A bill commonly referred to as the Alabama Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights (TBOR) will be up in the state senate today, almost exactly a month after it passed the house with little opposition other than the Alabama Education Association (AEA), as is usually the case with conservative legislation.
The bill seeks to remove the Alabama Dept. of Revenue from the tax assessment appeals process because they essentially have a vested interest in siding with the state in such appeals.
TBOR would abolish the Alabama Dept. of Revenue’s Administrative Law Division, and would create a new state commission called the Alabama Tax Appeal Commission, which would serve as an independent Tax Tribunal. Unsurprisingly, because the bill makes changes to a government bureaucracy that has been in place since 1983, the Revenue Dept. has balked at relinquishing their power to decide appeals. They have even argued that the bill creates a new bureaucracy. In reality, The bill simply moves the Administrative Law Division out of the Dept. of Revenue, including its budget, to a new independent entity, the Alabama Tax Appeals Commission. There is no additional cost. It simply creates independence for the first time.
Alabama is currently among the minority of states that lack an independent tax appeals tribunal. As a result, the state recently received a “D” on the new State Tax Due Process Scorecard issued by the Council On State Taxation.
“This bill will ensure that businesses and individual taxpayers choosing to appeal tax assessments are given a level playing field and referees who will remain neutral from the beginning of the process to the end,” said the bill’s house sponsor, Rep. Paul DeMarco, R-Homewood.
There is no evidence that the Alabama Dept. of Revenue has abused their power in any way, but with what we saw during the IRS targeting scandal in Washington, it’s important that Alabama taxpayers are ensured of having the most robust oversight possible when it comes to government revenue collection.
The senate actually passed this bill in a prior session, but a technical error during the process of getting it to the governor caused a veto.
There’s a good chance this year’s TBOR will be amended and eventually end up in a conference committee tasked with working out the differences between the house and senate versions of the bill. The senate has an opportunity today to move the Taxpayer Bill of Rights one step closer to becoming law. That’s exactly what they should do.
Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims
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