
cronyism and favoritism to fester or will the party clean it up?</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite="" type="cite">What are you proposing to solve this
problem?</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite="" type="cite">BL<BR></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite="" type="cite"><FONT size=+3
face="Times New Roman"><B>--------------------------------------------------------------------<SPAN></SPAN>--</B></FONT><BR><FONT
size=+3><B></B></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite="" type="cite"><FONT size=+3
face="Times New Roman"><B>Dissecting Idaho's metastasizing tax
scandal</B></FONT><BR><FONT size=+3><B></B></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite="" type="cite"><FONT face="Times New Roman">By [author]Marty
Trillhaase [/author]of the[org] Tribune[/org]<BR>January 5,
2011</FONT><BR></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite="" type="cite"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Idaho's Tax
Commission follows two fundamental rules:</FONT><BR></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite="" type="cite"><FONT face="Times New Roman">l It plays no
favorites. Mess with that and you undermine the fragile fabric of collections.
With few exceptions, people voluntarily pay taxes. They do so under the
presumption that everyone is treated equally.</FONT><BR></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite="" type="cite"><FONT face="Times New Roman">l What you tell
the tax man is your business. That's Tax Collection 101 for a clerk, a field
agent or the four gubernatorial appointees running the tax commission. Breach
confidentiality and you will face a felony conviction, a $5,000 fine, five
years in prison and a two-year ban on holding public
office.</FONT><BR></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite="" type="cite"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Commission
chairman Royce Chigbrow now stands accused of shredding both
standards.</FONT><BR></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite="" type="cite"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Relying on
e-mails and documents collected in another investigation, The Associated Press
has pieced together this narrative.</FONT><BR></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite="" type="cite"><FONT face="Times New Roman">If you're on
Chigbrow's good side, you get a break.</FONT><BR></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite="" type="cite"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Last year,
Chigbrow's son, Cordell Chigbrow - who runs the family's accounting firm -
requested a client owing $50,000 in back taxes be allowed to take 10 years to
repay. Over staff objections, the commission granted the request. Three years
earlier, Cordell Chigbrow asked his dad if client penalties in the amount of
$931.20 and $644.04 could be waived. The penalties were
waived.</FONT><BR></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite="" type="cite"><FONT face="Times New Roman">And if you're on
Chigbrow's bad side - or at least antagonizing one of his friends - you get
stomped on. In this case, Benton (Skip) Hofferber - a former political
contributor to Chigbrow's unsuccessful 2006 bid for state controller - was
fighting his former employer, Boise Food Services. Chigbrow summoned Tax
Commission staff to his office and in Hofferber's presence asked for tax data
about the company. So much for respecting Boise Food Service's
confidentiality.</FONT><BR></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite="" type="cite"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Elsewhere, the AP
reported Chigbrow ordered a forced collection of Boise Food Service's assets,
accepted the company's cashier checks, inappropriately asked the checks not be
cashed despite a law to the contrary and then blocked a refund owed to
BFS.</FONT><BR></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite="" type="cite"><FONT face="Times New Roman">As poorly as this
reflects on Chigbrow - and the political ally who appointed him, Gov. C.L.
(Butch) Otter - it also taints the entire tax
commission.</FONT><BR></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite="" type="cite"><FONT face="Times New Roman">For more than two
years, a steadily growing cadre of tax auditors working in the specialized
field of resolving disputes with big companies has been insisting that the tax
commission cuts sweetheart deals with those firms.</FONT><BR></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite="" type="cite"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Other than the
large number of auditors involved - about a third of the people who have done
this work during the past 25 years - and the courage it took for them to go
public against their past and, in some cases, current employers, there's not
much to go on. Because they are bound to respect the confidentiality of the
taxpayers, critics can't provide specifics. The tax commission can't prove
whether these tax settlements wound up saving the state
money.</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite="" type="cite"><BR></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite="" type="cite"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Chigbrow's
ethical, professional and possibly legal lapses change that
equation.</FONT><BR></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite="" type="cite"><FONT face="Times New Roman">It may be a leap
to say someone who processes pleas for leniency for his son's clients or sides
with a friend in another company's tax dispute would look the other way while
a big taxpayer evaded his obligation to the state. It may be unfair to taint
the entire four-member commission based on the allegations now swirling around
its chairman.</FONT><BR></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite="" type="cite"><FONT face="Times New Roman">But when people
are denied a clear view of any situation, they connect what few dots they
see.</FONT><BR></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite="" type="cite"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Presumably,
Chigbrow's case will resolve itself - either in the courts or in the court of
public opinion.</FONT><BR></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite="" type="cite"><FONT face="Times New Roman">But this scandal
is metastasizing into the entire tax commission. What comes next should be
obvious - a full, fair and open examination of those tax settlements.
Republicans loathe the idea because it's coming from the left. Former Idaho
Supreme Court Justice Bob Huntley, state Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, and
former tax commission auditor Stan Howland want Otter and the Legislature to
launch a five-member probe.</FONT><BR></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE cite="" type="cite"><FONT face="Times New Roman">The longer Otter
and lawmakers wait, the more they'll regret it. - M.T.</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><X-SIGSEP><PRE>--
</PRE></X-SIGSEP>
<DIV>Dr. Tom Trail<BR>International Trails<BR>1375 Mt. View Rd.<BR>Moscow, Id.
83843<BR>Tel: (208) 882-6077<BR>Fax: (208) 882-0896<BR>e mail
ttrail@moscow.com</DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>