Sen. Nancy Cassis legislation approved by State Senate; would provide crucial tax information

March 16, 2008
 

LANSING--The Michigan Senate on Wednesday passed an amendment sponsored by Sen. Nancy Cassis requiring the Michigan Department of Treasury to disclose vital tax information to help develop and evaluate tax policy.

The Cassis amendment to Senate Bill 1170 will require the Michigan Department of Treasury to share confidential tax information with the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, the chair of the House Tax Policy Committee and the directors of the House and Senate fiscal agencies.

The amendment imposes a five-year felony to safeguard against confidential information being given to people prohibited from obtaining that material.

"It is unfair to taxpayers for lawmakers to write legislation without access to basic facts," said Cassis, R-Novi. "it's difficult to develop tax policy when the most basic information is withheld as decisions are made."

"At present, Treasury and individual taxpayers routinely have more information than the policymakers themselves, and this situation is untenable. This measure remedies that situation by ensuring that information that is essential for crafting tax policy for the state of Michigan is provided to the appropriate people."

Cassis, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, modeled her amendment on how the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee receives confidential information from the Internal Revenue Service.

SB 1170 now heads to the Michigan House for consideration.