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RESOLUTION BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF JONESBORO, ARKANSAS IN SUPPORT OF STATUTORY AMENDMENTS TO AUTHORIZE IMPROVEMENTS IN THE INFORMATION PROVIDED TO LOCAL GOVERNMENTS BY THE STATE OF ARKANSAS RELATED TO COLLECTIONS OF LOCAL SALES AND USE TAXES.
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Whereas, the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration (DF&A) collects sales taxes levied by cities and counties in Arkansas under the same tax administration system that is used to collect State sales taxes, and as such, local taxes are "piggy backed" along with the collection of State sales taxes;
Whereas, the State withholds an administrative fee of 3% from local tax collections to fund the cost of such service which totaled approximately $30 million in 2011;
Whereas, all taxing entities are entitled to have information about the collections produced by the taxes levied in order to monitor, evaluate, budget and project the tax collections to which they are entitled to receive;
Whereas, existing Arkansas law does not authorize or require DF&A to provide information to local governments that is useful and satisfactory to monitor, evaluate, budget and project local tax collections; and
Whereas, laws in neighboring states authorize and require the release of information that is satisfactory to serve the needs of local governments mentioned above which includes tax collections identified by specific taxpayer, and that the experience in such states demonstrates that related procedures and reports can be efficiently administered and produced, and that similar laws can be adopted and administered in Arkansas;
Resolved, that the City Council of Jonesboro, Arkansas supports amendments to Arkansas laws to authorize and require information to be provided to designated representatives of local governments that will permit them to fully and successfully monitor, evaluate, budget and project local tax collections;
That any information that can be identified with a specific taxpayer shall only be released following an agreement to keep such information confidential, and that such specific taxpayer information shall be exempt from release under the freedom of information laws of Arkansas; and
That the information will: (1) be made available for the monthly collections and calendar year to date, by regular mail, email or by dedicated online account at the option of local governments (in electronic worksheet or PDF format), not later than 30 days following the most recent monthly tax distribution; (2) include details and totals that will agree or reconcile to the related tax collections distributed by the State Treasurer to a local government for a particular month; and (3) be updated as required by subsequent adjustments due to refunds, rebates, additional tax payments and any other matter affecting the tax collected for a particular period.
PASSED AND APPROVED this 16th day of October, 2012.