District of Columbia: Establishment of Appeals Tribunal.

May 23, 2001

On May 23, 2001, Tax Executives Institute submitted the following comments to the District of Columbia City Council on a proposal to establish an office of administrative trials and hearings, which would provide for the independent adjudication of, among other things, tax disputes currently handled internally by the District's Office of Tax and Revenue. TEI's comments, which took the form of a letter to Councilmember Kathleen Patterson, chair of the Council's Committee on the Judiciary, were prepared under the aegis of the Institute's State and Local Tax Committee, whose chair is Bruce J. Reid of Microsoft Corporation.

Tax Executives Institute is pleased to submit the following comments with regard to Bill 14-208, the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings Establishment Act of 2001.

Background

Tax Executives Institute is the preeminent association of business tax executives in North America. Our approximately 5,300 members represent 2,800 of the leading corporations through 53 chapters in the United States, Canada, and Europe. One of our chapters is located here in the Washington, D.C. area, and our membership includes representatives of all major local enterprises. TEI represents a cross-section of the business community, and is dedicated to the development and effective implementation of sound tax policy, to promoting the uniform and equitable enforcement of the tax laws, and to reducing the cost and burden of administration and compliance to the benefit of taxpayers and government alike. As a professional association, TEI is firmly committed to ensuring a tax system that works -- one that is fair, administrable, and that taxpayers can comply with in a cost-efficient manner.

Members of TEI are responsible for managing the tax affairs of their companies and must contend daily with a myriad of tax law provisions at the federal, state, and local levels relating to the operation and taxation of business enterprises. It is not uncommon for disputes to arise between businesses and local taxing authorities about the proper application of the tax law to their operations. That is why a fair, efficient, and impartial process for resolving such disputes is both a hallmark of equitable tax administration and a necessary component of a business-friendly environment.

Discussion

Bill 14-208 would establish a new Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings to serve as a centralized location for the independent adjudication of...