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Improving Tax Transparency

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The Taxation Disclosure Act An ALEC Model

4Intent Section 5The intent of the legislature is to make citizen access to state and local tax rates as open transparent, and 6publicly accessible as is feasible. Increasing the ease of public access to state and local tax rates, 7particularly where the rates are currently available from disparate internal government sources but are 8difficult for the public to collect and efficiently aggregate, significantly contributes to governmental 9accountability, public participation, and the understanding of the cost of government services. Therefore, 10the legislature directs the state budget office to create and maintain a searchable database of each tax rate 11for all taxing districts in the state. 12 13Short Title 14This Act shall be known and may be cited as the Taxation Disclosure Act. 15 16Searchable Tax Rate Database 17By January 1, 2010, the state budget office shall make publicly available an online searchable database of 18all tax rates in the state for each taxing district. The information shall be aggregated by type of tax and 19accessible by entering a zip code and/or physical address for each residency or business. Individual tax 20levies shall be further broken down within each tax rate. 21 22Geographical Tax Rate Map 23Along with searching for tax rates by zip code and/or physical address for each residency or business, 24searches should be accommodated by clicking through a map of the state as a whole and down to the level 25of each taxing district. 26 27Individual Tax Rate Calculator 28Tax rate calculators shall be provided on the searchable database to allow citizens and businesses to 29calculate their potential taxes. Calculators shall be provided at a minimum for property, sales/use, income, 30vehicle, and business taxes and shall be specific to the rate for the taxing districts in which the citizen 31resides. 32 33Updating Database 34To facilitate the state budget offices efforts in creating and maintaining a searchable database of each tax 35rate for all taxing districts in the state, every taxing district shall report its tax rates annually to the state 36budget office and shall report any changes to its tax rates within 30 days of enactment of rate changes. 37 38Please contact Jonathan Williams, ALECs Tax & Fiscal Policy Task Force Director, at 39jwilliams@alec.org or (202) 742-8533 if you have any questions or concerns. 3

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