Senators press DRT language that could 'earmark' whole divisions; OFB to fix technical wording
Senators warned budget wording for the Department of Revenue and Taxation could effectively earmark an entire division's lump-sum allocation to one function (use-tax collections or business licensing), potentially defunding other branches; OFB said the language reflects the agency's performance-based submission and will work with DRT and legal to correct the verbiage.
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During review of the Revenue and Taxation chapter senators focused on how subsection language allocates division lump-sum funding. Senator Sabina Flores Perez flagged subsections b and c, saying the current wording could "take a whole division's allocation and put it to 1 particular…which means there is a high likelihood of not funding the other functions." She pointed to taxpayer services (income tax assistance, business privilege tax branch, electronic data processing, the SWICA function, accounting, and central files) and said nowhere in that division is a dedicated use-tax-collection branch, so the text as drafted could force the agency to reassign funds away from other duties.
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