Connecticut legislative proposal on calculation of interest on refunds: March 13, 2002.

On March 13, 2002, Tax Executives Institute submitted the following comments on legislation to change the calculation of interest on corporate tax refunds to leaders of the Connecticut legislature. The comments on H.B. No. 5666 (An Act Concerning Certain Administrative Procedures of the Department of Revenue Services) was directed to Senator Martin M. Looney, chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, Revenue and Bonding, and Representative Anne B. McDonald, chair of the House Committee on Finance, Revenue and Bonding. The submission, which took the form of a letter from TEI President Robert J. Ashby, was prepared under the aegis of the Institute's State and Local Tax Committee, whose chair is Bruce J. Reid of Microsoft Corporation, with significant assistance from the Connecticut Valley Chapter, whose president is E. David Edwards of Ensign-Bickford Industries, Inc.

As president of Tax Executives Institute, I am writing to express TEI's opposition to pending legislation that would deny Connecticut taxpayers fair and appropriate interest on tax refunds paid by the State. H.B. No. 5666, an Act Concerning Certain Administrative Procedures of the Department of Revenue Services, is scheduled for consideration this week.

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, including our Connecticut Valley Chapter, whose 60 members all work for major local enterprises. (A substantial number of our non-Connecticut members work for companies that have sales or operations within the State and that are significant taxpayers.)

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...