National group honors Rod Marrelli posthumously

A national tax policy group honored former Tax Commission executive director Rod Marrelli posthumosly with a special leadership aware.
The FTA Executive Committee honored Mr. Marrelli, last week. He served as the chief administrator of the agency, managing its day-to-day operations, from 1994 until his death last October.
"We are pleased to hear of this honor give to Rod," said Barry Conover, interim USTC executive director. "It is another recognition of this great man's commitment and accomplishment.
Mr. Marrelli was a member of the FTA Board of Trustees and was an active participant with the Multistate Tax Commission.
He also served as president of the Western States Association of Tax Administrators and was involved in the Northwest Regional Sales Tax Project, the forerunner for the Streamlined Sales Tax project.

Take advantage of TAP

The Utah State Tax Commission has several different systems for filing and paying taxes online. To make the process easier, we are consolidating many of those various services into one system, called Taxpayer Access Point, or TAP.

As part of this consolidation, beginning June 27, 2011, TAP will replace the current WebExpress system to file, pay, and manage the following taxes:

· Cigarette and Tobacco – mandatory electronic filing
· Corporate – view and pay only
· Fuels – view and pay only
· Municipal Energy - mandatory electronic filing
· Other Miscellaneous Taxes – pay only
· Withholding – file, pay, and upload

If you currently use WebExpress, please register in TAP by visiting https://tap.tax.utah.gov/TaxExpress/TAP.htm on or after June 27. Registering early will help prevent filing and payment delays. You will need your FEIN and 14-character account number (12345678-003-ABC).

As always, you can get to any of our online systems at taxexpress.utah.gov. This would be a good site to bookmark.

Interim executive director appointed

Utah State Tax Commissioners appointed Barry C. Conover interim executive director of the agency Tuesday.

Mr. Conover, 63, has served as deputy executive director for 23 years. He fills the position left vacant at the death of Rodney G. Marrelli. The appointment is for up to three months.

“I appreciate the confidence of the Commissioners and look forward to this opportunity,” Mr. Conover said.

Mr. Conover holds a bachelor’s of science degree in Sociology from Brigham Young University and has served in a variety of leadership positions with Tax Commission since 1973. He has been lauded for his success the past five years as the project leader of the modernization of the Commission’s major tax systems.

"We appreciate Barry's service, devotion and assistance to Rod Marrelli and to the Tax Commission during the last few years,” said Commission Chair R. Bruce Johnson. “We are confident that Barry will uphold the high ideals Rod personified."

Our friend and leader passes away

Tax Commission employees lost a great friend and colleague Saturday with the passing of Rodney G. Marrelli, our executive director.

The citizens of Utah lost a dedicated public servant whose integrity was beyond reproach and a leader who kept the best interest of the taxpayer at the forefront of every decision he made.

Rod served diligently for nearly 17 nears in a position that requires a sharp intellect, broad vision, skillfull communication and strong management.

The strides Utah made under his leadership in the areas of modernizing the State's computer tax systems and online options are recognized nationally.

Within a few days of Rod's death, our Commission Chair Bruce Johnson received condolenses from state tax leaders throughout the United States.

Rod will be remembered by the 750 employees at the Tax Commission for his strong leadership, broad vision, clear communication and witty sense of humor.

Rod was appointed by Gov. Michael O. Leavitt in 1994 when the Internet was in its infancy, personal computers a luxury and "brick" cell phones were coveted.

In the Salt Lake Tribune, Gov. Leavitt said, "Rod's policy legacy will be his emphasis of compliance over enfrocement, his protection of "Main Street" retailers and fairness through sales tax simplification and his more than decade-long effort to modernize the state's outdated computer systems."

I admired Rod's diligence in keeping his nose to grind while battling cancer and all its ugly components without ever mumbling a negative word. Even during the final months of his life, Rod placed his public trust above his personal comfort.

"Do it right the first time" was more than a goal on an employee poster, it was a creed emblazoned in Rod's daily work ethic.

We will miss you, Rod.

Peace, love and all that Jazz,
Charlie

Beer bucks and such

The Tax Commission makes its annual distribution in December from the alcoholic beverage enforcement and treatment account.
This is a 'restricted' account that generated $5.6 million last year from the sale of beer within the friendly confines of the Beehive State.
The Legislature specifies the monies must be used for promoting the harmful effects of over consumption, reduction in underage drinking, and related areas.
The law allows funds to be use for confinement and treatment where alcohol is a contributing factor in the crime.
The dollars are distributed to cities, towns and counties is determined by these four factors:
1) Local population
2) Convictions for alcohol-related offenses
3) Liquor and beer licenses and outlets, and
4) County population
The data comes from a variety of federal and state sources and the Tax Commission computes the math for distribution to the local governments.

In other taxing matters . . .

• South Salt City's combined sales tax rate will change to 7.05 percent on Jan. 1. The City imposed the city option sales tx at a rate of .20 percent.
• Sevier County will increase its transient room tax rate for 3.0 to 4.25 percent.
• Filmore has imposed the 1 percent municipalilty transient room tax option. On New Years Day the transient room tax rate for our first territorial capital city will be 4 percent.

Peace, love and all that Jazz,

Charlie

Other states have quirky tax laws too

Last week a Utah tax grabbed local headlines - not because of its impact, but because of its quirkiness.

The topic of interest was sexually explicit businesses, also known as S.E.B.'s, which sounds better in a public setting than S.O.B.'s (sexually oriented businesses).

Here's the Reader's Digest version: In 2004, the Legislature passed a 10 percent tax on admission and sales of merchandise, food, drink and services for sexually explicit businesses. The Tax Commission determined that escort services did not qualify as S.E.B.s because of the broad language in the law. The Utah Supreme Court upheld the Tax Commission decision and then the U.S. Supreme Court decided against hearing the Utah case.

Currently, the law impacts only one Utah business.

Here's a sampling that financial expert Casey Bond posted in a gobankingrates.com column of strange taxes and deductions scatttered throughout the U.S. of A.

- Electrolysis treatments, tattoos and body piercings are taxed an additional 10 percent sales tax in Arkansas.

- Pet owners in Durham County, North Carolina must list pets as personal property and pay taxes on them. If Fluffy is fixed it's 10 bucks; otherwise $75 to tax collector.

- Clothing retailers in Minnesota pay a 6.5 percent tax for goods comprised of three times more fur than the next most valuable materal used to make it.

- Alabama charges 10 cent tax on any pack of cards that contains 54 or fewer in the deck. The seller must pay another buck and an annual license tax of $3.

- In addition to all the other costs for civil and criminal litigation, Tennessee charges a tax of $25 per court case.

- Alaska whaling boat captains can write off 10 Grand for anything they spend on boat repar and other whaling expenses.

I'm just a little disappointed that Utah's brine shrimp tax missed the list.

Peace, love and all that Jazz. Charlie

Tax workers 'Clear the Air'

Your friendly public servants here at the Tax Commission will be basking in Clear the Air glory come Saturday morning.
We, like 351 other agencies and companies, participated in the statewide Clear the Air campaign. Clear the Air is the only issue - other than Mother’s Day and apple pie - that Gov. Herbert, Mayor Corroon and Mayor Becker agree.
But when Mayor Becker issued the Clear the Air Challenge earlier this summer, all three were in the same ship. They encouraged their employees and people across the Beehive State to join the fun.
Throughout July a competition was held to reduce vehicle emissions by choosing walking, biking, taking public transportation, riding in a car pool and stringing errand trips together.
Nearly 90 Tax Commission employees participated in the event and recorded trips saved. Here’s our final tally:
Miles saved - 48,762 (That’s twice around the earth)
Trips saved - 3,393 (A weekly trip to the grocery store for 65 years)
Pounds of emissions eliminated - 81,720 (The weight of 9 average African elephants)
Dollars saved - $27,354 (Should cover this year’s Christmas bonus)
Gallons of gas saved - 2,212 (At 3 bucks a gallon, who’s complaining?)
At the Farmer’s Market on Saturday we will receive the team award for “Best Integration of TravelWise Strategies.” I’m unsure what the exactly means, but it sounds impressive. Hopefully we have done our small part to improve air quality, reduce traffic congestion and conserve energy in Utah.
Peace, love and all that Jazz, Charlie