California has not one but three tax agencies. The Franchise Tax Board (FTB) administers income tax. The Employment Development Department (EDD) administers payroll taxes. And the Board of Equalization (BOE) administers sales tax (and a few other miscellaneous taxes and fees); the BOE also hears appeals from the Franchise Tax Board. Most states have one tax agency but as Scott would say, “California.” Until this year the most notoriety the BOE has received was over its building. That changed last month when the California Department of Finance released a scathing audit report on the BOE.
The Executive Summary notes,
…Specifically, certain board member practices have intervened in administrative activities and created inconsistencies in operations, breakdowns in centralized processes, and in certain instances result in activities contrary to state law and budgetary and legislative directives.
During our evaluation, BOE had difficulty providing complete and accurate documentation in response to our evaluation inquiries and in some instances various levels of management were not aware of and could not speak to certain district activities for which they held oversight responsibilities. Specific examples include the informal establishment of a call center, creating an unofficial office location, and inconsistent use of community liaisons.
This sounds bad. It looks like the BOE is ignoring its budget, violating the law, and ignoring the legislature. Continuing:
In addition, staff resource utilization practices have negatively impacted personnel and accounting records. These records do not accurately depict current operational activities. Despite having dedicated staff and operating budgets of $1.5 million, some board members routinely supplement their staff by redirecting revenue generating staff to perform non-revenue generating board member activities, including outreach activities. These redirections violate Provision 1 of the Budget Act. Additionally, BOE is unable to accurately reflect revenue and cost impacts in its accounting records and Annual Report on Sales and Use Tax Audit and Collection Activities, Statewide Compliance and Outreach Program and Audit Selection Improvements (supplemental annual report).
Yikes! They’re spending money when they’re not authorized to. But I’m sure they’re handling their core function, collecting sales tax, just fine. Right?
Lastly, BOE provided 11 different versions of its proposed sales and use tax allocation adjustment and with each version, Finance continued to find errors and omissions. Since the proposed adjustment continues to change and BOE has not prepared a comprehensive explanation of its assumptions and methodologies, further review of the proposed allocation adjustment is imperative.
The report is devastating, and the reactions have been uniform across both sides of the aisle in Sacramento. Governor Brown has sanctioned the agency. Democrats and Republicans in the legislature are asking tough questions.
This isn’t the first time the BOE had a problem with money. As the San Francisco Chronicle noted in an editorial, the BOE mishandled $47.8 million in sales tax money back in 2015.
Several years ago (when I resided in California) I suggested that the FTB and BOE should merge. I wouldn’t be surprised if that now becomes reality.
Tags: BOE