Creating a More Accountable, Customer-friendly Department of Revenue
As a legislator and public servant, I’m always looking to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our various state departments and agencies. I am especially interested in making our government more accountable to taxpayers and more customer-friendly. There is no reason it cannot be as engaging and service-oriented as the local barber shop down the street.
Last summer, I had the opportunity to serve on the Study Commission on State Tax Policy, which was comprised of senators and representatives. Among other objectives, the commission was tasked with making a complete, detailed review and study of the state tax structure, determining opportunities to modernize our tax system and identifying the strengths and weaknesses of our tax laws. A number of recommendations resulted from the commission’s work. One recommendation was expanding the Department of Revenue’s online service offerings for businesses and individual taxpayers. As it stands today, many businesses remit their taxes but are unable to verify that they’ve been received. By creating a more comprehensive online portal, businesses could easily see what taxes are owed to the state and determine in real-time if their payments have been received.
We also used to have several regional taxpayer offices that citizens could visit whenever they had questions or concerns. I know these were helpful and appreciated, and it’d be great if we could bring them back. The Department of Revenue also needs to do a better job in communicating changes to the tax laws so taxpayers have greater knowledge in staying within the laws and opportunity to communicate information when new rules are being proposed.
Again, all these ideas and recommendations come back to making government more accountable and consumer-friendly. While some will need to be funded through the budget process, others can simply be changed by a new Department Director, who comes on board this month. I will be meeting with him and advocating for these necessary changes.
As always, please feel free to call, email, or write with your ideas or concerns. My Capitol office number is (573) 751-1415, my email is dan.hegeman@senate.mo.gov and my mailing address is Room 332, State Capitol Building, Jefferson City, MO 65101.