Bill Text: HI SR81 | 2016 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requesting financial audit of the Department of Taxation

Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 15-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-03-16 - Referred to WAM. [SR81 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2016-SR81-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	81
TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2016
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

 

 

REQUESTING THE AUDITOR TO CONDUCT a FINANCIAL AUDIT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION to assess the department’s staffing and funding needs for administration of the county surcharge on state general excise and use taxes.

 

 

     WHEREAS, Act 247, Session Laws of Hawaii 2005 authorized the counties to levy a one-half per cent surcharge on state general excise and use taxes, for the purpose of funding operating or capital costs for a mass transit project on Oahu; and

 

     WHEREAS, the state retains ten per cent of the proceeds from the county surcharge on state general excise and use taxes for the costs of assessment, collection and disposition of the county surcharge; and

 

     WHEREAS, the amount the state retains for administration of the county surcharge is grossly disproportionate to the Department of Taxation’s overall operating budget to administer all other taxes of this state; and

 

     WHEREAS, pursuant to Act 213, Session Laws of Hawaii 2007, Section 121, the Department of Taxation presented a report to the Legislature regarding staffing costs for administration of the county surcharge totaling $749,876 for 2008 and $700,508 for 2009; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Department of Taxation received approximately $189 million in general fund appropriations from 2007 to 2014 to collect $44.7 billion in taxpayer dollars, yet the state raised $144 million through the county surcharge for the Department of Taxation to collect only $1.5 billion in taxpayer dollars; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Department of Taxation has not been made to account for its staffing and operational funding needs to administer the county surcharge since 2008; and

     WHEREAS, the excessive amounts realized by the state for costs of assessment, collection and disposition of the county surcharge prompt a recalculation of what the state previously determined it would cost to administer the county surcharge, to more accurately account for the Department of Taxation’s staffing and operational funding needs; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-eighth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2016, that the Auditor is requested to conduct a financial audit of the Department of Taxation; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the audit shall include, but not be limited to, determining:

 

(1)  The staffing and operational funding needs for the Department’s administration of the county surcharge on state general excise and use taxes;

 

(2)  An accounting of those funds retained by the state for assessment, collection and disposition of the county surcharge that have actually been allocated to the Department of Taxation;

 

(3)  A recommendation for what amount the state should retain from proceeds of the county surcharge, to more accurately reimburse itself for the costs of assessment, collection and disposition of the county surcharge;

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor is requested to submit a report of its findings, recommendations and actions to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the commencement of the Regular Session of 2017; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Auditor, Director of the Department of Taxation and Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu.

 

 

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Requesting financial audit of the Department of Taxation