NOTE:  As provided in LFC policy, this report is intended only for use by the standing finance committees of the legislature.  The Legislative Finance Committee does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of the information in this report when used for other purposes.

 

The most recent FIR version (in HTML & Adobe PDF formats) is available on the Legislative Website.  The Adobe PDF version includes all attachments, whereas the HTML version does not.  Previously issued FIRs and attachments may be obtained from the LFC in Suite 101 of the State Capitol Building North.

 

 

F I S C A L   I M P A C T   R E P O R T

 

 

 

SPONSOR:

Aragon

 

DATE TYPED:

2/7/03

 

HB

 

 

SHORT TITLE:

Enhanced & Expanded Tax Collection

 

SB

388/aSFC

 

 

ANALYST:

Hayes, Patel & Smith

 

APPROPRIATION

 

Appropriation Contained

Estimated Additional Impact

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY03

FY04

FY03

FY04

 

 

 

5,000.0

 

 

Non-Recurring

General Fund

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

 

REVENUE

 

Estimated Revenue

Subsequent

Years Impact

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY03

FY04

 

 

 

 

50,000.0

 

Non-Recurring

General Fund

 

11,000.0

 

Non-Recurring

Other State Funds

 

4,000.0-10,000.0

 

Recurring

General Fund

 

1,500.0-4,000.0

 

Recurring

Other State Funds

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Revenue Decreases)

 

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

 

Responses Received From

 

TRD

 

SUMMARY

 

     Synopsis of SFC Amendment

 

The Senate Finance Amendment clarifies that the appropriation is also for FY03.

 


     Synopsis of Original Bill

 

SB388 appropriates $5 million from the general fund to the Taxation and Revenue Department for the purpose of expanding and enhancing tax collection efforts. The appropriation reverts at the end of FY04.

 

    Significant Issues

 

This funds a key Executive initiative.

 

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

 

TRD has made several impressive presentations on this proposal; a handout from the department’s presentation to HTRC is attached.  However, TRD has not given any indication of the recurring general fund impact.

 

LFC did a preliminary analysis to determine whether these revenues would be recurring or non-recurring. The following summary outlines LFC’s analysis:

 

Since collections are on outstanding taxes owed, TRD’s collection initiatives are, by definition, non-recurring.  Using TRD’s estimates for collections of personal income tax, CRS taxes, corporate income tax, special taxes and tape match program amounts, the non-recurring base equals $52.7 million, of that amount, approximately $44.5 is general fund, and $8.2 is non-general fund.

 

The remainder of the nonrecurring amount and the recurring component is in audit activity.   During an audit, the auditor would typically review three years of tax documents. Using this and TRD’s assumptions yields $15.5 million to be generated from audits.  Of this total, one third (one year or $5.2 million) is assumed to be recurring. This amount could be further reduced by assuming that a certain portion of the population will return to noncompliance; LFC “estimate” is that 70 percent of those audited will comply in future years (the LFC did not reduce the estimate by this factor). Given the preliminary nature of our analysis, we have ranged the estimate from approximately $6 million to $14 million. Of this total, roughly $4 million to $10 million is general fund recurring revenue.

  

TECHNICAL ISSUES

 

On lines 17 and 18, the appropriation should be effective for FY03 and FY04.

 

SUBSTANTIAL ISSUES

 

It is critical that TRD establish a transparent methodology to track these revenues.

 

TRD has stated that the most senior auditors and collectors will be transferred to this project. More routine duties will be taken over by junior employees with less experience. However, it must be noted that a certain amount of “complicated” audits and collections already are in TRD’s baseline. It is unclear how these audits will be conducted.

 

MP:SS:CH/njw