[Vision2020] Ringo Sues State

[Ron Force]

June 08, 2010
Idaho lawmaker sues state over secret tax deals
She alleges that some wealthy and politically connected taxpayers 
got millions in unconstitutional settlements.
BY BETSY Z. RUSSELL - THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEWThe deals violated the Idaho Constitution, which 
requires taxing to be "uniform," said Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow. 
Examples listed in the lawsuit, filed Monday in 4th District Court in Boise:
• A wealthy Idaho resident was given a $1.6 million tax break before the 
audit report on that taxpayer's case had been filed, and the case was 
removed from the Tax Commission's auditors. Auditors had alleged the 
taxpayer was fraudulently claiming no substantial business operations in the state.
• One state tax commissioner "reversed an audit 
adjustment on a friend and individual who is prominent in Idaho 
politics."
• A tax manager for a large Idaho company "told a 
commissioner in a protest hearing that his opinion was asked by the 
governor on all reappointments. This event occurred several months 
before the commissioner was up for reappointment and the taxpayer 
received a $100,000 discount."
Ringo called the cases cited in the lawsuit "appalling."
"If those things have been going on, it just speaks to the need for reforms," Ringo said. "I would put in on the 
emergency status, because I don't want to accuse anybody of being 
corrupt, but I think it bears looking into."
The Idaho attorney 
general's office, which represents both the Legislature and the Tax 
Commission, had no immediate comment on the lawsuit. "We're just 
reviewing that right now," said spokeswoman Kriss Bivens-Cloyd.
Retired state tax auditor Stan Howland alleged improprieties in the Tax 
Commission's secret deals with certain taxpayers in 2008, when he 
submitted a 17-page whistleblower report to the governor, Legislature 
and others. Two state investigations concluded no laws had been broken, 
but recommended reforms to the process through which individual tax 
commissioners grant confidential settlements to certain taxpayers.
In 2009, the Legislature unanimously passed reform legislation to require 
all such settlements over $50,000 to receive an additional hearing with 
at least two tax commissioners and other officials present; to require 
the agreements to be kept on file and opened to legislative auditors, 
though not to the public; and to require annual reports to the 
Legislature on the settlements.
In an affidavit attached to 
Ringo's lawsuit, Howland said the basic problem remains, and the annual 
reports don't provide enough information for anyone to tell if the 
settlements are legal or not.The lawsuit asks the court to order 
declare current procedures and laws covering the secret settlements 
unconstitutional; ban all such deals until a constitutional system is 
put in place by the Legislature and the Tax Commission; and to award 
attorney fees and costs to Ringo.


      
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