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CHICAGO (AP) Turning up the heat on talks aimed at making sure nonprofit hospitals do enough charitable work, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn stuck to his Thursday deadline and authorized the Department of Revenue to resume decisions that could strip some health care institutions of valuable tax exemptions.

The Democratic governor's action came a day after negotiations failed to reach a compromise on how much charity care hospitals must provide to earn freedom from local taxes. The state had refrained from decisions on exemptions as negotiations proceeded.

Quinn's move further complicates his relationship with the powerful Illinois Hospital Association, which last month said it would vigorously oppose the governor's proposed $2.7 billion in cuts to projected Medicaid spending.

Illinois Hospital Association President Maryjane Wurth said Thursday that further rulings on hospital tax exemptions will distract from finding a legislative solution on the charity care issue. In a statement reacting to Quinn's announcement, Wurth said her 200-member group appreciates the governor's intention to restart discussions on possible new legislation that could be passed by the Legislature this spring.

But Wurth said the group is "extremely concerned" about rulings from the Department of Revenue.

"Requiring nonprofit hospitals across the state to pay property taxes would undermine patients' access to care, increase health care costs and damage an already fragile health care system," Wurth said in the statement.

Representatives of hospitals, local governments and advocates will reconvene talks early next week, said Quinn spokeswoman Brie Callahan, in an effort to find "a legislative solution that is both constitutional and recognizes the importance of hospitals in our communities and the need for widespread access to care for the uninsured."

The wrangling over hospital tax exemptions stems from a 2010 Illinois Supreme Court ruling that an Urbana hospital wasn't doing enough charity care to qualify for a tax exemption.

Last year, the Department of Revenue cited the 2010 ruling when denying property tax exemptions to three hospitals: Northwestern Memorial's Prentice Women's Hospital in Chicago, Edward Hospital in Naperville and Decatur Memorial Hospital in Decatur.

Five months ago, Quinn put a temporary halt on such rulings to give breathing room for negotiations on possible legislation, and set March 1 as a deadline for recommendations.

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Quinn lifts hold on Illinois hospital tax rulings

Springfield, Ill. - Turning up the heat on talks aimed at making sure nonprofit hospitals do enough charitable work, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn stuck to his Thursday deadline and authorized the Department of Revenue to resume decisions that could strip some health care institutions of valuable tax exemptions.

The Democratic governor's action came a day after negotiations failed to reach a compromise on how much charity care hospitals must provide to earn freedom from local taxes. The state had refrained from decisions on exemptions as negotiations proceeded.

Quinn's move further complicates his relationship with the powerful Illinois Hospital Association, which last month said it would vigorously oppose the governor's proposed $2.7 billion in cuts to projected Medicaid spending.

Illinois Hospital Association President Maryjane Wurth said Thursday that further rulings on hospital tax exemptions will distract from finding a legislative solution on the charity care issue. In a statement reacting to Quinn's announcement, Wurth said her 200-member group appreciates the governor's intention to restart discussions on possible new legislation that could be passed by the Legislature this spring.

But Wurth said the group is "extremely concerned" about rulings from the Department of Revenue.

"Requiring nonprofit hospitals across the state to pay property taxes would undermine patients' access to care, increase health care costs and damage an already fragile health care system," Wurth said in the statement.

Representatives of hospitals, local governments and advocates will reconvene talks early next week, said Quinn spokeswoman Brie Callahan, in an effort to find "a legislative solution that is both constitutional and recognizes the importance of hospitals in our communities and the need for widespread access to care for the uninsured."

The wrangling over hospital tax exemptions stems from a 2010 Illinois Supreme Court ruling that an Urbana hospital wasn't doing enough charity care to qualify for a tax exemption.

Last year, the Department of Revenue cited the 2010 ruling when denying property tax exemptions to three hospitals: Northwestern Memorial's Prentice Women's Hospital in Chicago, Edward Hospital in Naperville and Decatur Memorial Hospital in Decatur.

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Quinn Lifts Hold on Hospital Tax Rulings

HM Revenue & Customs budget for tax compliance and enforcement has dropped by 3% over the past 12 months despite the need to claw back the dramatic decline in tax receipts.

A Freedom of Information request has revealed the budget for the enforcement and compliance line of the business for the financial year 2009/10 is 1,047m, and the spend allocated for 2008/09 was 1,080m a drop of 3% year on year.

A response from HMRC to the FOI request said: there is no expansion in enforcement and compliance budgets and there are therefore no transfers from elsewhere. New ways of working and improved targeting have, however, that we have been able to reduce tax losses by significantly more in 2008/09 compared to previous years and our targets for 2009/10 involve further reductions in tax losses.

Chris Chadburn, tax investigations specialist at venntax, madethe FOI request and said press reports that the department was pouring unprecedented funds into tax compliance and enforcement were inaccurate.

It went against the thrust of staff cuts across the departments. Its the first time theyve broken down their spending so it was difficult to tell what had happened to the enforcement and compliance resource, he said.

Chadburn said despite the pressure for HMRC to increase yield from enforcement and compliance measures, he is surprised theyre not throwing more money at it.

Peter Luff, chairman of the Commons business and enterprise committee, said he was surprised that the government makes a lot of play about cutting down on tax loopholes publicly but doesnt pour the means into this rhetoric.

He said enforcing the law around tax evasion should be a high priority. Theres no point talking the talk if you dont walk the walkyou can sound tough but youve got to be tough as well, he said.

According to a spokeswoman for HMRC, despite staff headcount reductions last year and future reduction targets of 5% per annum, the department has been able to justify the 3% drop in spend through improved yields.

She confirmed this has largely been delivered through the extension of risk-based tools which ensure we focus our efforts on the deliberately non-compliant.

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HMRC tax compliance budget drops 3%

Posted: Wednesday, February 29, 2012 2:42 pm | Updated: 5:14 pm, Wed Feb 29, 2012.

Gov. Jan Brewer signed legislation Wednesday to allow individuals to divert more money they would otherwise owe the state to instead help children attend private and parochial schools.

The new law provides a dollar-for-dollar income tax credit of up to $500 for money donated to organizations that provide scholarships to help pay the tuition and fees of students at these schools. Married couples could get a $1,000 credit.

This is in addition to an existing program that provides a tax credit of up to $503 for donations to scholarship organizations. In 2010, the most recent year figures were available, the credits the amount not paid to the state treasury totaled $43.2 million.

The measure was pushed by Sen. Rick Murphy, R-Glendale, who said he was concerned that the amount of money donated under the current program has not kept pace with requests by students to get financial help to attend private and parochial schools.

Brewer vetoed legislation last year to increase the amount individuals could donate. She said the state could not afford the loss of tax dollars.

This new law, however, was crafted to address her concerns by including a requirement that the scholarship funds could go mainly to those who initially switch from public schools. Murphy said that will save money by taking students out of public school classrooms.

That apparently was enough to convince Brewer.

This is a narrowly crafted law that will open new educational opportunities for Arizona children, said gubernatorial press aide Matthew Benson. And he said the governor, who convinced voters two years ago to temporarily hike state sales taxes to balance the budget, does not believe this new program will cut into needed revenues.

For the bulk of these children who would be moving from a public school into a private facility, the state would get some savings from that, Benson said. He estimated the actual net loss to the state in the neighborhood of a few million dollars, likely even less than that.

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New Arizona law expands tuition tax credits for private schools

Freedom of Information not so free at the state house.

A recent restructuring bill forced a lot questions from citizens concerned about the separation of powers in state government. So through theFreedom of Information Act, many wanted details on how law makers put together the bill. But South Carolina legislators are exempt from such disclosure.

The Freedom of information Act or FOIA went into effect in 1967. In short, its purpose is to allow the release of previously undisclosed documents, controlled by the government. But in some cases, such as those at the South Carolina state house, the rules don notalways apply. An email obtained by the South Carolina Policy Council, shows that lawmakers are well aware of what they have to release and when. And they do not have to release anything.

Lawmakers passed a law back in 1980 which allows them to ignore FOIA requests. Rick Brundrett from the Policy Council, says there is no real recourse for tax payers who have questions.

Citizens have a right to know how their government operates. And freedom of information is designed to give citizens the opportunity to learn how their government operates. When the legislature has this exemption set for themselves no other state agency has citizens cannot learn as much about how their government operates.

The policy council reports they first found out the scope of the emotions, when they tried to get information on Boeing incentives and were stonewalled. Meantime a bill is up for debate that could end the law.

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Freedom of Information not so free at the state house.