Budget Committee Not Sold On Plan For More Tax Auditors

Republicans on the state budget committee aren’t happy with the governor’s proposal to hire 100 new tax auditors for the Department of Revenue.

The DOR secretary faced some harsh criticism about the plan during budget hearing Wednesday. State Rep. Dale Kooyenga said hiring more auditors sends the wrong message to businesses.

“We’re still one of the worst 10 states for corporate taxes, for individual income taxes,” said Kooyenga. “Why don’t we go down the route of just simply simplifying our tax code? Wouldn’t that be better than hiring auditors?”

DOR Secretary Rick Chandler said adding more auditors would cost $25 million but result in collecting $88 million in tax revenues from out-of-state businesses.

Democrats on the committee are less concerned about adding auditors. Instead, Rep. Chris Taylor urged Chandler to provide more tax credits for low-income workers.