The plan developed by Reps. Darrell Bolz and Wendy Jaquet to phase in an increase in tax auditors next year calls for first restoring cuts already made in the audit and collections to 2009 levels. Without that restoration, the Tax Commission estimated it'd lose another $17.2 million in taxes next year. Then, the plan restores 10 vacant positions, with an estimated gross return of 8 times, or $4.5 million. Then, as detailed in the Otter Administration's tax compliance initiative, another $1.6 million would add an array of 43 temporary positions, including compliance technicians, compliance officers, tax auditors, financial technicians and technical records specialists. That initiative is estimated to have a 7 to 1 return, or $11.5 million. Another $50,000 is shifted within the department into audit and collection, to fund a permanent position estimated to bring in a 10-1 return for the expenditure.

Overall, the proposal is $3.3 million higher than JFAC's original target for spending at the Tax Commission next year, but with the $16.4 million the additional positions would bring in, the net impact on the general fund would be a positive $13.1 million.

Senate Finance Chairman Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, said, "I want to commend Rep. Jaquet and Rep. Bolz, because we charged them with trying to find a reasonable expectation of what those auditors would get. We couldn't have blue sky out there and balance the budget on blue sky. They worked very hard with the Tax Commission to make a reasonable assessment of what those funds would generate."

Overall, JFAC's target budget had anticipated a $5.5 million shortfall in the fy 2011 budget, which would have been made up from Millenium Fund earnings due this spring. Now, that wouldn't be necessary; the budget hypothetically would show a $2.5 million surplus, based on current revenue assumptions.

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